Sunday 28/05/2017 Wattle Ridge – Troys Creek – Emmets Flat
Starlight Trail, Nattai National Park, NSW
Gundungurra country
Participants: Penny Ackery, Mel Ardern (Leader), Stephen Davies (Photos), Sue Davies (Report), Ron Hutchings, Max McLean
This walk is accessed via Wattle Ridge Road from the small township of Hilltop. It is a circuit partly off track with some scrambling, bushbashing and track negotiation required. There is a picturesque lookout above the valley of Troys Creek and some impressive sandstone cliffs with bellbird songs in the background along the valley floor.
View across Troys Creek into Nattai River Valley[/caption]It was then time to find our way safely down into Troys Creek. This took a little time and some backtracking with Mel scouting ahead to find a route through the cliffline. A massive boulder exceeding 1m in diameter was somehow dislodged during our descent, falling over a four metre cliff and thundering a long way down into the valley. Fortunately those at the base of this cliff were well clear of the impact zone as there is no doubt a direct hit would have been fatal. We were very thankful that no one was underneath it!
Mel was very pleased when she found “her tree” which was completed the final pitch in Troys Creek. Here the going was a bit rough and slippery and a few people went down but luckily there were no injuries. The bellbirds were in fine tune and seemed to welcome us to the river.
We reached the remnants of an old hut and Mel showed us a photo of John Murray (our club legend) at this spot in 1952. We continued on to the Nattai River where we had a pleasant lunch at the well decked out grassy campsite. We had a leech check, Steve won for the most gory blood loss of the group.
There were no takers for a swim despite the pleasant walking weather so we headed off for our climb up the hill along Starlights trail. We reached Murray’s way (a cairned route named after our club legend) but the group decided to continue on Starlights way as time was marching on and it was the shorter route back to the cars. We had a brief sprinkle of rain on our ascent which was welcomed but otherwise it was a perfect day for walking.
We were back at the car by 3:30pm and were all satisfied after a good day of walking. Thanks to Mel for leading this walk.
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On 27/09/2017 I led a bushwalk in Nattai NP. We too walked out to that “picturesque lookout above the valley of Troys Creek”. As we walked along the abandoned fire trail that leads to the lookout I was sure I spotted some boot prints in the soil but I dismissed it as my imagination getting the better of me. I can’t tell you how surprised I was to stumble across this blog and realise that I wasn’t dreaming and they were real boot prints that I saw.
I have been looking at exploring that point above Troys Creek for years and I am glad I did as it’s a great lookout. We backtracked to Nattai Rd (11E FT) and did the Nattai Rd – Martins Creek – Wattle Ridge loop. I am impressed that your leader found a way down to the Troys Ck fire trail from the end of the point. That has given me an idea for a possible future walk in that area.
I have seen the photos of Emmetts Hut and Macarthurs Flat that John Murray published on-line. Hard to believe the area has changed so much. I also stumbled across the top of Murray’s Way from the Ahearn Track some years back and on my last trip down Starlights I found the bottom of it. It is definitely on my to-do list.
Thank you for publishing this report. Now I know I wasn’t going mad as the boot prints were real.
I am so glad that you discovered this report and have found it to be of some use.