Kanangra-Boyd National Park Camp
Kanangra-Boyd Camp
Monday 8 – Saturday 13 April 2024
Kanangra-Boyd National Park is a reasonably remote park with very rocky terrain and some 28 kilometres via mostly dirt road from the nearest town of Oberon, and another hours drive from the park entrance to the campground.
Camping at the remote Boyd River campground in Kanagra-Boyd National park, members of the Batemans Bay Bushwalking Club braved the elements on Monday April 8th to take up shelter options for tents, camper trailers, caravans, and camping beside their vehicles. Apart from needing to bring their own food, water was also necessary as the creek water available near the campground needed to be treated or boiled before drinking. Settled beneath snow gums on the banks of Morong Creek, the campground did boast toilets, bbq facilities, and picnic tables, as well as a recycled timber day hut on site to provide shelter, rain or shine. Members also brought their own firewood for the campfire in the evenings, along with gaiters and long pants as a precaution against snakes and the scratchy bushes that sometimes cover the tracks, plenty of sunscreen, hats, long sleeve shirts to protect against the sun as many of the walks are in exposed areas, swimmers for rivers and gorges, toilet paper, good hiking boots, wet weather gear and a first aid kit in their day packs.
While the walks Barry led were mainly medium/hard grade, there was no requirement to come on every walk on the program, with members free to choose the walks that suited them with plenty of easy to medium walks close to the campground.
Walking Day 1 – Tuesday 9 April 2024 – Kanangra Walls to Craft Walls.
Down the Valley and Kanangra Walls
View from the Lookout
Spotted Quoll
Dance Floor Cave
Mary and Barry tripping the light fantastic!
Fabulous cliff formations with the group in the distance
Down the chimney / Gordon Smith Pass
Up to the top of Craft Walls for lunch
Down came the rain
Wet weather gear getting some use
Photos courtesy Tom, Gay, Donna G, Donna F, Ian and Denise. Walk Report: Tom and Gay
Thirteen Walkers set off early on Tuesday morning to explore the Kanangra Walls. Our first port of call was the lookout adjacent to the walls providing a spectacular view and an insight as to where our walk would be taking us. On route we took a small detour to see Dance-floor cave. Apparently back in the day, the cave, which was along the route used by stockmen moving cattle, was also used for social events! Some stone wall remnants supporting the route are still in place and are a testament to the building of tracks in those days. Along the way a spotted quoll attempting to hide in a tree above the track provided a nice wildlife experience.
Walking along the plateau above the walls provided a spectacular morning tea spot with views of more cliff walls, Kanangra Creek, and Kalang waterfall, which due to recent rain events, was in full flow. Two walkers turned back to complete an easy/medium walk followed by another two who thought it best not to tackle the ‘tricky’ chimney (Gordon Smith Pass) descent which took us further into the national park, providing more excellent views.
After lunch on top of Craft Walls and more exploring we turned for home only to be confronted with grumbling distant thunder. Needless to say the pace increased and “Murphy’s Law” came into play with the rain starting just as we approached the chimney. No time to put on wet weather gear as we wanted to get to the top before too much rain fell making it even more challenging. Despite getting wet we all managed to scramble up in double-time and after adorning the appropriate gear headed for the vehicles taking in the changed cliff views due to the rain and low cloud.
The rain eased as we arrived at the carpark, approximately 11kms later, and then proceeded back to camp. A fantastic walk ably led by our leader Barry.
Walking Day2 – Wednesday 11 April – Kanangra Walls to Cottage Rock Track
Journey map
The Kanangara Walls cliffline shines in a westerly sun
Lenore, Glenn and Lin
Kanangara Creek Falls in a very good flow, surrounded by the Thurat Spires cliffline
Green wall, a la natural
Tom reads a million year story from the coal seam hieroglyphics
Clambering on to the roof of Cottage Rock
Gavin zones out on the Cottage Rock rooftop throne
Photos courtesy of Ian, Mary, DonnaG, DonnaF, Barry, Denise and Gavin. Walk report: Ian
Our second day of walking greeted us with cloudy skies and patches of sun, a pleasant change from yesterday afternoon’s soaking rain. Courtesy of last night’s toasty camp fire, most of us now had dry boots so the day looked promising.
Leaving the main Walls carpark and passing by Dance Floor Cave again, we regained the high plateau to the east and walked the rim of the Walls, as we did yesterday. There is nary a shrub to obscure the views and we frequently stopped to soak up the grandeur of the place. With each sun burst all eyes turned to the west where we admired the distant silver streak of Kanangara Creek Falls’ full flow leaping from the plateau into the depths of the gorge below us.
Turning south to Maxwell Tops (just another open sandstone plateau really) we slogged along a well-trodden path to yet another open sandstone plateau, Murrarang Tops. Not much to report here except (the Apple Lady) Gay, during morning tea, lost her apple as it tumbled over the cliff edge. Oh well, tough (but, the story didn’t end there – see below).
Then, things got interesting.
The old cattle droving route we first encountered at the pass at Dance Floor Cave became evident again as we descended through the cliffline. The remains of a rock walled path only metres wide was very clear and it continued under the cliffline for some distance. The keen eyed Gavin even found a juicy apple next to the track. How about that?
After some heavy negotiations regarding property rights and transfer of goods (the apple), we rounded the southwest corner of the cliffline where increased shelter, shade and moisture supported a pleasant green garden of ferns and mosses – a welcome change from the burnt remains of the plateau’s spiky, xerophytic heath and shrubbery.
