Mt Tootie access

[mandragara]

Hi all

I'm looking to explore the Colo\Wallangambe confluence. I can see a trail that seems to go from Mt Tootie to nearish Pass 37 on Bob Buck and Geoff Daley's Colo Sketch Map. I plan to drive my car as far as I can, then ride my mountain bike as far as I can, then hike down to the confluence. I might also take rcaffin's advice from elsewhere on this site and try and descend a little upstream from the junction.

However, access to Mt Tootie is unclear. Topo map shows a number of gates and subdivided lots. Does anyone know what the access situation is?

Happy hiking all!

[Petew]

Not sure, it's been a couple of decades since I've been there.

I have often pondered walking/liloing from the Wollangambe canyon to the colo along the river.

[johnrs]

Drove out on the fire trails years ago
In a Torana XU1!
Grown over now, ask permission to walk at Itchenstoke
Good weekend trip out to the Gambe/Colo junction, rough down to the Colo from the ed of the fire trails.
Massive pool and sandbank there
John

[rcaffin]

I THINK that the road out to Itchenstoke is also an access road to the DCA station on top of Mt Tootie.
Anyhow, the several times we have been through there the farmer was happy to chat when we asked for permission. Is the same guy there today? Dunno. But I suspect it is still a public road.

We parked near the DCA station, walked through the NPWS locked boom gate just downhill a bit, and followed the 4WD track out to above the Woll/Colo junction. We had a slight contratemps finding the way down: you can NOT walk down the cliffs over the Colo, but you could paraglide. We chose not to.

Well, we got down to the junction anyhow, then started back. There were no problems along the way. It's just that we got back to the car around midnight - it was meant to be a day walk, not a weekender. Finding food on the way home was difficult: sawdust sausages at a petrol station in Richmond was all we could find. I can't say they were worth the money. This was some years ago, when we still had one grown-up daughter living at home, She was kinda frantic by the time we rang her to say we were OK. Chuckle.

Cheers
Roger

[mandragara]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I feel for your Torana XU1 on those rocky bits of the trail!

I'm just writing a short trip report here in case anyone else ever decides to go here.

I drove towards Mt Tootie and spoke to an owner just inside the Itchenstoke gates. He said he didn't mind but wasn't too sure about the residents of Little Tootie, as that lot had been recently subdivided. He said that if I parked outside the Itchenstoke gate and rode my MTB to the firetrail and greeted anyone along the way, it should be fine. I met several people on the short cycle from the Itchenstoke gate to the start of the fire trail, none of whom questioned my presence.

The firetrail to Bowen Hill and beyond is nice. It extends further than the topo map suggests, as is visible on satellite view on your mapping service of choice. The firetrail is very smooth and a little sandy, with the occasional steep rocky section I couldn't ride my bike down\up (although I'm sure a more skilled biker could). I'd consider it mostly single track riding. There was a larger range of biomes than I expected for a ridge, with some nice wildflowers, thickly wooded sections and lush and ferny parts. The trail is too overgrown for there to be much to look at on the cycle in. It took me 3.5 hours to ride to the end of the firetrail at a relaxed pace in gale force winds. Here is a view from the end of the firetrail:

Beyond the end of the firetrail it'd be a few kms walk along a fairly standard Colo ridge to the top of Pass 37, which would take you down to the Colo-Wollongambe junction. I decided not to do this in the gale force wind on the day I was out. Although it certainly looks like something you could do as an overnighter, ride in with packs and hike down to the Colo, camp and return the next day (or better yet spend a day exploring the gorge!)

Here's an extract from Brian Corlis' excellent book to help the intrepid explorer

Cheers,

Richard

[sigmacom]

Thanks Richard for this report - I'd been wanting to ride out there for a few years and wondered about the PP access.

[mandragara]

No worries.

When you reach the end of the firetrail, a better lookout is about 500 meters walk further on, down the saddle and up the other side.

If you're a good rider, there's also the D'Arcy range trail that brances off from Tootie, you could try and smash both in a day. Never done it myself though.

Let me know how it goes if you decide to go! Also do you have any MTB rides off of Bells Line of Road you could recommend? Looking for more to do up that way.

[sigmacom]

Thanks. I'll post back here when I get out there.

I've only done Richmond - Bowen Mtn - Burralow Fire Trail - Paterson Range then crossed over to the Mountain Lagoon Rd and Mountain Lagoon Trail - Comleroy Rd back to Richmond.

[rcaffin]

D'Arcy range trail that brances off from Tootie
Been there many years ago, done that, had a lot of scrub. I don't think it is maintained any more - but I could be wrong. D'Arcy itself is a lot of scrub with limited views.

Cheers
Roger