by NVC » Tue 25 Sep, 2012 7:16 pm
Greetings, fellow bushwalkers! I just got back from a wonderful 3-day hike through Barrrington Tops, so thought i would add to this thread with some up-to-date and more-detailed information. I did this hike 20 years ago as a much younger man, and had fond memories of it, so it was time for a revisit !
We set off from the car park at Lagoon Pinch, ascending up the Corker, reaching Wombat Creek campsite after 4 hours, a distance of 9.6 km according to GPS device. Note that the scale bar on the NSW Environment Dept website map was quite misleading for this park of the walk, and suggests its only 3 km! - i think this is because the bottom of the map is not the true start of the trail. The ascent is *very* steep for first 2.5 hours or so, but then levels out. Our party were pretty fit adults, but not expert hikers, and we had packed on the heavy side (eg. carring in approx 3 litres of water each, quite a bit of fresh food, liquor etc), and we found it tough but enjoyable. Weather was perfect which helped, sunny but cool, about 20 C in daytime (early Spring). While on the Corker, its worth looking up now and again to 'smell the roses' - the vegetation types change about 4 times as you ascend, from rainforesty-looking stuff at the bottom, thru tree ferns and moss, to large European-looking deciduous trees, to different types of gum trees, its really nice and varied wilderness. Watch out for leeches in the wet sections of the track. We stopped for a couple of minutes at one point and picked up about 5 leeches each!
Wombat Ck campsite would fit about 5 small tents comfortably, more if you packed them in tight, and used less-ideal sites. Wombat Creek had plenty of water, and most of our party drank it without treatment, we are all still healthy 4 days later (fingers crossed!) - really, this is a near-pristine high altitude wilderness area, its not going to have agricultural or industrial pollution, the worst you can expect is a bit of wombat poo. There hasnt been a lot of rain for the past few months in Sydney at least, so i am guessing that this creek would be a reliable water source at most times. This campsite had lots of shade, which would be a blessing in summer i imagine. Not super-pretty, but a functional site, and welcome after the big uphill ascent.
On day 2 we walked to Careys Peak, then on to Junction Pools via Edwards Swamp trail. This was 8 km and took 3.5 hrs. We initially planned to camp the second night at Big Hole, but this in now within the Phytophthora exclusion zone, so you arent supposed to go there. As it turned out, Junction Pools was well worth the walk. The view at Careys is spectacular. You could camp at the clearing near Careys peak lookout either in a tent or in the old hut, but there wasnt any water. The hut looked pretty dilapidated and dirty, but i imagine if it started pouring with rain, it could be a godsend if you had to make an emergency camp. The walk to Junction Pools from Careys was great, mostly flat, a few ups and downs but not like the Corker. The terrain changes dramatically about half an hour into this section, and opens up to fields of tussock grass and large swamps, with snow gums (i think) on the sides. Very beautiful. The turnoff to Junction pools (on the right) via Edwards swamp trail is easy to miss. Although there is a sign, the start of this track looks ridiculously narrow and overgrown, but bear with it, it soon opens out into a broad easy-walking fire-trail road. There was also a stone cairn marking this turnoff, which we were thankful for. There were many water crossings on this trail (little creeks feeding into the swamps) which is good in terms of drinking water availability, but these can be tricky to negotiate. We saw a brown snake on the trail at one point, which was very well camouflaged and certainly not scared of us, so watch out! A bad snakebite when you are >10 km from the car and >20 km from civilisation could be fatal i reckon. In terms of wildlife generally on this walk, there were heaps of birds, many of which i hadnt seen before, and seemed to be lots of wombats (though we only saw their holes, not them personally!)
The Junction Pools campsite is large and has several sections, some of which are not immediately apparent. Approaching from the Careys Peak side (west), you enter on a high plateau. There is a pit toilet, and a place to deposit camping fees ($5 per adult per night), and a very wide open area to pitch tents, which has a view out over the pools and river. You could fit 20 tents or more here easily. This area was very exposed and windy, and didnt have much shade. We looked around a bit more and were rewarded by finding a far-superior site underneath the main section - this was located right on the creek, and was much more sheltered. I can honestly say this was one of the most beautiful camping locations i have ever seen, there is a hill of the tussock grass behind which shelters you from the wind, there is a babbling brook which provides plentiful water and a lovely sound, and some trees for shade. I jumped in the water and it was frighteningly cold, but invigorating. In summer, it would be very sweet to swim here. Its worth looking up and down the creek a bit too, there are some cool rock formations, there could possibly be fish? Our peace and quiet was interrupted somewhat by some folks who arrived in a 4WD with a chainsaw and a dog (are ANY of these things legal in a national park?) but they were up on the high plateau part of the site, and we didnt hear much from them once they turned off the chainsaw. The only downside to the lower section of the Junction Pools campsite was that there was less space for tents (you could fit 4-5 small tents there comfortably, more if you used sub-standard tent sites). Second night out was cold, felt like less than 10C, so beware that even if you hike in spring, the temp can get much lower at nighttime. Again we drank the water at junction pools without treatment. No ill effects.
On the third day we hiked from Junction Pools back to Lagoon Pinch via Black Swamp (completing the loop). We were fearful this would be a very long and painful day, but in the end it was fine. Distance was 15 km, this took us just 3.5 hours which was surprising, but we had much lighter packs by this stage, and the terrain was flat at first then steep downhill at the end. We did walk pretty fast, and with only a couple of brief stops. Black Swamp would be a pretty good campsite as an alternative to Wombat Creek on the first night, its a similar distance from lagoon pinch. Possibly a nicer site too, has a good view out over the swamp, a bit more room for tents. There was a running creek close by with what looked like good water. Coming down the Corker is much much quicker than going up it, but beware, it will take a toll on your legs! I found that i had more opportunity to appreciate the view and the diverse and changing vegetation types on the way down, so remember to look up from your feet occasionally!
Overall, one of the best hikes i have been on. Really beautiful and quite diverse landscapes, distances were easily manageable between campsites, water seemed abundant and clean. We were really blessed with the weather though, which helps. You could probably just take 500 ml water up the corker and be fine from there onwards, but this would be taking a risk, i wouldnt want to recommend this, although we could certainly have done it this time. I was amazed there werent any other hikers up there, we didnt see *anyone* else the whole time, except the people that turned up at Junction Pools in a 4WD (boo to them).
Go for it !
, but I'm in a Hammock (Warbonnet Blackbird if you're interested 
)) and some real life tales of the condition of the track up to Careys Peak and back own again.
