Thursday 27 October 2022
Photos courtesy of Amanda, Donna, Ian and Barry
The Downfall Firetrail is a 7km ridgeline walk in Currowan State Forest. It is a club favourite, scheduled about every 5 years.
The trail runs parallel and south of the Kings Highway between Black Flat Road and Western Distributor. The initial climb to the ridgetop and a few ups and downs along the ridgetop opens up the arteries, but otherwise the route is very pleasant.
The area is a part of the Moruya granite batholith and supports a beautiful open forest of Spotted Gums and Burrawangs with patches of Yellow Stringybark, Maidens Blue Gum and Silvertop Ash.
The ridgetop itself, protected by steep side slopes and large rock slabs, is largely undisturbed by human hand so there are lots of large trees, many showing ample signs of age, and more recently the aftermath of the 2019/20 bushfires
On this warm, sunny and breezy day, 6 Club walkers started at the Western Distributor end and soon were inspecting the impressive dry-stone wall which, to this day, still holds up a part of the original Nelligen to Braidwood Road constructed in the 1850’s.
Climbing 250mtr in elevation to the ridgetop we passed through a significant area of Maiden’s Gum (Eucalyptus Maideni). It is one of the southern blue gums and occasionally found in southern NSW, predominantly on granite soils of higher ground with good rainfall.
Along the ridgetop, with its great views to the south, we looked for, but was unable to spot, the unusual yellow bellied feed tree which we had identified on previous visits. Alas, it may have fallen or burnt in the fires.
We lunched in the sun on a large sloping rock slab and challenged ourselves with identifying the many mountain peaks and ranges to the south and west. We even had a glimpse of The Castle and Pigeonhouse to the north.
The final 2km, downhill, brought us to the cars by early afternoon.
Ian