Kanangra Walls-Cloudmaker-Kanangra

[Phillip]

Kanangra Walls – Gingra Range – Kowmung – Ti Willa Plateau – Cloudmaker – Gangerang Range – Kanangra. 22-24 September, 2022.
This trip was at the request of my son Chris who after travelling from Melbourne was set to complete it, rain, hail or shine.

The last time I visited Cloudmaker was 55 years ago as a 15-year-old with three school mates. In May 1967 we climbed up from Thunder Bend to Stormbreaker and then down Ti Willa via Cloudmaker with an epic 42 km last day from the Gingra Ck junction with the Kowmung to Katoomba and then catching the 3am Mudgee Mail to Central.

Day 1.
Unfortunately, the forecast for rain for several days was quite accurate. We set off at 9am in the rain from Kanangra on Thursday 22, September. The aim was to reach the Kowmung that evening. Memories of the Gingra Range from 20 years ago suggested that it would be an easy walk, not so. Just below the coal seam, south of Murrawang Head, we encountered dreadful secondary bushfire re-growth that obscured just about everything, even the sky on occasions. Our map and compass were of limited usefulness given the limited visibility. Chris’s Garmin inReach was a lifesaver with the route appearing along with contours.

The ridge-top route was mostly impossible to follow and frequently impassable by fallen trees and branches covered by an anastomosing network of vines, weedy shrubs and small saplings. The feral pigs had created pseudo-tracks that seemed to criss-cross everywhere. Even though we had limited water, we decided to make camp on the saddle between 4th and 5th at about 5pm. As it continued to rain, we debated whether we were likely to make it back on-time given the slow pace and the dreadful conditions. It was possible to be only a few metres away from the old route and to be completely bushed.

Day 2.
We left at 7am dreading the descent to the Kowmung which did not disappoint. It took about two to three hours fighting our way through seemingly impenetrable jungle. Based on our expertise, gained on the day before, we developed several techniques. The “Breastroke” was good for dense saplings that were mainly vertical and were relatively vine-free. A bow wave could be created by holding one’s two hands in a V and charging ahead. Being shorter than Chris, the “Wombat” was better for me. This technique requires basically crawling on hands and knees. The “Stomper” was best for Chris who could raise his legs and squash the undergrowth. When all else failed, the “Swan-dive”, although a bit risky, could flatten the opposition for at least a couple of steps. Regardless of approach, the vines resulted in being either coat-hangered around the neck, lassoed around the legs and torso or having one’s pack captured.

Gingra Ck saw us desperately taking on water ready for the ascent up Stockyard Spur. We took advantage of the track to the top shed associated with the gauging station; this saved us about 500m of fighting the undergrowth which, however, soon appeared with a vengeance. The intensity of vines had increased from Day 1 as did the rain. The climb to Compagnoni’s Pass must be the worst experience we have endured either bushwalking or bike-packing and that includes carrying fully laden bikes up the Dzhuku Pass in Kyrgyzstan!

Crazy thoughts went through our heads by the time we had only achieved two to three kilometres in about five hours – turn back, no, the thought was unbearable or walk out via Scotts and cadge a lift from Yerranderie? By 4pm we still had not reached Compagnoni’s Pass and we couldn’t even see the cliffs. At 4.15 and getting darker and still raining I caught a glimpse of a cliff base. This spurred us on. By this stage we had given up all hope of making it to the 100 Man Cave. I had a vague memory from 1967 that there is an overhang somewhere. We emerged, completely soaked, through a tunnel in the undergrowth at 4.45 and after a quick reconnaissance we settled in what is probably a dingo’s lair under a nice conglomerate overhang complete with a steady drip of water that filled up our water containers. Given the state of the bush we had no confidence that the next day we would be able to climb from our campsite to Cloudmaker and reach Kanangra.

