Wednesday 19 April 2023

Corn Trail starts with a crossing the Mongarlowe River -boots off

Boots back on, and heading through the trees

If only that had been the only obstacle to step over!

Amongst the trees before the (long) descent

All smiles (we have not started the descent yet!)

Ian agrees to use a walking stick to come down the steep slopes

The eucalypt regrowth in the mountains leaves an interesting pattern

Lunch as we arrive at the Buckenbowra River

Crossing the Buckenbowra River at the walk end – who cares about wet feet now

Great views from the top of the trail

A shot taken by the drivers as they awaited the walkers at the Buckenbowra River at the end of the track

Photos courtesy of Ian, Rob, Peter, Donna and Karen McL.

Eight walkers adventured down the Corn Trail on a sunny day. This walk has not been done since 2017 so we were keen to see the effects of the bushfires and the trail clean-up done by NSW National Parks. Full credit to the Park Service as the trail is very traversable especially at the top end.

Many sections of the trail up on the plateau were only lightly burned but the heavy rains we have had in the last two years have produced incredible growth of wattle trees and eucalypt saplings. The wattles were in full bloom and humming with the sounds of honey bees.

The lower half of the trail, down in the valley close to the Buckenbowra River, is heavily overgrown with post fire vegetation growth and the trail is covered in weeds making hiking a slippery endeavour.

For those of you who have walked the Corn Trail before, you are aware that the usual car shuffle adds over two hours to the total walk time. Special thanks must go to Karen and Tony who drove the walkers to the start of the walk in the Monga, then met us at the end of the trail on No Mountain Name Road. Eight tired walkers were very relieved to be heading directly home and not back to the Monga to collect cars.

Rob