Calna Creek Bridge Broken

[Lindsay]

Was walking from Hornsby to Mt Kuring-gai today and discovered that the Calna Creek Bridge is broken. The log has snapped in two and there is about a metre of water flowing over the broken section. I was told by other walkers that some youth group had ignored the two person limit and all crowded on, making the bridge bounce up and down with the inevitable result. Must be fairly recent as there is very little marine growth on the submerged section yet. It is still crossable if you are careful of the broken section of planking underwater. The chain handrail is still intact, just underwater for a few metres.

[colinm]

Saw this photo in November last year on David Noble's blog, it wasn't looking very healthy then.

http://www.david-noble.net/blog/wp-cont ... GNW-20.jpg

I've never been aware of a two person load limit, was it signposted? Mind you, if I'd seen it in the state above, it'd have been obviously necessary not to stress it too much.

This is the second bridge in the past ten years in my memory, here's the old one in 2001 http://67.23.226.159/~mayidau/benowie.html which I think was helicoptered into place by an army engineering corps.

[Bluegum Mic]

That's such a shame as its too deep to cross without it (unless you fancy a swim with the mullet). Mind you there are that many large DoE groups that walk through there it was bound to succumb to shenadigans sooner or later. Its been rather saggy for a long time

[Lindsay]

There were signs at each end of the ex-bridge stating that the maximum load was 2 persons. They must be fairly new as I had not seen them before. Yes, the bridge had been looking a bit dodgy for some time so I suppose it was only a matter of time before it collapsed.

[FatCanyoner]

Absolutely terrible if true. While I like to claim bushwalkers are far less damaging to the environment than most other groups (dirt bikers / 4wds etc), this sort of behaviour really damages my faith in that. Forget the signage. Surely some common sense would have been enough to treat the bridge with more care!

[ULWalkingPhil]

Any chance this bridge will be repaired in the next 4 to 5 weeks?

[colinm]

Any chance this bridge will be repaired in the next 4 to 5 weeks?

From http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/Natio ... x?id=N1187

Impass of Calna Bridge - Great North Walk
Due to unforeseen weather conditions the Calna Creek footbridge connecting Crosslands Reserve, Hornsby Heights and the Great North Walk north of Sam’s Creek is impassable. Therefore access to the Great North Walk is from Glenview Road at Mount Ku-ring-gai. It is currently not known how long will be required to rectify this situation.

Who knows when they'll replace the bridge. 5 weeks is plausible.

[colinm]

Any chance this bridge will be repaired in the next 4 to 5 weeks?

Just got back from a quick overnighter to Crosslands from Berowra with a well-known youth org, of which I happen to be a leader/member, and (I hope) not the one whose youth members are rumoured to have precipitated the bridge failure (I haven't heard anything internally.)

The bridge is completely abgefukt, broken in the middle, over a meter underwater at even low tide. It'll cost them a lot to get it replaced, and take a while even to design and implement replacement. Here are a couple of photos https://picasaweb.google.com/1097286579 ... CalnaCreek taken 06/03/13.

The good news: you can track upstream no more than 500m and (at low tide, which is about 2hrs after low tide at Fort Denison) walk across Calna Ck at no more than shin depth. PM me if you want coords, but it's basically up the Lyrebird Gully track (toward Mt Kuringai) and you cross over a little bridge over an anabranch of Calna Ck, and soon after Calna is flat, broad and has a sandy bottom. We crossed, and walked a couple of hundred meters back downstream, then up through the thin mangroves onto a flat floodplain with some swampy bits (with warrigal greens,) to a fair bit upstream the defunct bridge, then up onto the ridge to meet a track running between the Crosslands access road and the track along Berowra Ck. Steep short climb up to the ridge, but nothing challenging.

We timed it for low tide, but I can't imagine it'd be too hard even at high tide. You could swim across at the broken bridge point, but good luck getting out of the water (I wouldn't try it) and no chance whatsoever of using the bridge as a guide (even the rails are under, and after a couple more tides I bet it'll be floating down the Hawkesbury.)

Don't be tempted too far upstream, to where it gets rocky - another troop tried that on the same day and ended up wading across up to their tits with packs on their heads.

Colin.

[DarrenM]

Thanks for the pics Colin....That's going to add a few minutes to my run! No PB's for a while now.

