Kanangra Walls - Kowmung accessibility

[Brendos]

Hello!

I am thinking about a trip down to the Kowmung River from Kanangra Walls, e.g. Gingra Range track and then take a ridge down like Roots Ridge or similar.

Has anyone been down to this part of the world or the Kowmung recently? I have heard it can be very overgrown.

The last trip I took further upstream to Hatchers Hollow 2 years ago (post fires) was pretty overgrown and slow going. I imagine it would be a lot worse now.

Thank you!

[irrgent]

Since the fires I have been down to Orange Bluff on the Kowmung via the Gingra Range and Brumby Ridge twice.

The first was in early 2021 just after the park reopened (we were probably one of the first if not the first group down there assuming no one went down while the park was closed). I have a bit of a report of that trip posted on this forum but conditions have changed since then.

The second was about 10 or 11 months ago in spring 2022. Walking along Kanangra walls and the tops was fine, perhaps even better visibility than before the fires as some of the dense vegetation hasn't grown back. Along the Gingra trail there were a number of sections that were slow going due to vegetation growing around the track but for the most part it wasn't too bad, just a few spots that you had to pay attention to keep on the track to avoid walking through waste high vegetation. There are a few places where it even still somewhat resembled how it did before the fires.

Going down Brumby Ridge was a different story. There was above head height scrub for what felt like 60 - 70% of the time. Around Brumby Mountain there were some very dense Eucalyptus saplings as well. This section was substantially slower going than along the Gingra trail.

The Orange Bluff campsite had changed a lot but still nice. The grassy flats are now sandy and the whole area feels a bit different but it's still a very good campsite.

Overall I think if you go in mentally prepared and expecting a lot of bush bashing it could still be a decent trip but you need to budget some extra time for the overgrown areas. The scrub I encountered was not as bad as other areas of the Blue Mountains such as the wild dogs which at least around a year ago was absolutely impenetrable. Note that I don't know what any of the other ridges down to the Kowmung or the later parts of the Gingra trail are like. I would expect them to be similar but I guess it's also possible that they are worse. We also encountered several other groups heading down to Orange Bluff so if it has kept receiving a bit of traffic there could be a bit of a track through the scrub now but I wouldn't count on it.

This was back during the wetter period before the last relatively dry winter so I'm interested to here any more recent reports from the area.

[TomPom]

Since the fires I have been down to Orange Bluff on the Kowmung via the Gingra Range and Brumby Ridge twice.

The first was in early 2021 just after the park reopened (we were probably one of the first if not the first group down there assuming no one went down while the park was closed). I have a bit of a report of that trip posted on this forum but conditions have changed since then.

The second was about 10 or 11 months ago in spring 2022. Walking along Kanangra walls and the tops was fine, perhaps even better visibility than before the fires as some of the dense vegetation hasn't grown back. Along the Gingra trail there were a number of sections that were slow going due to vegetation growing around the track but for the most part it wasn't too bad, just a few spots that you had to pay attention to keep on the track to avoid walking through waste high vegetation. There are a few places where it even still somewhat resembled how it did before the fires.

Going down Brumby Ridge was a different story. There was above head height scrub for what felt like 60 - 70% of the time. Around Brumby Mountain there were some very dense Eucalyptus saplings as well. This section was substantially slower going than along the Gingra trail.

The Orange Bluff campsite had changed a lot but still nice. The grassy flats are now sandy and the whole area feels a bit different but it's still a very good campsite.

Overall I think if you go in mentally prepared and expecting a lot of bush bashing it could still be a decent trip but you need to budget some extra time for the overgrown areas. The scrub I encountered was not as bad as other areas of the Blue Mountains such as the wild dogs which at least around a year ago was absolutely impenetrable. Note that I don't know what any of the other ridges down to the Kowmung or the later parts of the Gingra trail are like. I would expect them to be similar but I guess it's also possible that they are worse. We also encountered several other groups heading down to Orange Bluff so if it has kept receiving a bit of traffic there could be a bit of a track through the scrub now but I wouldn't count on it.

This was back during the wetter period before the last relatively dry winter so I'm interested to here any more recent reports from the area.

This was the track beta I needed to hear. Anything from around the Uni Rover Trail or Roots Ridge?

[phil6394]

Hi

Anyone been down to Hatchers Hollow from the Yerranderie Road side lately?

Status of vegetation on ridges in and campsite?

Thanks.

[Boobooky 1]

I would love any hive wisdom here also ! Was planning a couple of nights at Orange Bluff but Gingra Ridge sounding like no fun at all - anyone?