This walk was organised and led (well, everyone took a turn at making the going) by me as an irregular CBC Tuesday walk:

Tuesday 24 November 2009 - Mt Mavis and Mt Herlt - L/R,ptX. Yet another scheduling to try to complete this grand walk. From the Nursery Swamp car park, follow the NS track then taped footpad to Rendezvous Creek. Then 600m up to Mt Mavis (SH1711). Fabulous views and granite; a little scrambling. Then SE down along the ridge and up to Mt Herlt, above the 1600m contour. North down to Rendezvous and so home. Around 18km and 1100m total climb. Physically demanding walking for a fit and experienced party. Route not fully known to leader. Map: Rendezvous Creek 1:25000. Limit of 8. Leader: John Evans – jevans@pcug.org.au, (h) 6288 7235. Transport: ~$12. Further details at http://jevans.pcug.org.au.

Wonderful to be picked up and driven, along with two more picked up at Lanyon.

Plan A will be a long day, I estimate up to 11 hours. The route card is:

Photographs

Access all primary pics here. All thumbnails in the walk report are active - click for a larger picture.

Walk

track a	track b

The actual was this:

Some interesting stuff here. 0.8km/hr (just down off) the ridge between Mt Mavis and Mt Herlt. Leg 4, when done on 28 Jun 06, took 1hr 30mins. Today, the same took 2hrs 5mins - a measure of the regrowth regrowth.

Away on an overcast day, a couple of days of lower temperature respite in the 30+degC Canberra late Spring. Not raining, but we knew we'd get wet from the bush ladened with the previous day's rain. And wet we got - soaked to the skin - which made it most uncomfortable to stop in the breeze for more than 5mins for morning tea going up to Mt Mavis. A clearing in the regrowth for lunch coming down the Mavis spine provided the opportunity to strip off sodden shirts and put on dry tops for a while.

True to form I lost the footpad from the Nursery Swamp Walking Track over the saddle and down to Rendezvous Creek twice before Mike took the lead and got us there. This leg a bit quicker than estimated with such a strong party.

Thoroughly wet by now, so no stopping. On up to Mt Mavis with just a 5min shiver for morning tea. This leg 2 about the same as on 28 Jun 06. From memory, the regrowth is a lot more dense and higher. At last up onto the Mavis ridge, with immediate views through the scrub across to the Namadgi spur with the bare bulb at the end.
 

Climbing higher onto the granite tors, the view now included across to Mt Burbidge and down to Big Creamy Flats.

View SW from Mt Mavis - Mt Burbidge, Mt Namadgi and Big Creamy Flats

Turning our attention to the SE, the next challenge was to decide how to tackle the ridge - along the very top was impossible.

Mt Mavis tors

We first skirted round some granite...

Mt Mavis granite

...then briefly back at along the top caught a view down towards Rendezvous Creek.

1 View to Rendezvous Creek from very near Mt Mavis

Again dropping off the ridge in the direction of Middle Creek and after having to retrace our way for 5mins to find a way through the granite, we negotiated what I think Chris L and Jeff B have called the 'Mavis maze'.
	Mt Mavis granite and passage-ways	Mt Mavis granite and passage-ways	Mt Burbidge from the Mavis Ridge

Skirting even lower down to the tree-line, we then rounded back up to the ridge and looked behind us to a monstrous cliff-line (pity I've got nothing in the photo to indicate the scale of it). So even if we had been able to clamber along the spine, we wouldn't have gotten down this part of it.
	Skirting granite near Mt Mavis	2 Looking back to a show stopper on the Mavis Ridge

Lunch was taken in a clearing in the regrowth, sheltered from the breeze. A chance to remove wet shirts and put on a dry top. Now nearly back on the main spine, there were grand views down the ridge towards Mt Herlt and down into Middle Creek to Yankee Hat.
	View down the Mavis Ridge towards Mt Herlt	View down the Mavis Ridge to Middle Creek and Yankee Hat	View down the Mavis Ridge towards Mt Herlt

However, yet again, the granite tors and boulders forced us down off the ridge and you can see in track b a couple of not-so-graceful arcs and our route along the 1500m contour, well off the ridge line and its saddle at SH1539. If it wasn't granite, it was pick-up-sticks. And if it wasn't pick-up-sticks, it was both. Slow going, averaging 0.8km/hr. A couple of times I needed to ask others to make the going.

Granite and pick-up-sticks below the Mavis Ridge

However, we eventually regained the ridge and I guessed/estimated/hoped that we were getting nearer to Mt Herlt.

View SW on regaining the Mavis Ridge W of Mt Herlt

Once again we battled through the scrubby regrowth, finally making the platform in front of Mt Herlt just after 3pm. Mt Herlt is a broad top and, from the Rendezvous Creek side, one sees the curved granite slabs on its NE flank. I like the rabbit-ears tors which overlook Middle Creek. Anyway, Mike B remembered having lunch on the platform on our Lower Mavis Ridge trip on 14 Aug 07, so we took in the view to the SW and back along the way we'd come.
	View SW down the Mavis Ridge from Mt Herlt	View SW from Mt Herlt	3 View back along the Mavis Ridge from Mt Herlt

Turning about we walked through the two ears of (what I call) Mt Herlt and set a course of 256degM across the scrubby top..

Mt Herlt

Once again the granite forced us downhill to the left, but we eventually got out to the Rendezvous Creek flats. This leg a lot slower than previous - see comment above.

Missed the end of the old vehicle track, paralleling Rendezvous Creek higher above it. Eventually dropped down to pick up the track and wandered in to the fireplace. 10mins for arvo tea.

Started for home at 5.30pm. I lost the footpad, so Mike took us home.

An epic trip - wet scrub, granite, pick-up-sticks and regrowth. Never again ... until next time.

Thanks very much for your company and making the going when I was weary - Ian S, Ken W and Mike B.

Distance: 18.8km  Climb: 1200m.  Time: 7.20am - 6.50pm (11hrs 30mins), with 45mins of breaks.
Grading: L/R,ptX; VH(15)

KMZ file for Google Earth/Maps: Mt Mavis and Mt Herlt