8/06/1985 – 10/06/1985 Newhaven Gap – Sluice Box Falls – Styles Creek circuit
Morton National Park, NSW
Yuin country
Distance: 29km Total Ascent: 1380m Total Descent: 1380m
Participants: Stephen Davies (Photos, Report), Richard Buckland, Marian James, Trish Law, Dave Whitelaw
Day 1: Saturday 8/06/1985 Newhaven Gap – below Folly Point
This route was reconstructed from memory using Google Earth Pro and GPS Visualizer.
Max elevation: 794 m
Total climbing: 327 m
Total descent: -609 m
Average speed: nan km/h
Friday night proved to be very cold and had me wishing I’d taken my best winter sleeping bag. A heavy frost on our tents and cars greeted us in the morning. We were walking soon after 10:00am. A very casual pace was set to Folly Point, taking about four hours with lots of stops along the way.
Near Follys Point 8/6/1985
At Folly Point, where we had stopped for a late lunch, some indecision ensured as to whether we would continue or stop at the top. We ended up continuing on for another hour before setting up camp just above a rock ledge below Folly Point. It proved to be a really good campsite. We made the most of some Green-Ginger wine, salami, mushrooms and vegetables for dinner.
Day 2: Sunday 9/06/1985 below Folly Point – Styles Creek
This route was reconstructed from memory using Google Earth Pro and GPS Visualizer.
Max elevation: 767 m
Total climbing: 656 m
Total descent: -418 m
Average speed: nan km/h
We were away by 9:40am and found progress to be better than I had remembered it from trip about ten years previously with Chris and Rick. We stayed way up from the cliff line below us and remained on the ridges where possible. We encountered very few sections of thick scrub on this route.
Marian, Richard, Trish & Dave near Sluice Box Falls 9/6/1985
Just above Sluice Box Falls we encountered one very sluggish 1.6m long “black” snake. Here we lunched and also encountered another party. We then headed off quite late for the 300m climb up towards Mount Elliot. The route amongst the trees was reasonably steep but mostly open at ground level. Once near the top we passed through the saddle between Mount Elliot and Sturgiss Mountain and around and down the ridge onto Styles Creek where we kept a fair way to the north and thus managing to have very little swamp to contend with.
It was just on sunset 5:00pm on arrival at Styles Creek. There were several other parties already camped on the creek. I managed to successfully prepare a small batch of wholemeal scones on the Trangia which proved to be very good.
Day 3: Monday 10/06/1985 Styles Creek – Newhaven Gap
This route was reconstructed from memory using Google Earth Pro and GPS Visualizer.
Max elevation: 768 m
Total climbing: 396 m
Total descent: -352 m
Average speed: nan km/h
We were up and away by 9:30am on track all the way back to Newhaven Gap where we arrived about noon.
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