Bushwalk Australia

Hi all,

My partner and I in Sydney are looking to do the Mount Anne circuit in Tasmania around the New Year. To have any chance, we're looking to build up our endurance and general fitness, especially with rock scrambling, and long steep climbs and descents.

Back in March this year, we attempted the Mount Anne summit and unfortunately weren't able to reach the summit in a day due to extreme weather. Back then, we trained by doing the Bungonia Slot Canyon hike several times as well as Carlon's Head and Ruined Castle walks. We especially found the Bungonia Slot Canyon hike as a great challenge to build fitness with its boulder scrambling, and long steep ascents and descents.

We're currently looking for day hikes that ideally were similar to this, that were very...dynamic? Would there be any similar hikes within say 2 hours drive around Sydney that could be done in a day?

Thanks for reading!

Hmm, that's a tricky one. Bungonia Canyon really is one-of-a-kind.

Not quite the same, I know, but there are "stream-bashes" all over the place. Even upstream from Bungonia Canyon there is superb boulder-hopping up to the waterfalls.

Devil's Hole, Katoomba, is rough and energetic, and a visual treat. It's only 2km long, but it's 350 metres of vertical, so three times down-and-up would make a fabulous workout. The track starts from Cliff Drive to the west of Katoomba.

I would agree with Devil's Hole, also check out the tracks around the Lower Mountains that cross Glenbrook Creek e.g. St Martins Lookout to Lost World Lookout

If you're looking to do more scrambling, you probably need to get away from the tracks, but that generally requires some navigation.

Mt Solitary is probably the closest thing in the Bluies - on track, some steep scrambling up Korrawall Knife Edge.

As others have mentioned, Devils Hole (combine with Redledge Pass for a good loop - some navigation required). T3 (Tootie Creek) Track on the Colo is also pretty steep.

If you're prepared to go more away from defined tracks
- Canoe Creek (Colo, Wollemi NP)
- Cattle Dog Ridge & Knights Deck (Wild Dogs, Blue Mountains NP)

Or further afield
- Pipeline Track (Newnes, Wollemi NP)
- The Castle (Budawangs, Morton NP)

Track notes for all of these can be found on my web site