Bush condition around Round Mt (Budawang)

[DJ Wombat]

Planning a day trip to Round Mt in Northern Budawangs in a month time. Have anyone been to the area lately? To avoid the private properties, bash is needed between Alum Creek Firetrail and Round Mt Trail, but not sure how tough at the moment.

I intend to follow someone's trail as shown on the map, however he did it in 2011. The regrowth must be horrendous after the mega fire.

Appreciate if anyone can cast some lights.

[Kletterer]

Had a look at the first section that John Evans took just South of your Red route - starts at the bend at the bottom of map. It looked like a tough alternative. My partner was in that John Evans party that went from there to Alum FT. and said the scrub has now increased greatly.

[Huntsman247]

Probably scrubby. Haha. But I'm curious to hear how you go.

[sandym]

Not what I would do. I think it will be horrendous. Unless you enjoy that kind of thing.

Here are two other suggestions:
[*]Bike in via the Red Ground track and scramble up the east side - doable as a day trip.
Hike in via the sketch route below. Also doable as a day trip.

round.jpg (396.12 KiB) Viewed 2428 times

[DJ Wombat]

That was the trace of John Evans' 2011 trip. I believe the scrub today is not the same bush back then.

Bike in via the Red Ground track and scramble up the east side - doable as a day trip.
Hike in via the sketch route below. Also doable as a day trip.

@sandym, appreciate your suggestions, very practical
Mtb ride from red ground track - endrick river fire trail - round mt trail is about 36km round trip. I'll try mix up your two options, ride on red ground track, leave bike at -35.15, 150.17, then bash across Endrick river to join Endrick Riv - Round Mt Trail & scramble up, to allow bit more time wandering on top.

[sandym]

Give us a report. I did it a couple of years ago and the top of Round Mtn was really nice as the fires had cleared the scrub off!

[DJ Wombat]

Bit of update as a "report" of my solo trip yesterday.

I arrived at the departure point (end of Meangora Rd, turning right to a no-named dirt road until reaching locked gate) a bit late at 9:15am. At first it shocked me when I saw locked gate. After wandering around a bit, I realised there is a latch behind the pole with the end of chain hooked on, which I could simply lift up and get the gate opened.

Another thing I noticed was that, the trail head of Alum Creek Firetrail has been blocked with fences. The fence looked pretty new, not sure what's the situation there.


The trails of Red Ground to Endrick River to Round Mt, are all in good condition. Looks like they've been well used. The only problem is that, every now and then, there is a section been paved with coarsely crushed rocks, which is fine for 4WD and walkers but problematic for biker riders. Such section is quite long just before reaching intersection of Endrick River Firetrail and Round Mt Trail. From the color of rocks I could tell they are freshly paved.

In order to save some time I abandon the plan to bash through the red-line section and continue with bike riding. It ended up as 17km ride one way from departure to the foot of Round Mt.


The regrowth is phenomenal. Right at the foot of Round Mt along the trail, I couldn't really see clearly the clifflines above. Remembering John Evans' report there was a cairn next to the trail where they started ascending however I couldn't find it. The beginning of the bash was a bit rough however soon I found it was not that bad. Though the bush is dense, they are mostly tall and thin stems without much undergrowth.
See the picture below, on top is what looks like from the trail. Bottom left was on the way up, and bottom right was the scene almost reaching cliffline.


Ascending to the top is via the gaps of the north most section of the mountain, which looks like mouth of a seahorse. That part is also quite overgrown, which baffled me a few times on my return leg from the main body of the mountain.
Short of time, upon reaching the Aboriginal Stone Arrangement, I didn't venture further then returned.


The round trip was about 38km. Though mostly on bike I was still exhausted. I didn't meet a single soul through the whole day.
Special thanks to sandym who advise the cycling route. If stick to the original bashing plan I wouldn't even be able to proceed from the start.

[north-north-west]

Fencing is most likely to limit vehicular traffic for environmental reasons after the fires.
I hope.

[north-north-west]

Testing ...

[sandym]

Yeah, it's a tough bike ride, even before they put all that gravel down. That fence across Alum Fire Trail is a bit concerning. I hope we are not seeing yet another closure enacted as there are some nice little peaks to scramble up from the Alum Fire Trail and it is part of the National Park.