Day 3
We left at 7.30 in light rain, found the pitons and climbed the Pass. To our great relief the vegetation along the Ti Willa Plateau was manageable and we vowed to do our best and reach Kanangra by night-fall using torches if necessary. Ti Willa Hill, Ti Willa Too and Ti Willa Top were reached without any issues apart from a few hundred metre patches of dense saplings here and there which, given our newly acquired expertise, were brushed off as mere distractions. The plateau west and south-west of Ti Willa Top required some concentration to avoid heading too far south given the visibility. Cloudmaker was welcome though my knees protested along the Gangerang Range. There were only a few patches of regrowth encountered though, due to the increased traffic, these had been flattened. With great relief we arrived back at the car at 5.10 pm.

Afterthoughts
Curiously, I saw only one small cairn during the walk. I remember many more from 1967, these would have been invaluable in the extreme conditions and, possibly, life-savers in areas such as at the top of Compagnoni’s Pass or the base of the Gordon Smith Pass to assist with navigation in inclement conditions. Given the effect of rampaging pigs and their wallows, heavily eroded bushwalkers’ tracks on Kanangra Plateau and the widespread devastation of the area by the bushfires of 2019 it is hard to understand objections to these inconspicuous helpmates.

It would be hard to recommend this walk given the present state of the bush though the constant rain has probably coloured our assessment. I can envisage difficulties in hot weather when water could be a real issue if objectives are not met due to slow progress. I wonder if a sign should be placed at Kanangra that warns about the regrowth.

Phillip Hellman
6 October 2022

[sandym]

Mate, stellar effort in shocking weather and conditions. I think many people would have turned around. This totally echoes my experience post bushfires and I wonder if some of these old routes are pretty much gone for ever.

Thanks so much for posting a realistic "on the ground" report.

[irrgent]

Thanks for the report. I have had similar experiences in the Kanangra and southern Blue Mountains post fires as well.

I also wonder when/if many trips in these areas will be viable again. Right now covering any good distance is very arduous and slow, leaving little time to actually enjoy the bush (if you can even see any of the views through the dense undergrowth). For the most part I don't think these areas get enough traffic for tracks to reliably form when the vegetation is this dense. It seems the only hope is to wait for the regrowth to subside but several years on and it only seems to be intensifying, even in areas where the forest canopy seems to have recovered. You would have to think the extreme amount of rainfall in the last few years and the last 12 months in particular also have a lot to do with it, with Sydney recording its biggest rainfall year since records began still with months to go.

[Phillip]

The trouble with my negative report is that fewer walkers will attempt this torture resulting in denser regrowth. Maybe the strategy should be to get as many groups as possible to flatten a route down the Gingra Range? Not sure how this would fit with guidelines of “leave no trace”!

[Walk_fat boy_walk]

The trouble with my negative report is that fewer walkers will attempt this torture resulting in denser regrowth. Maybe the strategy should be to get as many groups as possible to flatten a route down the Gingra Range? Not sure how this would fit with guidelines of “leave no trace”!

Perhaps counter-intuitively, I don't think re-establishing existing routes through regrowth (or weeds, noting one can be mistaken for the other) jars with LNT principles? Would even be ok with working parties actively doing so, so long as it just involved recutting the old routes?

Sent from my SM-S906E using Tapatalk

[rwildman]

Ah Phillip, you guys must be champions! Still I have written several reports and a Bushwalking Magazine article about the problems of regrowth all along the east coast and we keep hearing about loss of tracks to the jungle. The last walk I did in the Budawangs, we carried secateurs to give us a chance. Even with these, you need to stop and methodically cut every wrapping vine until you can go on. It meant it was hard on the leader but made it easier for the rest of the crew.
I just think we have to wait until the forest cover gets to a point where the regrowth starts to die off and then get back into these areas. Who knows?

[Xplora]

Ah Phillip, you guys must be champions! Still I have written several reports and a Bushwalking Magazine article about the problems of regrowth all along the east coast and we keep hearing about loss of tracks to the jungle. The last walk I did in the Budawangs, we carried secateurs to give us a chance. Even with these, you need to stop and methodically cut every wrapping vine until you can go on. It meant it was hard on the leader but made it easier for the rest of the crew.
I just think we have to wait until the forest cover gets to a point where the regrowth starts to die off and then get back into these areas. Who knows?

It has been just over 20 years since the fire went through our area and we are just starting to notice some change in the lower forest vegetation density. This is Alpine and Sub Alpine though so it might be a little different to the tablelands.