Narrow Neck and Radiata Plateau Pass Octathlon

[Allchin09]

Hey,

After being cooped up inside for quite sometime, I thought it was about time to devise an interesting day walk to make up for my inactivity.

I had a quick flick through my copy of Jim Smiths "How to See the Blue Mountains" book and after looking at a map (no. 15 for those who have a copy) of Nelly's Glen, Radiata Plateau and Narrow Neck, I decided that it would be appropriate to combine the areas into the one trip.

My intention is to start at Scenic World and complete the following:
1. Descend Furber Stairs, and walk along the Federal Pass
2. Ascend the Golden Stairs, and walk via Diamond Falls to Redledge Pass
3. Descend Redledge Pass, and follow the fire trails to Devils Hole
4. Ascend Devils Hole, and walk to Nellies Glen via Narrow Neck Rd, Stuarts Rd and the track over Bonnie Doon Falls
5. Descend Nellies Glen, and follow the Six Foot Tk and walking route that follows a tributary of Megalong Ck to Bottleneck Pass
6. Ascend Bottleneck Pass, and walk the Radiata Plateau fire trails to Megalong Head
7. Descend Esgate Pass, and follow the base of the cliff line North to Blacks Ladder
8. Ascend Blacks Ladder, and follow the Radiata Plateau fire trails to Explorers Tree, back past Bonnie Doon Falls to Stuarts Rd and then along Peckmans Rd back to the start.

Doing a distance calculation with the SIX Maps --> http://maps.six.nsw.gov.au/ line tool, I estimated the distance to be just short of 30km. I expect the actual distance to be greater.

Do you think this is achievable in a very long day? I could reverse the order if necessary, which would allow me to walk the more familiar Golden Stairs and to Scenic World in the dark.

Also, can anyone provide any info on the state of the track in the following sections:
1. Old walking track to Redledge via Diamond Falls
2. Stuarts Rd to Nellies Glen via Bonnie Doon Falls
2. From the 6FT track to Radiata Plateau via Bottleneck Pass

Thanks,

[FatCanyoner]

I'd be very surprised if you could do this walk at the moment. It's dark by just after 5pm. Descending Esgate Pass would be pretty dicey in the dark. Even following the ledges around to Blacks Ladders would be pretty miserable in the dark. I'd save it up for later in the year when you've got more daylight. Even doing it with longer days I'd suggest starting well before dawn. You should be able to do everything prior to Diamond Falls before first light, which would make the whole route much more plausible.
Re the track to Redledge Pass, there are quite a few old tracks on that section of the 'Neck that come and go. I know the one you're talking about and I recall missing the turnoff down to Redledge. I'm also certain there's a topic elsewhere on here about people getting lost trying to find Redledge Pass for exactly that reason. I'd recommend you do Redledge first to confirm the route in your own mind. I'd make the same suggestion for Bottleneck Pass. I don't believe it will be too obvious heading from the 6 Foot Track.

[jonnosan]

I uploaded a GPS trace for the redledge pass track into OpenStreetMaps last year. The track was pretty distinct, and starts pretty much directly opposite the track out to Castle head, but there are two spots both marked with cairns where you need to take the correct turning. If you look at the OSM trace you will see some short 'stubs' showing the branches not to take ( I think they both kind of faded out, which is why I backtracked, can't be 100% certain though as it was a while ago). I only uploaded the track as far as the eponymous red ledge because I didn't want anyone to attempt the full descent without reading some good track notes (e.g. Tom Brennan's). The track along the ledge itself and down through the chockhole is obvious, once you get down below the cliff line on to the open ridge there is no track but it's all open forest and easy walking down the ridge to the fire trail.

