Sunday 10 November 2024
Photos courtesy of Amanda and Tom. Walk report courtesy Walk Leader DonnaG.
Ten walkers set out on an early morning drive to the stunning Little Forest Plateau for a thirteen kilometre out and back hike to Ngaityung Falls. Even though the walk was led on the previous program, all participants this time around were keen to take advantage of the opportunity missed last time. We commenced the walk along the familiar boardwalk with grey skies and mild weather, which was perfect hiking weather out on the exposed plateau. The stunning array of colorful wildflowers were quite the sight amongst thick green vegetation regrowth.
We had morning tea at Mt Bushwalker lookout and began our deviation along a narrow footpad and along rock platforms in a southerly direction along the cliff line, admiring the views to the west. Low cloud travelling through the ranges made for an interesting aspect and a change to the bright sunny day experienced on the previous outing. We continued along through quite thick vegetation in spots and down a couple of ledges, following endless cairns to where we eventually arrived at our destination, the stunning cliff line that houses the falls. Although the water running from Pigeon House creek was significantly less than the previous visit to the falls, the water was still flowing and the rock pools were full.
We sat for a while and enjoyed the views before retracing our steps back to an area along the plateau edge where we had lunch. By this time the clouds had lifted and we had some nice views of The Castle and the surrounding peaks. We then made our way back towards the cars but not with a short detour to Fossil Cave and Gaolhouse Falls. This detour is along a track that many of us had walked past numerous times but never investigated. The track leads down to an overhang which contains quite a lot of interesting plant fossils in the rock wall. The nearby falls were flowing but were just down to a trickle. It was certainly a nice little side trip that all but one of us had never been to. All in all it was a great day and a very enjoyable hike.