We came to Coal Seam Cave. As the name suggests, it is a metre thick coal seam snugly nestling under the overhanging sandstone. It’s high erodibility had created a cave, or overhang, in which past campers have sheltered from the elements. No wood for the campfire is required here; just dig out a bit more of the black stuff from the adjacent living room wall and toss it on the fire!
Leaving the underside of the cliffline and descending down the talus further to a saddle we walked up the short ridgeline to Cottage Rock. It is a blocky rock remnant which, as the name suggests, is about the size of a small cottage. With a bit of grunting and groaning up the Cottage’s fire escape (a short rock face) we gained the cottage’s rooftop, there to be greeted by a stone throne constructed by a previous visitor. Being above the trees we enjoyed 360 degree views. And it was time for lunch!
The return was uneventful and, thankfully, there was no sign of rain. It was a nice day’s walk, about 10 kilometres.
Walking Day3 – Thursday 12 April
Walk1 – Marrilman Heath-Pandari Top and Mt Bungin
The steep gully at Wallaby Pass
Photo Opportunity!
And back up…
Wildflowers
A happy Donna in her element
Arched Cave at Wallaby Pass
The map
Photos courtesy of Denise,Gavin, Ian and DonnaG Walk report: Denise and Gavin
Eleven walkers set off under a promising sky and drove 7 kilometres to park the cars on the roadside. The walk began on an unmarked trail which was basically just a footpad, passing across wet and swampy terrain through head high regrowth. At times the path was obscure, often the undergrowth was over our heads. As Barry promised, it was certainly bush bashing at its finest but his navigation found the way.
We crossed Pindari Flats where we briefly stopped on a rock ledge and pondered the answers to the world’s problems. Morning tea was a little further on, perched on a rock shelf looking across a series of waterfalls and the heavily treed valleys.
Moving over Rocky cliff lines we eventually reached Wallaby Pass where we slipped and slid down a very steep gully. On reaching the bottom there was no track to be seen and we pushed our way through another 30 minutes to Mount Bungan where we had lunch.
On our return journey next to the bottom of Wallaby Pass we found a lovely arched cave carpeted in green moss with a small pool of water at the back of the cave. This looked like a great place to spend the night but that was not part of the plan. We returned by retracing our footsteps making it back to the cars having walked approximately 8.5 kilometres. The weather had been perfect and the day had been excellent.
Walk2 -Kalang Falls
Water Cascade
DonnaF at the falls
DonnaF descending those steps
Kalang Falls
Rocks and Water
Photos courtesy of MaryT, DonnaF. Walk report: MaryT.
The walking distance from the cars to Kalang Falls is a mere 2 kilometres. However, the decent of 100m is achieved with 412 steps! Fortunately the steps were well designed and constructed with only a short section of bare, rounded rock; complete with handrail, to negotiate. The views all the way down were outstanding and near the bottom, the sound of gushing water was heard. A viewing platform provided walkers to see not only the 28 metre falls, but 3 pools.
Water gathers in each pool allowing it to escape in cascades into the one below via small breaks in the natural, rocky ‘dam walls’. The pools are deep and the rocky floor can be clearly seen due to the clear, if chilly water. I suspect that the level of the pools remains quite deep all year round as the natural walls for the most part retain it.
Walkers can step down from the viewing platform to explore a short distance towards the falls. Humans can never get too close to cascading water, and down stream past the 3 pools, the water continues on its way to what are I am sure are more pools before flowing off down the gorge. All too soon it is time to turn around and climb those steps. Fortunately there were more opportunities to capture the area on our cameras, allowing for pauses to catch our breathe before resuming the upward journey.
Walking Day4 – Friday 13 – Kanangra Falls Canyon Access Track
At the Falls
At the Falls face
Cascading Falls
Eagles fly…
Gay’s vista
Glenn: How’s that! Can it get any better than this…
Kanangra Falls
The map
Photos courtesy of DonnaG and Barry. Walk report: DonnaG.
Another stunning day greeted us for this short but lovely 5 kilometre return walk. We started from Kanangra Walls Road and headed north along a footpad through beautiful forest. Recent rains made the track a little slippery in spots and Kanangra brook now had a good amount of flowing water. Fortunately this water crossing was reasonably narrow and required one good step onto a rock in the middle, followed by some big strong hands on the other side to pull those requiring assistance, across.
We made our way to Kanangra Falls, where morning tea was taken above the falls. The intrepid members of the group made their way down a scree slope to the base of the falls. Those that reached the base of the falls agreed that the extra effort was well worth it. We retraced our track back and then deviated to a nearby outcrop which provided excellent views of the falls. After admiring two stunning Wedge-tailed eagles flying above us and below us in the canyon, we headed back to finishing point for the conclusion of this nice little walk.
Following this, the remaining walkers who had not visited Kalang Falls, did so and then made their way back to the camp grounds for the conclusion of the camp. Everyone agreed that the camp was a success and an enjoyable time was had by all. Thanks to Barry for putting this camp together in an area that most of us had never visited. It took a lot of work, including a number of reccies and research. A large rain event prior to the camp resulted in the grounds being closed for our first day, and Barry did a good job of rescheduling walks and dealing with the associated road closures within the park in order for all to experience four good days of walking in this remarkable wilderness area.
