Track condition Kanangra, Gingra range and Gangerang range

[gaf]

Hello,
Friends and I were hoping to do this circuit walk in early/mid April in Kanangra: Kanangra Walls - Gingra range to Kowmung river - up to Ti Willa plateau via Compagnoni pass - Mt Cloudmaker - Gangerang range - back to Kanangra walls.
I've done this walk a few times in the past, but all before the bushfires of 2019/2020. I see from other posts in this forum that there is a lot of overgrowth in the area post-fires which makes the going tough.

Has anyone been out there recently and have a view on what this walk would be like? In particular, is Compagnoni Pass still passable / useable post-fires? And are the main trails (Gingra and Gangerang ranges) really overgrown and difficult to get through, or relatively clear?

Thank you!

[keithj]

Gingra range was weed infested below 4th top with lots of fallen trees across the track from 1st top.
Stockyard spur is steep as ever, but clear after the first 100m.
Compangoni Pass is still fine,
Ti Willa plateau was barren & trackless a year ago. Finding the track to Cloudmaker from TiWilla was non-obvious.
Enjoy...

[tom_brennan]

Gingra range was weed infested below 4th top with lots of fallen trees across the track from 1st top.

Keep in mind that once away from the banks of the Kowmung, most of the "weeds" are actually natives.

[gaf]

Thanks very much for this info keithj, it's really helpful. Thanks too tom_brennan.

[phil6394]

Hi

Me and another old bloke tried the Gingra Trail early December 2021. We had planned to follow the trail all the way and return a few days later. This was after the fires and the floods of the previous years plus the park had been closed for 12 months for Covid. Also unfortunately on the weekend we chose it was raining cats and dogs with heaps of fog/ mist. Kanangra Deep looked like Rivendell, spectacular.

Easy tracking to Coal Seam Cave as that's a comfortable day trip. Easy on to Cottage Rock and onto the Bullhead Mountain track turnoff knoll. But from there the area was thickly overgrown with incense plants as far as the eye could see in the First Top direction that we wished to head. We dead reckoned for while as we couldn't discern a track after much searching. But given we'd had a late start, the poor weather and intensity of undergrowth we abandoned our trip and walked back out and had a comfortable night at the Boyd River Campsite.

Maybe we missed a turn off after Cottage Rock, dunno. Bush was so thick. We will be back but only after a dry spell. We don't like defeat.

Maybe find out how recent the other reported trips were. Everyone else seems to have got a lot further.

I hope that helps. Anyhow enjoy, as the wilderness is as wild as it can get at the moment.

[gaf]

Thanks very much for this phil6394. It sounds tough going. Perhaps now isn't the time for us to do this walk. Hard to know when it will be time again!

[tom_brennan]

It will be interesting to see what happens this winter. The Incense Plants are biennials, and are in flower now, so they may well die en masse over the next few months.

We walked down to Orange Bluff in April last year. It was scrubby, but didn't take that much longer than "usual". At the time I wrote:

Once you get away from the rivers, you're not generally looking at weeds - mainly natives. And along the rivers, the weeds probably got wiped out by the floods in March - not sure how much they will have come back over winter. This was certainly the case back in May at Orange Bluff.

On the south/east facing tops, you will probably get head high forests of Calomeria (Incense Plants) in places. This was the case below First Top and below Brumby Mountain.

Also, lots of new eucalypts popping up on the high/rocky tops, as there is lots more light, and probably some of them have seeds that are smoke activated. This was the case on First Top and on Brumby Mountain.

And then in the saddles you get general quartzite scrub - I can't remember what exactly. Acacias, maybe Indigoferas.

This was all out towards the Kowmung, but given the terrain towards the Coxs is similar, I'd expect similar conditions. Just makes for slow going in certain places.

[Geebung]

Hi, I’m also interested in the condition of the Gangerang Range track from anyone who’s been out there recently. We were planning to go out to Cloudmaker from Kanangra sometime in the next couple of weeks. Not sure if we should expect it to be a bit rough and indistinct with fallen logs etc, or completely overgrown, pushing through tall vegetation and basically off-track navigating. Any advice and/or photos appreciated!

[sandym]

This might help: http://ashleyeylenburg.com/3Peaks/index.htm#Post2022

[Geebung]

Thank you for that!
Sounds like many areas out there are completely unrecognisable, compared with pre-fires/floods.

[Spiersy]

Me and a mate did this walk as described by GAF last weekend.
Two big days.
On Saturday the thick regrowth on the Gingra range and Willa ridge slowed us down so we had to camp at a (surprisingly good) flat spot halfway up Willa ridge.
On Sunday the veg was even thicker, but we got up Campagnoni pass OK. Ti Willa to Cloudmaker was good travel, then the usual track back to Kanangra.
For us, 50% of the trip was on a track or easy to follow route, 25% was on tricky to follow routes, often with thick veg, and 25% was slow bushbashing in dense regrowth.
I enjoyed it, but I can see how it's not everyone's cup of tea.

[Spiersy]

PM me if you want photos of the above

[sandym]

Thanks for the report.

[Geebung]

Yes, thank you for the update! Our plans have now fallen through with covid paying a visit to our house, but I look forward to getting out there another time soon.

[phil6394]

Anyone done Gingra Range track lately?

Is is clear and track discernable?

Thanks