jimmeyer176 wrote:Every Sunday I hike from Cowan to Berowra wearing 10kg, that's 13kms and I do find it fairly rough some days but I'm always pushing it, made it in 2.45 once but usually closer to 3 hours (no breaks). No big climbs but constant up and down, a bit hard to catch a groove. Compared to that what's the track like from Cowan to Brooklyn? I know the campsite you're speaking about above Berowra Waters, nice spot up there and great idea bout bringing up water from the tap in the parking lot.
Also, how far is Crosslands from Berowra? I think there is a turnoff about 2k's in, goes off to the left and drops down, does that lead to Mt. Kuring-gai? I think Wildwalks is a great site but for some reason I struggle with some of the descriptions, not sure if it's just me.
Cowan to Brooklyn has hills but its easier than Mt K to Cowan. Very nice scenery as you walk down to Jerusalem Bay. Water at brooklyn dam. (filter it) A bit of firetrail bashing at the end. With your regular Sunday training you should be plenty fit enough. And the cooler weather and water resupply points mean you shouldn't need a pack heavier than 10kg for the complete 32km route.
Not sure the distance from Crosslands to Berowra off the top of my head. I don't use extensive notes like you find on wildwalks as I found I would spend most of the time looking out at the notes and trying to pick out the next ref point and the following ref point 20 meters after that and so on.
I tend to plan a route online, load it in the gps and then while walking use map to ground skills for most of my hikes. I'l check in with the gps from time to time to but its the ability to look at a map, read the contours and see it as a representation of my surroundings (and pinpoint location) that Ive found the most useful skill. Doesn't always work in flat ground with heavy foliage but a compass can help and there is always a full route track with the gps as backup.