Bulga Denis Canyon

[elinekl]

Hi,
I'm searching for some good track notes to do Bulga Denis Canyon. I found this website: http://bushwalkingnsw.com/walk.php?nid=719 and it looks like a fantastic hike. We're planning over easter. We have a topo map but I want get to know more before I start the hike. Does this book contain more details on this hike? "Classic Blue Mountains Walks (Wild Guide), David Noble". Or is there a better book?
I'm also interested in alternative hikes in the area. We have a car and I prefer to do a round trip because otherwise it's too much trouble getting back to the car with alternative transport.
Many thanks,
Eline

[DaveNoble]

The Bulga Denis is a great trip - visiting some of the best of the Kowmung country. If you walk there over Easter - then you should be able to walk at a relaxing pace and add a bit to the trip.

The usual way to start is to walk down to the Kowmung River via the Coal Seam Cave and The Bullhead Range to Cambage Spire. This is reasonably straightforward walking, but does have some steep sections and the track can be vague in places (especially since bush fires a few years back) - so you do need to watch your navigation and make sure you stay on the main ridge and do not take any false spurs. At Cambage Spire there are some cliffs and a variety of routes off the bluff. The usual route is to follow the nose down for a bit until it gets too steep and then traverse to the left on a ledge towards a steep ramp which can be followed to the bottom of the cliffs. From the spire to the river is quite steep and rocky and care needs to be taken. There is a track all the way to the river - and if you loose it, then stop and find it again. This is worth doing even if you have to go up a bit.

One at the Kowmung, there are some campsites. The best are up the river a bit - you need to cross Christies Creek to get to a nice grassy flat.

To go down through the Bulga Denis Canyon is nice walking except when the river is high. You do need to cross the river quite often to avoid bluffs. The best place to cross is on the shoals at the head of rapids. If you look on the map - you can see that you can take a shortcut in two places - by crossing low saddles (you can only do one of these two however, as the first takes you downstream of the second) or you can stay on the river and go round all the bends. It is a pleasant walk to the next large campsite at Orange Bluff.

From there you can climb out of the valley up Brumby Ridge, or continue down the river (very nice walking and easy going on grassy banks) - and camp again lower down and then climb out up Roots Ridge or Hughes Ridge, and then back along Gingra Ridge. There are faint track along all of these ridges. If you haven;t been to the area before then a GPS can make you more confident with navigation.

Dave

[ribuck]

I just want to say that your reply is such a great post, Dave. It gives the flavour of the area, and is also full of useful specifics. And it reveals the pleasure you get from bushwalking, and from being able to share your extensive knowledge with others. It does the forum proud.

[tom_brennan]

Dave's Wild Guide - "Classic Blue Mountains Walks (Wild Guide), David Noble" - has a similar level of detail to my track notes. You are unlikely to find more detail in any other publications (in fact I don't think you'll find it at all!).

As Dave has suggested, continuing down the Kowmung River is a good option for extending the trip to 4 days. Most of the ridges to the north provide fairly easy exits, so you can choose when to go. It is worth getting a copy of the Myles Dunphy Kowmung River sketch map, as it has information on routes.

[elinekl]

Thanks all for the response.
I'm trying to get the book classic blue mountains walks and I ask the publisher (Wild). They don't have the books but they were going to contact David Noble if he has any copies left. Hopefully I can get hold of the book. But Dave's comments here are already very useful. I don't have a gps unfortunately. Hopefully we can use google maps out there. At least we have maps and a compass.

[jonnosan]

I don't have a gps unfortunately. Hopefully we can use google maps out there. At least we have maps and a compass.

You won't get mobile reception down at river level (you can get it up on top of the peaks though). You will want to keep your phone into airplane mode otherwise it will chew up the battery very fast as it will keep boosting the radio transmitter power to try and connect to remote towers.

if you want to use a phone, there is a good app called 'memory maps' (both iphone and android). The app is free but you have to buy the maps - it is about $150 for the 1:25K topos for all NSW (these are identical to the 1:25K paper maps), which sounds steep but does give you all NSW, and you can install the maps on multiple devices as long as you only ever use a maximum of 2 at one time. I think you can also get a 10 day free trial for each map set which may be enough for this trip. The maps get downloaded 'on demand' but are then permanently cached, meaning before a trip, you fire up the app and scroll around the area of the trip so all the tiles you need get downloaded. Then when you are on the trip, if you go to the app it will show you exactly where you are on the map.

