Blue Gum Forrest

[Juudbruinsma]

Hi all,

My partner and I are keen to do an overnight hike to the Blue Gum Forrest (acacia flats, Blue Mountains). We've only got one car available. Any tips re best route in and out? (Preferably round trip).

Also, any tips about where to source drinking water along the way?

Cheers!

[DaveNoble]

The easiest way to Blue Gum Forest - is to go from Perrys Lookdown straight down to the forest, and then walk about 10 minutes up Govetts Ck to Acacia Flat

Good drinking water (no need to filter or boil) about another 5 - 10 minutes upstream from a small side creek.

Other ways to Blue Gum - via Lockleys Pylon (from the Mt Hay Rd out from Leura), or from Blackheath - Govetts Leap or Evans Lookout, or from the Bell Rd (by the Pierces Pass Track), or from Mt Victoria - via the track from Victoria Falls - Burra Korain Flat - Grose River - Blue Gum.

Round trips possibilities -

1. Mt Victoria - Victoria Falls - Grose River - Blue Gum - and out via Perrys Lookdown, Evans Lookout or Govetts Leap

2. Govetts Leap - Junction Rock - Blue Gum - back to Junction Rock - Evans Lookout - cliff top track back to Govetts Leap

3. Govetts Leap - track to Horseshoe Falls - Pulpit Rock Lookout - Hat Hill Rd to Perrys Lookdown - Blue Gum Forest, out via Junction Rock to Govetts Leap

Note that Acacia Flat is fuel stove only

Dave

[GPSGuided]

Good drinking water (no need to filter or boil) about another 5 - 10 minutes upstream from a small side creek.

We were on that walk late last year and I recall there were signs warning campers/walkers not to drink the water down that way, suggesting proximity to residential/industrial areas around the valley have contaminated the water supply. Govetts Ck had a good flow and I wondered...

[DaveNoble]

Govetts Ck has a lot of houses etc in the catchment. Thats why it is better, and not too hard to walk up the 5- 10 minutes and get the good water from the side creek. Look at the map and you can see there is no development at all in the catchment - and it is also reliable water in dry times.

Dave

[GPSGuided]

Ok. Thanks.

[johnw]

In addition to Dave's suggestions a slightly longer circuit: Evans Lookout > Horse Track > Junction Rock > Acacia Flat > Perrys Track > Pulpit Rock > Govetts Leap > Evans Lookout. You can also substitute Rodriguez Pass for the Horse Track. RP is a much prettier walk, but the HT is an easier descent in my opinion. RP is a better climb.

If you have plenty of time and energy a nice trip would be as above but in reverse - Evans/Govetts/Pulpit R/Perrys/Rodriguez Pass but additionally finishing with a traverse of the Grand Canyon exiting at Neates Glen. Easy short flat walk from there back to the car park at Evans LO. Several variations are possible.

+1 on getting water from Orang Utan Ck. Collect it upstream from where everyone crosses. I sometimes use a rinsed 4 litre wine cask bladder which is good for collection/storage and weighs nothing.

[GPSGuided]

On a recent trip to the area, There were at least two warning signs at the start of the Horse Track. Not sure if it's still open for use or not. The last time I went down that track would have been 2 decades ago...

[Tyreless]

I went up the Horse Track with a group the weekend before last. It was open and there were no warning signs. It was in reasonable condition. The start (at the bottom) is a bit overgrown and hard to find but there is a red arrow on a tree at the trailhead. Just remember, the arrow points AWAY from the Horse Track.

[johnw]

On a recent trip to the area, There were at least two warning signs at the start of the Horse Track. Not sure if it's still open for use or not. The last time I went down that track would have been 2 decades ago...

Definitely open last time I walked it just before Xmas, as on numerous occasions over the past 10 years or so. The (new) warning sign at the top is something to the effect that the track is unmaintained, steep, rough and can be hard to follow. The same type of warning sign is also now on the Rodriguez Pass - effectively the main pass into the valley from Evans LO, and basically falling apart due to landslips, general erosion, wear and tear, and lack of maintenance. These tracks are now well over 100 years old (from memory). Of the two IMHO the Horse Track is generally in better condition. It's much less formally constructed, no cut stone steps etc and mostly follows a lesser gradient. There is a need to negotiate deadfall in a few places, which will likely never be removed. I agree with tyreless about the track condition and that there is no warning sign at the bottom end.

[tom_brennan]

There is a warning sign at the top of the Horse Track and the turnoff is not obvious as the sign is just out of sight. Sign says "Horse Track Route only. Track is rough and hard to find."

[Grabeach]

The shortest loop, though certainly not the quickest, is down Orang Utan and up Perrys, with the usual provisos and warnings re route finding, scrub and exposure attached to the former.

[Allchin09]

The shortest loop, though certainly not the quickest, is down Orang Utan and up Perrys, with the usual provisos and warnings re route finding, scrub and exposure attached to the former.

Not sure the last time you went through Orang Utan was, but I've been told things have shifted and it's a fair bit harder then what it was in the past.