I wonder if they'll replace it with a more substantial pre fab metal job? $$$$

[colinm]

I don't know how you're going to run to crosslands without getting quite muddy. You might be able to loop from Berowra to Mt Kuringai.

[ULWalkingPhil]

Any chance this bridge will be repaired in the next 4 to 5 weeks?

Just got back from a quick overnighter to Crosslands from Berowra with a well-known youth org, of which I happen to be a leader/member, and (I hope) not the one whose youth members are rumoured to have precipitated the bridge failure (I haven't heard anything internally.)

The bridge is completely abgefukt, broken in the middle, over a meter underwater at even low tide. It'll cost them a lot to get it replaced, and take a while even to design and implement replacement. Here are a couple of photos https://picasaweb.google.com/1097286579 ... CalnaCreek taken 06/03/13.

The good news: you can track upstream no more than 500m and (at low tide, which is about 2hrs after low tide at Fort Denison) walk across Calna Ck at no more than shin depth. PM me if you want coords, but it's basically up the Lyrebird Gully track (toward Mt Kuringai) and you cross over a little bridge over an anabranch of Calna Ck, and soon after Calna is flat, broad and has a sandy bottom. We crossed, and walked a couple of hundred meters back downstream, then up through the thin mangroves onto a flat floodplain with some swampy bits (with warrigal greens,) to a fair bit upstream the defunct bridge, then up onto the ridge to meet a track running between the Crosslands access road and the track along Berowra Ck. Steep short climb up to the ridge, but nothing challenging.

We timed it for low tide, but I can't imagine it'd be too hard even at high tide. You could swim across at the broken bridge point, but good luck getting out of the water (I wouldn't try it) and no chance whatsoever of using the bridge as a guide (even the rails are under, and after a couple more tides I bet it'll be floating down the Hawkesbury.)

Don't be tempted too far upstream, to where it gets rocky - another troop tried that on the same day and ended up wading across up to their tits with packs on their heads.

Colin.

Thanks Colin. PM sent

[skibug]

National Parks wrote on their website:

'Due to unforeseen weather conditions the Calna Creek footbridge connecting Crosslands Reserve, Hornsby Heights and the Great North Walk north of Sam’s Creek is impassable. Therefore access to the Great North Walk is from Glenview Road at Mount Ku-ring-gai. It is currently not known how long will be required to rectify this situation.'

Unforseen weather conditions?! Spare me. There's a reason western civilisation stopped making bridges by laying a log across a stream, and that's that they don't cope with bending loads very well - especially when immersed with seawater twice a day at high tide. The bridge was never engineered for its purpose, and in fairness to Hornsby council/National Parks, its construction was obviously never appropriately funded. Yes, its collapse was precede by some rain, and higher water levels - surely a well built bridge is designed to cope with the occasional 'outlyer' weather event?

It's interesting to see how long it will take to replace, as this bridge is probably used by dozens/scores of people each day, and is really an integral part of the GNW in this area - there is no real practical alternative to go north from Crosslands.

Perhaps the replacement bridge could be placed further upstream, where the creek is slightly narrower - though of course this would require more track construction. Let's hope something happens soon.

Skibug

[ULWalkingPhil]

Looks like I will have to scrap this walk of my list of overnight hikes in the area. Unless i wade across the creek further along the river, problem is there will be no guarantee i will be able to cross that section, just incase its deeper than expected.

I never learnt to swim.

[colinm]

Looks like I will have to scrap this walk of my list of overnight hikes in the area. Unless i wade across the creek further along the river, problem is there will be no guarantee i will be able to cross that section, just incase its deeper than expected.
I never learnt to swim.

Mate, if you couldn't get across where we got across, the whole region's in flood. I'll get the track to you when I next flush the GPS.

[ULWalkingPhil]

Looks like I will have to scrap this walk of my list of overnight hikes in the area. Unless i wade across the creek further along the river, problem is there will be no guarantee i will be able to cross that section, just incase its deeper than expected.
I never learnt to swim.

Mate, if you couldn't get across where we got across, the whole region's in flood. I'll get the track to you when I next flush the GPS.

You know, I totally forgotten about the gps tracks. Are they in a .GPX format? If so, just send that over.

Ill keep an eye on the weather, i really want to do that section of the hike.