I concure with FatCanyoner that Esgate pass and the ledges round to Blacks Ladders would be dicey in the dark, especially if you are fatigued after a longe day. Descending Esgate is a little scarier than ascending, but if you are going to balk I guess it's better to balk at the top than the bottom Also once you go down the chain, you need to do a kind of S loop - around through the gap between the plateau and the detached head, down a little gully on the east side, then back in front (South) of the detached head till you hook up with the ledge systems on the West side of the main plateau. There's not much of a pad to follow, and some of it is thickish rainforest, which I imagine would be tricky to navigate in the dark without being able to see the point at the base of the plateau cliff you were aiming for.

[Grabeach]

To try and answer specific questions:
1. There are numerous pads down to Diamond Spray that basically all end up at the same place above the falls. An environmental mess really. The track up south from the falls was narrow but okay last year.
2. Stuarts Rd. Sorry, too long ago (25 years) to remember and it’s probably changed since then anyway.
3. 6’ Track to BN. Haven’t done that, but as base of cliffs from BN to Esgate wasn’t too bad, and the bottom of BN is mostly open rainforest, it could be okay.

Other stuff:
The tramway from Redledge to near the Devils Hole Track is surprisingly still fairly clear except for the last bit through the swamp and could be quicker and much more interesting than going down to the road.
There is a short reasonably difficult scramble / easy rock climb in BN (the easier fallen tree from the early 90s has gone).
Four of us once did a 26 km walk linking six Narrow Neck west passes in a day. Walking time was 13 hours plus an hour of breaks. It was December and I knew exactly where we were going. Using that as a guide, provided you know where each of the passes is, what you propose is probably achievable in summer, but not at this time of the year. Either way, good luck!

jonnosan:
There actually was a zigzag benched track from the bottom of the Redledge cliffs down to the mine level. The first 'zig' went a fair way south. It wasn't easy to follow in the late 80s, so wouldn't like my chances now.

[Allchin09]

Thanks for your replies.

Graham - That trip sounds quite interesting, what route did you follow? Dunphys Pass, Carlon Head, Black Billy Head, Coachwood Pass, Rockpile Pass and Redledge Pass perhaps?

As I thought, it sounds like the walk might be a bit ambitious, especially for this time of year.

I think that I might change the route slightly and reverse the direction so that I cover Blacks Ladder and Esgate Pass first, skip Bottleneck Pass and Nellies Glen, then do Devils Hole and Redledge Pass, hopefully reaching the fire trail on Narrow Neck during the day. The rest of the walk, down the Golden Stairs and up the Furber Steps, can then be completed by head torch if necessary.

[Grabeach]

Alex; route was NN L/O - WB Ladders - tramway - Redledge - Coachwood - base of cliffs - Black Billy - Carlon Head - Dunphys - road - NN L/O.

I have comprehensive 'where and when' notes for the trip. It was 18 December, so maximum daylight. Had no intention of walking in the dark (could pull out 2/3 thru), so didn’t have torches. I noted the weather as “mild”, which is helpful at that time of the year. We certainly weren’t racing, but as I said, I knew exactly where I was going.

Rock Pile wasn’t included because I discovered it between placing the walk on the Sutherland programme and doing the walk. The extra pass would have totally thrown out the rest of the walk. I was also unaware of the other west side passes at the time, so obviously they didn’t get a look in either.

Obviously the ladders are no longer usable and Carlon Head may be questionable due to missing spikes. I took a couple of 3m tapes to get two of the others up Black Billy, but even that route has changed slightly due to the demise of a then dead tree.

I noted “Galong Rim extremely scrub around (AMG) 458,592”. I guess some things never change! It was also the walk where we placed the first Dunphys log book. Haven’t been there for 20 years, but will be going on a Bush Club walk there in July, so will be interesting to see if the same book is still there.

Graeme

[tom_brennan]

Also once you go down the chain, you need to do a kind of S loop - around through the gap between the plateau and the detached head, down a little gully on the east side, then back in front (South) of the detached head till you hook up with the ledge systems on the West side of the main plateau. There's not much of a pad to follow, and some of it is thickish rainforest, which I imagine would be tricky to navigate in the dark without being able to see the point at the base of the plateau cliff you were aiming for.

