Bushwalk Australia

Hi all,

Long term reader of the forum here, finally got around to making an account and I am seeking your collective wisdom re the bushwalker corridors! I did find one previous thread related to these but it didn't have the answers I'm looking for.

Having walked in a fair bit of the blue mountains, I've developed a bit of an obsession with the catchment area and the ~The Forbidden Zone~. Have been close via Kedumba & Nattai edges while walking, but I'm especially interested in visiting the two bushwalker corridors, since these are the only parts inside the catchment that are legally accessible. From what I can see there are two options-

1) The South Corridor - Sheepwalk trail/Joorilands area
My initial idea about accessing this corridor was driving to Yerranderie and then walking south-east along the sheepwalk trail to where it crosses the Wollondilly near the Joorilands and returning to spend the night at Yerranderie (since you can't camp along the corridors). From what I've heard though this route seems to be a bit of a boring fire trail slog? But I'd love to get to the Wollondilly crossing. Wondering if it might be better to approach from Starlights Trail/Beloon pass? Keen to hear thoughts on this and any advice.




2) The North Corridor - White Dog trail/Kelpie Point trail to Scotts Main Range track
For this corridor, I was considering driving to Dunphys Campground then walking south along the bushwalkers corridor, crossing the Coxs river wherever you're allowed to (??). Ideally would also include a visit to the Kowmung then potentially head up Mt Cookem and return. What's confusing about this route is the lack of information about where exactly the bushwalkers corridor diverges from the White Dog Ridge trail and crosses the Coxs (and if/where the Kelpie Point trail fits into this!) Also unsure if you're even allowed to approach the Coxs/Kowmung confluence, or if this spot falls outside the corridor and is therefore forbidden. Does anyone have some experience here? Not sure if approaching from the opposite direction (ie Scotts Main Range track) would be recommended instead.



Any advice/recommendations are hugely appreciated! I know this may seem a bit of a silly endeavour, but it's an interest I haven't been able to shake off.

Take care, it's grand country - 44 grand!

And if you should stray from the straight and narrow and get accosted, the standard response is: "Oh, thank goodness I've found someone. Can you tell me where I am? I'm heading to Dunphys, but nothing seems to fit on the map."

That tip was from someone who challenged themselves to visit every feature that was named after a dog, and has since done most of them.

anarresti wrote:2) The North Corridor - White Dog trail/Kelpie Point trail to Scotts Main Range track
For this corridor, I was considering driving to Dunphys Campground then walking south along the bushwalkers corridor, crossing the Coxs river wherever you're allowed to (??). Ideally would also include a visit to the Kowmung then potentially head up Mt Cookem and return. What's confusing about this route is the lack of information about where exactly the bushwalkers corridor diverges from the White Dog Ridge trail and crosses the Coxs (and if/where the Kelpie Point trail fits into this!) Also unsure if you're even allowed to approach the Coxs/Kowmung confluence, or if this spot falls outside the corridor and is therefore forbidden. Does anyone have some experience here? Not sure if approaching from the opposite direction (ie Scotts Main Range track) would be recommended instead.

You can see where the route deviates from the White Dog Track on OpenStreetMap.

Unfortunately, the Coxs/Kowmung confluence is in grand country. Though if you were coming from Scotts Main Range, you could claim that the route is not marked on the current topo maps (true!), and so you were just pushing on to the bottom of the White Dog Track...

anarresti wrote:Any advice/recommendations are hugely appreciated! I know this may seem a bit of a silly endeavour, but it's an interest I haven't been able to shake off.

Once you have done it you will shake it off. More like shake your head and ask why. Not overly inspiring. There were signs once on the White Dog/Kelpie pt route. Make a trip of it and visit the Catholic Bushwalking Club setup and then continue to the Kowmung and up Gingra to Kanangra. From there you could head to Cloudmaker, Dex Creek and back to your start point via Yellow Pup. Some itches you have to scratch. I understand that.

Legends. Thank you for the answers, both really helpful.
I do recall seeing Dave Noble write on here somewhere about visiting the Coxs/Kowmung confluence.. Hmm. Will give that 44k some more thought! Continuing on to Kanangra on the gingra is a good idea cheers, I've done that part way in reverse but would be nice to make a proper trip of it including the northern corridor.

Btw is Scotts main range drivable from Yerranderie? Or is there a gate at some point?

anarresti wrote:1) The South Corridor - Sheepwalk trail/Joorilands area
My initial idea about accessing this corridor was driving to Yerranderie and then walking south-east along the sheepwalk trail to where it crosses the Wollondilly near the Joorilands and returning to spend the night at Yerranderie (since you can't camp along the corridors). From what I've heard though this route seems to be a bit of a boring fire trail slog? But I'd love to get to the Wollondilly crossing. Wondering if it might be better to approach from Starlights Trail/Beloon pass? Keen to hear thoughts on this and any advice.

Either way is probably a bit of a fire trail slog, but the Starlights end can probably be made into an interesting walk, whereas the Yerranderie end doesn't offer many alternatives. And it's a long drive to Yerranderie if you're coming from Sydney (vs a pretty short drive to Wattle Ridge).

You can walk the old Nattai Rd to the Nattai River in half a day, and then camp near the foot of Beloon Pass - either following the river, or continuing on the old road. The going across the pass might be slow at the moment - not sure what it's like post-fires, and with probably limited foot traffic. On the return, you could walk up the Nattai and out Starlights for something different. At least 3 days.

If you're prepared to chance a bit of grand country, there would be more interesting options from the Wanganderry Walls. There's about 1.5km of grand country between Beloon Pass and the Wanganderry Walls...

The boundaries of grand country really are ridiculous. They could move the boundaries to the foot of the various clifflines, and that would allow (legal!) walking to places like Nattai Bluff, Golden Moon Bluff and Beloon Pass from the top without having the slightest impact on water quality.

On the E side of Scotts Main Range (SMR) there is Butchers Creek, which is inside the exclusion zone. We wouldn't want any bushwalkers fouling Sydney' water supply, would we? Yeah, right.

Some of those exclusion zones are essential for the well being of certain (water board?) rangers. What 'they' do about the hundreds of horses, cows, pigs and goats in Butchers Creek I do not know - but I DO know first hand that there are hundreds of them there, and the dung/poo/pellets/excrement are everywhere. Maybe some people with a key to the WB gates muster them up onto SMR where there is a truck highway, and take them out to some rural abattoir? Could be a bit of profit there I imagine.

Hundreds of them? Yeah, you heard me right.

At one stage Parks scoured the Kanangra valley for pigs. They took out over 50 of them. Pigs are however still there - I wonder where they come from?

Cheers
Roger

anarresti wrote:Legends. Thank you for the answers, both really helpful.
I do recall seeing Dave Noble write on here somewhere about visiting the Coxs/Kowmung confluence.. Hmm. Will give that 44k some more thought! Continuing on to Kanangra on the gingra is a good idea cheers, I've done that part way in reverse but would be nice to make a proper trip of it including the northern corridor.

Btw is Scotts main range drivable from Yerranderie? Or is there a gate at some point?

Nah there's a gate... at the tonali crossing from memory?

Re gingra to kanangra then katoomba (or reverse depending on direction of travel)... much better to head to the kowmung/christys Junction over bulga cone then to kanangra via cambage spire. Less FT and far more interesting route.

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