[Bluegum Mic]

Phil its still worth it even just to shorten it. If the GPS co-ords don't work out (which they will but a back up plan for armagedon flooding rain can be) simply start from Mt Kuring gai station. Walk out from the station, cross the pacific hwy at the lights right there and the track marker and firetrail starts right there (look for the beige painted pole with the bushwalker on it). It soon becomes a really pretty track and it plops you right at the northern side of the broken bridge ready to keep going. You'll still get a couple of really nice days out of this. You can always jump on a train at Brooklyn and cross the hawksbury to Wondabyne station. Walk up the ridge on the GNW and the take the walk out to pindar caves (the cairn is fairly obvious). Camp there and then simply return the next day.

[Leppy]

I must have been there just days before it broke. As said it has been looking a little 'low' for a while. Part of its issues I think, was that at high tide the bridge sat in the water which wouldn't have been doing it any help.

[Leppy]

Should make the Canla campsite a little more available!! The walk down from Mt Kuring-Gai is a nice one.

[colinm]

Walk up the ridge on the GNW and the take the walk out to pindar caves (the cairn is fairly obvious). Camp there and then simply return the next day.

I wouldn't have said it was an obvious route - wildwalks has it though. The other problem is water, the (man made) dams on top of the rock are usually dripping, but who knows.

[skibug]

Went and had a sticky-beak on Sunday. Whilst walking through Crosslands, a large party arrived from the north - over 30 students - so I asked how they crossed at the bridge. They described, and I subsequently confirmed, walking less than 100 m upstream (only that far to find a gap in the vegetation on the bank) from the bridge, then wading across and downstream in knee deep water to a small gap in the mangroves, where they could access the bank, walking downstream a further 10 or 20 m, then scrambling about 30 m straight up the fall line, emerging at a signpost right on the ridge line of the GNW track. The scramble is a bit slippery, would be worse in rain, and I suspect will soon be quite eroded from contînued use.

The tide was about 2 hours after low, so pick your time and you'll get even less water - I'm sure in the past I've looked upstream from the bridge and seen mainly dry sand, with splash- able rivulets. At high tide you'd need to swim - I don't have a solution for this if you can't pick your time.

It's interesting looking at the area with Google earth, as it shows the bridge crossing is at the very deepest point of the creek.

Again, I hope the replacement bridge will be better quality than the last dismal effort, as this track is one of the most used in the area - both by serious bush walkers and day trippers - often with young kids in tow, and needs something that is safe, and that will last.

Skibug

[Lindsay]

From todays Hornsby Advocate:
"Three bushwalkers had to be rescued by police after becoming lost on Saturday night. The trio set off at 10am from Glenview Rd in Mount Kuring-gai to complete traning for the Oxfam Trailwalker event. At 7pm the group realised they were lost and called 000. Apparently they did not realise that a bridge had collapsed some time ago and were not sure of an alternative route. PolAir located them from the sky and police walked in from Crosslands and escorted them out."

It seems like poor planning rather than the missing bridge was the real problem here.

[Harry de Walker]

Any chance this bridge will be repaired in the next 4 to 5 weeks?

Based on current NSW government's understanding of money and time, it will be a lot of each.

[Leppy]

Went for a paddle today, bridge is still out

[Rob Gosford]

Went for a paddle today, bridge is still out

hi Leppy, that's a great angle to shoot from and a nice day for a paddle
a coincidence......was out for a hike today and took a photo of THE bridge but from the other angle.
wish someone would start to fix it !

[DarrenM]

I have a slackline that should reach.....bring your balance with you.

[Leppy]

Hey Rob, looking at the tide level we must have been there at close to the same time!

[Greenie]

I have a slackline that should reach.....bring your balance with you.

The bridge isn't broken. It's just bent a lot in the middle

[Rob Gosford]

Hey Rob, looking at the tide level we must have been there at close to the same time!

hey Lep,
a coincidence it might be !
I took my photo at Calna bridge at 9.40 today sunday morning. Then i walked on back towards Crosslands, noticing a red canoe heading up Berowra Creek twards Calna lol.

[wildwalks]

I am just saying....



http://inspir3d.net/2012/09/10/floating-boat-bridge-in-bangladesh/

[ULWalkingPhil]

If we can organize enough boats for my crossing of the creek soon?


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