Monday 21/02/2022 Cascade Trail Carpark – Dead Horse Gap Walking Trail – Kosciuszko Trail – Eagles Nest
Kosciuszko National Park, NSW
Ngarigo Country
Participants: Stephen Davies (Photos, Report), Sue Davies
We started the day purchasing a two year National Parks Pass for our brand new Trakkadu campervan and grabbing some last-minute groceries. Departing Jindabyne we were on our way with the aim of getting in several day walks and having our first sleep on the new van, three nights at Nagiraro Campground. After claiming a campsite (by pitching a two-man tent for the snorer in the family) we drove up the Thredbo Valley to Cascade Trail Carpark, arriving about 11:00am.
Max elevation: 2013 m
Total climbing: 685 m
Total descent: -687 m
Average speed: 3.28 km/h
Total time: 05:37:42
The first observation we made was that there was very good reason that the Thredbo Valley Trail had been closed. The first bridge on the Dead Horse Gap Walking trail was gone! Washed away by floodwaters. I guess there might be a few more missing between here and Thredbo. Note, National Parks have $300 fines in place if they find you on this section.
We had a bluebird day with some wind and thought this was great as it is much more pleasant being cool whilst walking. There were still at least eight different flower species evident in places and plenty of butterflies and grasshoppers adding a lot of life to the understory.
The first couple of kilometres of this walk passes through scattered patches of small trees with numerous lichen-covered granite outcrops. Along this section, I chatted with a sixtyish man shooting macros photos using ring-flash. He shares his images on Instagram and iNaturalist, with the aim of logging and recording observed species.
Oreixenica correae (Orange Alpine Xenica)
Over about 1800m you are above the treeline and get clear views of the nearby Rams Head Range to the west, the Pilot and beyond into the Victorian high country to the south and Brindle Bull Hill to the east. There are lots of alpine grasses in this area right up to and partially obscuring the track at times. The track itself has sunk below ground level in many places, the product of compaction and erosion I imagine.
Come lunchtime we ducked off track and sheltered in a small gully amongst some rocks to get out of the cool wind.
After lunch, we went as far as Eagles Nest. No treats today here at the cafe, it was closed for some work in preparation for winter. We made a point of asking the lifty about riding down without a ticket. This is something I had been able to do for more than forty years and yes, he said although you were supposed to have a ticket, no one he knew was really bothered by the practice of checking tickets heading down the lift.
There is a puzzling section on the track. A distinct line of snow-pole like poles bisecting the track, downhill it seems to have a nearby section of track. Uphill just the pole line, I would suggest you do not follow the pole line!
After really taking our time on our outward journey, stopping repeatedly to take photos, chat with other hikers and look at all manner of things we maintained a much steadier pace for our return but it was still just after 5:00pm when we got back to the car. Within 10m of the road, we had a near encounter with a 20cm (juvenile) “black” snake.
Towards the end of our walk, we ran into a younger bloke who was just finishing his seven day walk from Canberra, covering around 220km. Being no match for his youth and speed he got back to the Cascade Carpark before us and was a kilometre or so along the road before we caught up and offer him a ride into Thredbo. He had after all, just completed seven days in isolation!
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