You can stay high on a very narrow shale ledge around Megalong Head and stay out of the rainforest. But given the dropoff, I wouldn't do it in the dark (I'm not that comfortable doing it in the light!!).

[tom_brennan]

There was an SBW walk a couple of years back that tried to do Redledge/Mitchells/Black Billy/Carlon/Harmil Ledge/Dunphys/Tarros/Duncans in a day (in May?). I can't remember how far they got but they did run out of time (maybe 6 of 8?). That said, they stayed too high after Redledge and bushbashed too much to get to Mitchells, and lost a fair bit of time. It would have been easier to go down into the valley, despite losing height, and then up near Mitchells Creek. You'd probably end up doing Tarros/Duncans in the dark, but with a dawn start it might be feasible even in winter.

[Grabeach]

We were back on the road just after 6pm, and with heaps of daylight to spare, I actually suggested we do Tarros / Duncans to make it 8 passes, then walk back along the road in the dark. The vote was 3 to 1 against!

[skibug]

"My intention is to start at Scenic World and complete the following:
1. Descend Furber Stairs, and walk along the Federal Pass
2. Ascend the Golden Stairs, and walk via Diamond Falls to Redledge Pass
3. Descend Redledge Pass, and follow the fire trails to Devils Hole
4. Ascend Devils Hole, and walk to Nellies Glen via Narrow Neck Rd, Stuarts Rd and the track over Bonnie Doon Falls
5. Descend Nellies Glen, and follow the Six Foot Tk and walking route that follows a tributary of Megalong Ck to Bottleneck Pass
6. Ascend Bottleneck Pass, and walk the Radiata Plateau fire trails to Megalong Head
7. Descend Esgate Pass, and follow the base of the cliff line North to Blacks Ladder
8. Ascend Blacks Ladder, and follow the Radiata Plateau fire trails to Explorers Tree, back past Bonnie Doon Falls to Stuarts Rd and then along Peckmans Rd back to the start."

This site has good track notes for Red Ledge:

http://ozultimate.com/bushwalking/walk.php?nid=731

Devil's Hole can be tricky, the track below the cliff line passes across steep rainforest slopes, with constant fallen trees and small slides moving the track around. Look for track markers and rock cairns.

Stuart's rd to Nellie's Glen is straight forward - at the end of Stuart's, turn left and go 10 metres along what seems a private driveway, but turn right onto the track. It parallels the cliff line.

Pick your days and weather carefully for such a long, and up and down, day. Cold, dampness plus an early start will result in substantial fatigue by late afternoon, when you'll be negotiating untracked bush and large, slippery cliff passes - definitely high risk. I wouldn't attempt this alone.

Good luck and let us know how it goes,

Skibug

[Allchin09]

Myself and a mate ended up going on the trip this morning. We completed all of the six passes that we set out to do, and only had to climb the Furber Steps in the dark.

Plenty of time was spent trying to find the right way to go, but all in all, it was a great day out in the bush.

I'll post a trip report up sometime over the next few days when I get the chance.

[Allchin09]

I sort of forgot about this trip report - Whoops!

I have however posted some photos from the walk if anyone is interested. You should be able to access them through the below link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.502945926450162.1073741826.100002042771838&type=1&l=daed55e092

It was a great walk, I'll get around to the trip report one day...

[KANANGRABOYD]

I sort of forgot about this trip report - Whoops!

I have however posted some photos from the walk if anyone is interested. You should be able to access them through the below link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.502945926450162.1073741826.100002042771838&type=1&l=daed55e092

It was a great walk, I'll get around to the trip report one day...

You Rock Alex -Love your trips and style - would love to do some epic trips with you someday.
Cheers,
Kay Bee

[Allchin09]

KB - Good to here those sorts of trips interest you. I'll let be sure to let you know of any future trips I do of that style.