Ideally you should navigate by paper map and compass, but if you ever get lost you can pull out the phone and get an exact position.

It's also worth checking out OpenStreetMaps - there are free or cheap apps that use the same (user contributed) data set. Some of the routes around the Kowmung are in there, including the Cambage Spire and Roots Ridge routes. You don't get the same level of background detail as the 1:25k topo though.

[tqc]

I recently tried out all the iPhone topo map apps I could find, and settled on two of them:

• Pocket Earth - Basic topo maps for everywhere. Good for checking your progress on a planned route / track, but not many labels for natural features.
• Avenza PDF Maps - paper map equivalent NSW topos available as in app purchase for $1.50 each. You should also be able to get free maps using https://github.com/mholling/nswtopo if the convenience is less important to you.

I can't recommend memory map - expensive and the zoom function basically doesn't work.

Definitely don't rely on google maps - it gets me to the park entrance, but last time I was out I had to drive for an hour before it got a good enough signal to work. The signal you can get on hilltops in remote areas usually isn't sufficient for heavy internet use.

As well as using flight mode / low power mode, make sure the app you use isn't trying to constantly update your position in the background. It depends a bit on your phone as well - a new phone with a large battery can last for several days if the screen is off, but a smaller phone a few years old won't. I don't generally use paper maps / compass, but they are definitely worth carrying (and knowing how to use) as a backup.

[puredingo]

All those gadgets seem handy and are probably woth carrying but in my opinion save yourself some weight and just pack a map and compass. I've walked all those routes Dave mentioned and I couldn't navigate myself out of an empty room that had one door. The tracks are all pretty well trodden, you'll know the Kowmung when your on it..or leave it, just pay attention and watch how you go. You'll be far more self satified knowing you did it without techno assistance.

Have a good trip.

[shankspony]

I did this walk about 5 weeks ago. It really was fantastic - loved it lots, however the water level was pretty high at that stage and we ended up having to swim in quite a few places to get along the Kowmung. Not sure how much the water changes, and obviously it's been hot and dry since then, but suggest drybags for anything you really don't want getting wet, just in case. Walking poles were very handy for the slippery rocks in the water too. We did it in two days, which was comfortable, but would be nice to take more time also.

[elinekl]

I got a gps and found the route on the map, or at least some of the points mentioned in the track notes so I am getting more confident. We will take 3 days plus it's a long drive from sydney. I don't want to extend too much as 2 girls haven't done much trekking (they are very fit and strong but not sure how they will go with scrambling).

[elinekl]

Just checking, do you think the river is safe to cross after all the rain? We're all prepared and ready to go. Don't mind a bit of rain during the hike but weather forecast looks pretty ok!

[shankspony]

i'm no expert (with my single-trip experience!) but i'd say it's definitely 'safe' as it's not fast-flowing at all. All the swimming bits that we encountered were like pools, with virtually no current. There's a few very minor rapid's, but they're much shallower. I'd say the only danger would be if you're doing dodgy scrambling around the edges in an attempt to stay dry.

[elinekl]

sounds good to me, thanks for the response

[DaveNoble]

The Kowmung is not high according to the gauge -http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/wrap_fwo.pl?IDN60143.html#Coxs_River

[elinekl]

We did the hike friday - sat- sun.
Weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold and no rain.
We were with 7 in the group. It took us 7 hours to get down bullhead range. We just made it before sunset. Next day we walked to around orange bluff. Lot of walking through the river but mostly knee high. That took us 6,5 h including a break for a swim and lunch. Last day up via brumby ridge took us 6 hours. Navigation went well with topo map, compass and GPS. So we are very confident in doing similar walks in the future. We were a bit slow as 2 of the group were very slow. But that was fine.It's a beautiful area, definitely recommend this walk. And we ended the day with a nice Indian dinner at Anki's in Katoomba.

[DaveNoble]

Sounds good. Next time - enter via Brumby Ridge and then walk down the river - quite different to the Bulga Denis - easier walking, mainly on grassy flats with the odd bluff, nice when you can swim in the crystal clear pools. Climb out via Roots or Hughes Ridges.

[elinekl]

Thanks for the tip. I'm also interested in walking up to mount cloudmaker. But in 2 weeks we are going to splendour rock )