View up the Rendezvous Creek valley from a knoll above the Boboyan Rd

Saturday 19 July: Southern Namadgi Geocaching – L/E-M. 3 mini-walks and a long one for quick walkers. (1, 2) Knolls above the Boboyan Rd for 2 caches; (3) Shanahans Mountain Walking Track for a cache; (4) From the Old Boboyan Rd South car park, off-track to Brayshaws Hut. Settlers Track to the stockyards, then off-track to Waterhole Hut. North along the Waterhole Fire Trail to Sams Creek Fire Trail. Here is the start of a multi-cache and we’ll do as much or as little as we desire. Return to car via Boboyan Homestead and a cache. Minimum distance 20km, 300m climb. Maps: Michelago, Colinton, Yaouk. Leader: John Evans 0417 436 877 john@johnevans.id.au . Transport: ∼$15 per person. Emergency contact details must be registered/provided to book.

4 of us drove in 1 car to stop at various points along the Boboyan Rd.

Further Information

Look for geocaches GC3R0C0 Boboyan Bump, GC47429 Cold Cache final GZ, GCT6W2 Shanahan, final GZ for GC2JX02 Wander back in time, at least the start of GC1DZYD A-Z Namadgi Tours and GC4X0GQ Kids at home(stead) 1.

Summary

Distance: 24.1km | Climb: 685m | Time: 8.25am-3.30pm (7hrs 5mins), with 55 mins of breaks and driving time between walks | Grading: L/E-M; H(12-)

Track Maps

Track overview

Track Walks 1 and 2

Track Walk 3

Track Walk 4

Photographs

Photographs are available, where you can start a large sized slide show.

Google Earth

Download the Google Earth .kmz file here.

Track Notes

An overcast and cold day as we left Canberra. Plenty of frost about.

Walk 1

Our first stop, after turning around at the new Rendezvous Creek car park and driving back up the Boboyan Road, was at the entrance to a disused fire trail. It looked good, a benched old track, but when I checked my GPSr, we were a few hundred metres shy of the track I was looking for. It took us parallel to the road, but deteriorated, so we headed back to the Boboyan Rd to where we should have taken off. After forcing through the road side debris, we found a well defined old fire trail, perhaps a service track for nearby powerlines. We followed it north, then struck off up to the top of the knoll to find and log GC3R0C0 Boboyan Bump. Returned to the road and walked back down to the car. 1.8km and 115m climb in 35mins.

Walk 2

We next drove to the Brandy Flat South car park. Walked the link track to cross the Brandy Flat Fire Trail, then up through the bush to GC47429 Cold Cache WP1. I described my previous two visits to this location, then we walked to and found the final GZ. Returned to the car. 1.4km and 60m climb in 30mins.

Walk 3

We continued S along the Boboyan Road, driving through a roadside dusting of snow at the high points. Parked at the Shanahans Mountain car park. The pool of water in the car park was iced over. We walked the Shanahans Mountain Walking Track to the crest, passing a few patches of snow. A quick find of GCT6W2 Shanahan. Returned to the car. 2.4km and 125m climb in 35mins.

Walk 4

Drove to the Brayshaws Hut/Settlers Track car park. Quentin’s CBC walk vehicles were parked there. We had morning tea. Setting off on the Settlers Track (the reverse from the usual way I do it), we wandered down to Westermans, had a look at the sheep dip, then headed along the old Grassy Creek Fire Trail. Somewhere along the way we headed into the bush and found the final GZ for GC2JX02 Wander back in time. Met up with Quentin and his party. On to Waterhole Hut for lunch. It looked different from last Saturday. The cloud cleared a little and we got some blue sky, but the wind was still sharp. Plenty of snow on Sentry Box and the side of the Scabby Range. Next, we walked N along the Waterhole Fire Trail, then continued along the Bulls Flat Fire Trail to the junction with Sams Creek Fire Trail. Here is the start point for GC1DZYD A-Z Namadgi Tours, the coordinates right in the middle of the fire trail junction. I’d expected to find clues for the next waypoint here, but I’d misread the cache description. This waypoint is described as “on your way from the carpark coordinates to Waypoint 1″. A return visit due. We turned SE onto the Old Boboyan Rd (South) and wandered along to near the Boboyan Homestead site. Up through the bush we visited the graves (the area cleaned up since my last visit), then down across the creek with views to the orchard. We visited the dam. Then to the old cottage site and up to the homestead site for arvo tea. Left the area via the creek line looking for another site, then across the cultivation paddock to rejoin the Old Boboyan Rd (South). Called in at David Brayshaws cairn, then came out at the car park. Up the road, then along the Boboyan Rd to the car. 18.5km and 385m climb in 4hrs 30mins (including 30mins lunch).

Party

4 walkers – Roger E, Chris F, Derek S, me.

Post Script

Sigh … in trouble for my geocaching etiquette again. But I deserve it – perhaps if I started thinking like a cache owner (they put in huge amounts of effort, thought, $, etc) rather than a cache finder, I’d keep my nose clean. This time it was for blogging tracks on map segments which may allow the identification of multi-cache final GZ-s. (Last time it was for blogging waypoints.)  Sorry. All fixed. Re-blogged map segments with tracks which have gaping holes in them and re-did the kmz file.