Thursday 14 August 2015
Photos courtesy of Steve, Max, Priya and Brian. Walk report by Walk Leader Rob.
Six club members and an adventurous visitor hiked the Downfall Firetrail in cool but sunny conditions which is a blessing given the amount of elevation ascent and descent we had to endure. A smart walk leader never publishes the elevation profile for a walk for fear of no one attending on the day. This walk has over 300m of climbing over the 7km route which means there are some very steep sections. The start of the walk follows an old section of the original road from Nelligen to Braidwood. Considering the steepness of this section it must have been a slow and dangerous trip for the bullock drays taking goods inland from the coast. We stopped to view an impressive dry-stone wall constructed in the 1850’s that is still supporting the trail.
As we climbed further up we passed through stands of tall trees recovering well from the 2019 fires. At the summit we had a break on a large granite outcrop that gave us great views of the rugged terrain to the south and west. Fortunately, the remainder of the trail is all downhill but given how steep the descent is we still had to walk with caution. All in all this group showed great stamina considering the amount of chatter going on during the steep climbs which is normally replaced by silence and much puffing.