[Juudbruinsma]

Thanks for all the replies! Due to the bad weather forecast we unfortunately abandoned our Blue Gum forrest adventure for Easter, however, these tips give us plenty to go from for when we do make the trip down to the Grose Valley (hopefully in the next couple of weeks, it's been on my wish-list for a while now!). And we still got to give our gear a bit of a test run; waking up on Sunday and not seeing rain bucketing down, made us decide to go for a short overnighter at Lockleys Pylon

[Juudbruinsma]

Easter overnighter

[Grabeach]

Not sure the last time you went through Orang Utan was, but I've been told things have shifted and it's a fair bit harder then what it was in the past.

I heard this story a couple of years back. Went down and had a look, maybe 18 months ago. The 'collapsed' shale ledge hasn't changed much since the 80s/90s. If anything slightly easier, as the red shale has eroded a bit to a more stable base.

[Allchin09]

Ok, good to know it's still doable. Would you say it was one of the harder commonly known passes in the area?

[perfectlydark]

Went on sunday and the weather was perfect

[jonnosan]

Ok, good to know it's still doable. Would you say it was one of the harder commonly known passes in the area?

Alex If your planning on checking it out soonish, let me know coz I'd like to tag along

[Grabeach]

Alex rang me yesterday, but as others may be interested I'll repeat my answer here with some more detail.

Ignoring the tracks, the three historical routes more or less directly to / from Blue Gum in ascending order of technical difficulty are:-

1. Orang Utan - The traditional way in is a scrubby walk down though the top cliff line. A less scratchy way in down a slot with an easy short scramble was hard to find, but there is now a GPS reference for it. The ledge has no technical difficulty, it just has a huge drop off the side that overwhelms some people. You can put a couple of metres of rope or tape round a couple of bushes as a psychological aid. The gully though the bottom cliff line is very steep, but not technical. Below that is typical Grose scrub all the way to the bottom. Other than a couple of early trips, I haven't even bothered doing the bottom gully. The best of the walk is down to and along the ledge.
The location of the pass was pretty much forgotton by the early 80s, not helped by it being 1 km south of where it was marked on the 1st and 2nd Ed. topos. May have been corrected on the 3rd. Wilf Hilder told me it still existed but wouldn't say where, so I had to search for it. You descend the gully on the south west side of Clarke Head. A few years later, I placed a visitors book there (1989?). Only use for a number of years after this was by people I'd taken or told. Macqueen and especially the Keats / Fox books lead to an increase in visitation.

2. David Crevasse - Fairly straight forward provied you are in the eastern arm, the western one having a number of abseils. There is one medium to difficult scramble (put 'Gordon Smith Chimney' in the Search Box and click the David Crevasse link for a photo) that is easier up than down. Again, bad scrub down to the river.

3. Gordon Smith Chimney (actually first ascended be Webb and Whitehouse 20 years earlier) - Appears to have had regular use up until about 1970, when a landslide reportedly made it more difficult. Unfortunately I have never come across anyone who had done it both before and after the landslide, so I am not sure of where the landslide actually was.
Going up, there are two routes at the bottom both of which are to the southeast of the main slot. The one I did with difficulty on belay, I would not attempt otherwise, even in my younger days. The other one was done by a CBC party after rejecting the first as too difficult. Once up this there is a long medium but exposed scramble up to a terrace, which you follow back into the main slot. Further up there is an exposed medium to difficulty scramble which you may want to abseil if coming down. Finally there is choice of two routes near the top. Although there is an old piton in the east arm, the west one is easier with minmal exposure.
The GSC is a serious undertaking. I would strongly recommend that you have an experienced rock climber in the party. Otherwise I'd suggest taking plenty of rope and scrambling down then back up again. This avoids the scrub, but obviously won't get you to Blue Gum. Either way, ideally have someone with you who has done it before.

[Juudbruinsma]

Went on sunday and the weather was perfect

Really? Wow, looked at the BOM site and it told me 95% chance of heavy rain...

It was our first overnight hike, testing all our gear, and didn't want to chance getting washed out... On Sunday we actually slept in and hadn't prepared to go on an overnight trip, but looking outside and seeing that the weather was fab, we got our stuff together, but still didn't make it up to the mountains before 3pm, so decided on a short walk to test the gear. The experience tastes like more! We're planning to make the trip down to acacia flats soon. Can't wait! We'll be exploring some of the tracks down into the valley (as mentioned in this thread) on Sunday to get a better idea as to what to expect...

[perfectlydark]

Yeah it was great, oonly started to drizzle as we got back to the cars on monday. Its as good a track as any to test gear out, relativly easy, close to water. Did get a little freaked out as i headed to the creek to.swim in nothing but my undies, no shoes only to find a red belly in my path (after other just came through minutes ago). Didnt expect to see them out this late. Saw another one early on in the day too

[Juudbruinsma]

Yikes! We've actually seen a lot of snakes in the mountains lately, one on each of three consecutive hikes (brown, python and a tiger snake (we think)). I think someone told me that ther might be more snakes ariund because of the warm weather we've had?