Bushwalk Australia

G'day, Over Easter I have a couple of days to kill in Katoomba before I head to christening in Bathurst. I was thinking of doing an easy overnight loop of walking down Ironpot ridge, down the Cox and back up yellow pup.

I've been on both ridges before so my question is what's the section of the Cox like inbetween? Looks like plain sailing on the map...should I expect anything suprising??

Thanks.

How easy it is to walk depends on the river level. It is easy if you cross the river many times to avoid bluffs. Should be reasonable walking most of the way, but at this time of the year (and at Easter) there could be high weeds and burrs. If you find it slow, then you can climb out on any spur on the true left and walk up to the horse track.

Dave

Thanks for the reply Dave. It'll be the Easter weekend I'll be doing it so I will be expecting a weed fest, and yeah, as you say if the water is too high for lots of crossings I'll head up high and wing it from there.

Wear gaiters there's plenty of snakes. I was there a few weeks back and saw 5!!

psknives wrote:Wear gaiters there's plenty of snakes. I was there a few weeks back and saw 5!!

Only 5! You were lucky. Mostly Blacks but also have seen Browns. I concur with psknives. They like hanging out on the rocks to get warm so you should look before you put your hand over a boulder. The only time I have every had a black snake look like it was going to strike was on that walk and it was when we were eyeballing each other over a boulder. With the number of river crossings then you will need to think about having some dry shoes for camp. It is a bit tiresome to take your boots off each time (i.e. if you are a boot wearing person). I would not do this walk straight after heavy rain. As Dave has mentioned, the levels could be a problem but also the turbidity of the water makes it hard to see where to plant your feet and if the water is higher the problem is worse.

Thanks for the replys. I've actually walked up stream from breakfast Ck to the 6ft track camp, that was last December I think and found the walking in that direction a breeze but yeah, it was snake central then too.
I won't be bothering with de and rebooting, xplora. If the waters low enough I just plow on through unless it gets above knackers deep. Once camp established for the night I'm thongs till bed.

puredingo wrote:Thanks for the replys. I've actually walked up stream from breakfast Ck to the 6ft track camp, that was last December I think and found the walking in that direction a breeze

Not as breezy going the other way but I still enjoyed it. Where to cross is pretty obvious most of the time. You may be entertained at camp picking out all the Farmer's friends you collected. I also really like the walk out up Yellow Pup. Not sure how the water will be at Mobb's swamp but I would not rely on it.

Seeing the name come up again, anyone know the difference b/n Mobb's Swamp and Mobb's Soak? Are the two different areas or interchangeable?

Both names refer to the same location. Some may say that the spring marked on the map is the soak. It is called Mobbs Swamp on the 1:25k map (Jenolan)

Yes, I noticed the label on the map, clearly a geographical designation and makes sense. Any knowledge where the Soak name came from? Were walkers from past trying to distinguish the swamp area and the water source/camp area?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

GPSGuided wrote:Yes, I noticed the label on the map, clearly a geographical designation and makes sense. Any knowledge where the Soak name came from? Were walkers from past trying to distinguish the swamp area and the water source/camp area?

If you have an interest in the area, I suggest you get yourself a copy of the Dunphy Gangerang sketch map.

On it, the feature is marked as Mobb's Soak. Many walkers still use this useful map, hence the popularity of the name.

The only name listed by the Geographic Names Board is Mobbs Swamp, and this is reflected on the current topographic map. Why the Soak variant name was not accepted, I am unsure of. I think it would have been more appropriate as the swamp itself isn't where people visit. It's more the spring / soak.

Allchin09 wrote:If you have an interest in the area, I suggest you get yourself a copy of the Dunphy Gangerang sketch map.

On it, the feature is marked as Mobb's Soak. Many walkers still use this useful map, hence the popularity of the name.

The only name listed by the Geographic Names Board is Mobbs Swamp, and this is reflected on the current topographic map. Why the Soak variant name was not accepted, I am unsure of. I think it would have been more appropriate as the swamp itself isn't where people visit. It's more the spring / soak.

Thanks Alex. That makes logical sense.

A lot of the Myles Dunphy names were not accepted officially because they did not fit in with other names. Eg Dunphy's Rip, Rack, Roar and Rumble were all renamed as Rip Knoll etc. Four of the five Deeps were rejected (Kanangra Deep, Tartarus Deep, Shemash Deep, Wahalania Deep, and only Morong Deep survived for some reason. etc), I am surprised the Pits" were accepted (e.g. Guouogang Pit). This is also probably what happened to Mobbs Soak - the the name that bushwalkers have always used - renamed as "Mobbs Swamp" on official maps.

I just checked on the Colong Foundation website, where they have a copy of Myles Dunphy's 1932 Wild Dog Mts map - and it has the feature marked as "Mobbs Swamp" and the same name is on the Blue Mountains Tourist Map. I think there was another early sketch map of the Wild Dog Mts drawn by Ninian Melville. If so, I wonder what name he used?

The name "Mobbs Soak" is named after Len Mobbs of the SBW. I am not sure if it was named by Myles Dunphy or someone else?

Dave

Quite a story. Thanks for the education.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk