Bush camping in Gibraltar / Washpool NP

[fishboy]

I’m keen to check out Gibraltar/Washpool in the not too distant future but can’t for the life of me work out whether there is anywhere within the park to camp, besides the two official campgrounds listed on the DECCW website. http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/Natio ... x?id=N0012
I want to get away from the cars and amenities blocks. Is bush camping permitted/possible in the park?

[johnw]

From the management plan at:
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/parks/PoMGibraltarRange.pdf

"Remote or backpack camping, where no facilities are provided, is permitted in
the planning area but must not occur within 200 metres from a road or trail, or
500 metres from a visitor facility node (eg. camping or day use areas or the
Park Information Centre in Gibraltar National Park)."

The document has more information on camping areas etc. I would ring the park office to confirm your plans though.

[juju]

Hi I've spent a little time in Washpool and Gibraltar. We overnighted at Grassy Creek, a 10 km walk from either Boundary Creek Falls to the west or Mooghem Road end to the east. The Boundary Creek Falls end is probably a nicer way in. I've seen cattle in the area though.
We also camped along the Dandahra Creek late in the day (so no day walkers) not very nice to camp but a lovely creek - saw cattle there also. Let us know if you find somewhere else nice. I don't know how far it is to the Rocky or Timbarra River, the National Trail goes through Boundary Creek to a turn off halfway to Grassy Creek.

[fishboy]

Ah, beauty. Thanks JohnW.

Cheers juju, i'll let you know if we find any nice spots!

[iandsmith]

If you contact the guys at the Glen Innes national parks (or whatever they call it these days), you'll find them very helpful. I do some photography for them and they have heaps of knowledge about the area you might find useful.
Cheers

[melot]

I have a NSWParks & Wildlife brochure from 1994 of "A Walk on the Edge of Wilderness. The Gibraltar - Washpool World Heritage Walk". My family arrived to do it as a 4 -5 day walk in about 2000, just as the park & all walking tracks were closed due to raging bushfires. We've never made it back, but the brochure outlines 60km of main track plus another 40 of sidetracks. The circuit walk allows for 4 overnight camps - 1at each of the National Park campgrounds (Mulligans Hut and Coombadjha - the latter was a walk-in campsite... only a couple of hundred metres but enough to keep the caravans & seige campers away) and 2 bushcampsites @ Grassy Creek & Boundary Creek. I'm pretty sure OUTDOOR magazine had an article covering the walk a few years ago when Carl Roe wrote for them. I had topo. maps for Glen Elgin, Cangai & Coombadjha for our aborted walk. (Still, we walked into Shelly Headland in Yuragir Nat Park instead and spent a very lazy couple of days on the beach! All was not lost!)

[juju]

(Still, we walked into Shelly Headland in Yuragir Nat Park instead and spent a very lazy couple of days on the beach! All was not lost!)

Did you carry lots of water? We spent one night there a couple of years ago but since heard there is a water source north of the camp.

[melot]

re water @ Shelly Headland - No we didn't carry in more than a couple of litres each. There was a fresh water swamp behind the dunes @ at the campsite at the Southern end of the beach, and a small trickle of fresh water like a tiny waterfall from a spring at the northern end of the beach where the track first meets the beach. We didn't have a filter back then & just strained & boiled the water. Locals camping at the same time as us brought their liquid supplies in in a wheelbarrow & esky carried in from Mara Creek end ... and they didn't seem to worry much about fresh water! My son was back there Jan 2010 & took our MSR filter but didn't need to use it - said they found fresh water behind the dunes.

[juju]

Thanks for the info. I'm looking forward to taking a recuperating friend back there soon. A few days on the beach is just what she needs.

[mryellow]

Coombadjha - the latter was a walk-in campsite... only a couple of hundred metres but enough to keep the caravans & seige campers awa

Wish that was the case for us this past weekend. Had some party of bogan fools screaming out-of-tune lyrics to bad music till 1am.

Think next time up there I'll go off-trail for camping, just to be sure.

[awildland]

We've done a fair bit of bush camping and off-track walking in Gibraltar Range and Washpool NP. Beautiful parks. Off-track going can be pretty tough in parts but some great granite peaks to explore. Some of the trips and nice pics are on our blog page. Washpool here: https://awildland.blogspot.com.au/searc ... nal%20Park and Gibraltar Range here: https://awildland.blogspot.com.au/searc ... nal%20Park

Hope this helps with some bush camping ideas.