Medlow Gap or Tarros Ladder to Ruined Castle?

[msmithers]

Hi everyone,

I'm interested in trying to go from Medlow Gap or Tarros Ladder to the Ruined Castle, via Cedar Creek.

I've read the thread from 2016
https://forum.bushwalk.com/forum/viewto ... 36&t=23125
and I've mapped out the route suggested by "Grabeach"

From Little Cedar Gap take the tower access road down to Cedarland Ridge Rd (CRR) and follow it to its most northern point. A side road leaves here heading NW, crosses the upper reaches of Geeraganggala Ck, turns SE then NE to end up on top of high cliffs above the Cedar Ck / Bunba Yaka Gully (BYG) junction. Anyone know the history of this road? It doesn’t service the power line. If it wasn’t so far from Katoomba one would think it a tourist road to a lookout. Leave the road at the high point about 400m back from the end, heading magnetic north to pick up a short spur heading down to BYG. This has some steep shaley bits so take care. Follow the gully 500m down to Cedar Ck. It’s then about 3.5km of reasonable going up to the exit spur for the Ruined Castle.

Has anyone done this since 2016? Any comments?

[keithj]

As the referenced thread mentions you'd be risking an $11K fine (each). However, you're unlikely to be noticed.
- ruined castle to golden stairs/furbers is currently closed due to landslides, probably for a few months. https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/vi ... cal-alerts
- the 3-4km of Cedar ck would probably take the best part of a day to negotiate.
- there is a big camp cave on the W bank about 300m before the climb up to RC
- the climb up to RC is steep and unrelenting, but the bush is not too thick & there's no clifflines.

Walls Pass to RC via Cedar creek is an alternative (slightly less) big day... but has its own difficulties.

[msmithers]

Thanks keithj.

>> ruined castle to golden stairs/furbers is currently closed due to landslides, probably for a few months

Yes. I'm aiming for next autumn or winter. And could continue on to scenic world and either catch the vertical train out, or ascend at the 3 Sisters.

>> there is a big camp cave on the W bank about 300m before the climb up to RC

Excellent. I'd prefer that to camping at the Ruined Castle campground.

>> As the referenced thread mentions you'd be risking an $11K fine (each)

By my interpretation of the Sydney Water maps, the proposed route - west part of Cedarland Ridge Trail then turning north - is outside the exclusion zone. However continuing further to the east along the Cedarland Ridge Fire Trail does then fall inside the exclusion zone. Is that not correct?

Edit: Nevermind. I now see there's a tiny piece of the Cedarland Ridge Trail - between Medlow Gap and the track down from Little Cedar Gap - that is within the exclusion zone.


Thanks,

[keithj]

The cave is next to the creek. Complete with seating & cooking facilities.

[msmithers]

Great, thanks.

[rcaffin]

Hi Keith

I am curious: when was your photo of the camping cave taken? I ask, because the last time we went down Cedar Ck it seemed as though the cave had collapsed. That was a few years ago, when we went down Golden Stairs, down Cedar Ck, up BunbaYakka Ck to the side road off the FT on top, up Duncans Pass (bypass Tarros) and back to car.

Footnote: I found major errors in both OpenStreetMap and SIXmap in this area. Duncan Pass on OSM is (imho) quite wrong, and on SIX it was not shown at all - just the name Duncans Pass.

It was an overnight trip. We camped just little way up BYC, and had some trouble avoiding sitting on the Aconita orchids at the campsite. There seemed to be more errors around here too. OSM is not good for bushwalking.

5332.jpg (107.59 KiB) Viewed 911 times

Went up the spur from the big junction in BYC. You have to pick the right spur for this: the wrong spur has a bit of an exposed scarp edge which looked very overhanging.

5340.jpg (204.51 KiB) Viewed 911 times

Cheers
Roger

[keithj]

I am curious: when was your photo of the camping cave taken? I ask, because the last time we went down Cedar Ck it seemed as though the cave had collapsed. That was a few years ago, when we went down Golden Stairs, down Cedar Ck, up BunbaYakka Ck to the side road off the FT on top, up Dunphys Pass (bypass Tarros) and back to car.

This was December 2023 from a Walls Pass to Ruined Castle & Golden Stairs loop. Maybe you hit Cedar Creek lower down & missed the cave? The cave is marked on OSM.

[rcaffin]

Oh, that is quite possible. We have been up and down Walls Pass a few times, into and down Cedar Ck a few times, but I have never seen the CC. On the other hand, we have never really looked for it, as camping there was not on the agenda. We did see a cliff-collapse, but that may have been further down.

Cheers
Roger