29/06/1984 – 10/7/1984 Kanangra Walls – Gingra Trail – Gingra Creek return
Kanangra Boyd National Park, NSW
Dharug country
Distance: 20km Total Ascent: 1310m Total Descent: 1310m
Participants: Peter Davies, Stephen Davies (Photos, Report), Julie Penn, Roslyn Savage
Friday 29/06/1984 Dapto – Kanangra National Park
We packed the car and left within the hour of arriving home from work. Dined with Peter in Sydney (Auburn) before leaving for Kanangra National Park with Peter, Julie and Rosyln around 9:00pm. Arrived at Boyd River camping area about 1:00am after dropping in and visiting Greg at Penrith for about an hour, to be gifted his old Canadian vintage shellite pocket hand warmer. The car was now running a bit cooler since fitting a new radiator and thermostat last week.
Day 1: Saturday 30/06/1984 Kanangra Walls – Junction of Gabes Gully – Gingra Creek
This route was reconstructed from memory using Google Earth Pro and GPS Visualizer.
Max elevation: 1077 m
Total climbing: 264 m
Total descent: -953 m
Average speed: nan km/h
After a late breakfast we were ready to walk at 10:00am.
Our route was via the tourist lookout, Mount Kanangra, Seymour Top, Brennan Top and Crafts Wall where we stopped for lunch about 1:30pm.
Track Notes: follow the track very carefully across Brennan Top, there were lots of low nuggety shrubs which were very difficult to push through. The descent point off Brennan Top was not easy to locate.
Descending off Brennan Top 30/6/1984
Around lunchtime some heavy clouds had rolled in and it was becoming very windy. Noting the time and respecting the weather change we decided not to go as far a Mount Cloudmaker as initially intended.
Instead we headed south around Crafts Walls, sighting a Lyrebird nearby, (the track along the northern side would probably have been easier) to Pages Pinnacle, which I climbed alone. We followed this with a 600m descent down Crafts Ridge to a campsite at the junction of Gabes Gully and Gingra Creek. The ridge was free of undergrowth and easily followed but watch out for some sore quads and calves over the next few days!
Camp was set up amongst a few stinging nettles on the rocky creek bed after which we checked the creek out for trout, locating one in a deep pool about 100m upstream.
Wiener Schnitzel and fresh vegetables for dinner but the crepes we tried to make were a disaster.
Day 2: Sunday 1/07/1984 Junction – Gabes Gully – Gingra Creek – Kanangra Walls
This route was reconstructed from memory using Google Earth Pro and GPS Visualizer.
Max elevation: 1077 m
Total climbing: 1053 m
Total descent: -359 m
Average speed: nan km/h
Another late breakfast consisting of porridge, toast and crumpets. After breakfast we went fishing, catching an 18” rainbow trout after about an hour of effort. 1.8kg without head and after gutting.
Peter at Gingra Creek 1/7/1984
Departed camp at midday heading straight up the ridge towards the ridge between Third and Fourth Tops, a climb of about 310m. A bushfire about two years earlier made the going very easy as there had been little regrowth of any ground cover.
The Gingra Range track was followed from the Third Top to the First Top past Cottage Rock to Murrarang Head, Storm Stallion Point (almost) back up to Murrarang Top (at 1019m) – a 690m climb.
Another Lyrebird was spotted sitting near Cottage Rock, the birdlife in general being pretty prolific.
We arrived back at the car at 5:00pm, just on sunset, ready for the 3 1/2 hour drive back to Auburn where we cooked and ate our fish before I returned home to retire at 1:00am.
P.S. Very sore quads and calves after the trip and very tired.
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