Thursday 25 July 2019
Photos by Tony & Denise
Eleven hikers, including two visitors, enjoyed a great 7.5 km medium grade hike on the Downfall Firetrail. After a cold morning start we were soon shedding layers as the temperature rose and we tackled the many hills on this track. The track was graded in the last few months which made navigation easy but added some degree of difficulty to the hike as the steep slopes were in places very slippery due to the exposed sandy subsoils. Wind gusts experienced in this region over the last month brought down some very large limbs blocking the track in places. Our walk leader navigated us straight to a yellow bellied glider feeding tree well known to the Club, but without our resident forester Ian, there was much discussion as to what species of tree the scarring was on. Some quick research shows there are 23 tree species, mostly eucalypts, that are used by the gliders for sap feeding.
Lunch was on a large granite rock outcrop that provided great scenic views of the coastal ranges to the west. A number of orchids located on rocks out of reach of the local wallabys were seen and plans were made to revisit this area in September when they should be flowering.
Thank again to our walk leader Glenn, for an enjoyable and leg stretching hike close to home.
Rob