Kanangra walls to Katoomba

[ninjapuppet]

2 of my mates are planning to do this trip in 1 day.
When asked to come along, I initially scoffed at the idea of doing this 50km walk at such a pace, but the more I think about it the more exciting it seems. People do the overland track in a day, so why not this?
All 3 of us have some experience with off track navigation and we're fully equipped, including a satellite phone.

There will be a full moon on the 15th July and 13th August 2011, so we plan to head out one either of those nights with the moonlight helping us (if the weather is nice)
I have done the walk from cox's river to Katoomba but at a very chilled-out pace. I was hoping if anyone who's done this walk recently, could give some pointers:

- Track conditions and what the hardest sections of the track were
- Were there boars & dingos that can get in the way at night time?
- is the track clearly defined for most part?
- Though shorter than the 6 foot track, is it much harder than the 6ft track?
- Any other tips would be appreciated



cheers

[Turfa]

The first half of the track (Kanangra to Cox's River ) is the roughest & the track the faintest. So possibly best to do this section in daylight. But even this section is a decent track most of the time, with only a couple of short vague sections like the lower part of Strongleg Ridge. Navigation is pretty simple. From the Cox's it's pretty much a highway & would be easy in the dark.
Hardest section for me has always been the downhill to the Cox's....... sometimes it seems that Strongleg Ridge just goes on forever

A bit rougher than the 6 Foot and a bit more up & down. But no reason why you couldn't crank it out in 12-14 hours or so if you don't muck around too much. Even in Winter that gets most of it done during daylight if you get an early start.

[Marwood]

no experience of my own, but came across this site that may be useful while I was browsing the interwebs a while back: http://www.coolrunning.com.au/fatass/specials/k2k/index.shtml

[michael_p]

Ninjapuppet,

I haven't done this walk myself so I can't give any direct advice. A friend of mine who walks with three different bushwalking clubs has spoken to people who have done it and from what I have been told it is challenging with lots of up and down.

As far as tips. One group I was told about organised a food and water resupply somewhere around Medlow Gap, that way they could travel light and fast. Apparently they convinced someone to walk out to meet them with the resupply. Also, another group I was told about started early in the morning and walked through the day finishing at Katoomba early evening.

You may find this site of use as well: http://ozultimate.com/bushwalking/walk.php?nid=240

Hope this is of some help.

[ninjapuppet]

Thanks guys. just the advice I was after!

Dont think i'll run it in 7 hours like those guys Marwood, but a 5am start should give us plenty of time. Even allowing ourselves to be finishing up at midnight, thats 19 hours for 50km (2.5 km/hour)......

or is it 60km as that coolrunning website suggests? The NPA book indicates that its only 49km?

[climberman]

ninjapuppet - the distances probably depend on whether you end at the gate at the Narrowneck firetrail, or continue into Tomb-town (Katoomba).

I did this when a bit younger and fitter (6 or 7 years ago?) in a day with some mates. 17 hours with a 40 minute rest early in the day and an hour's rest / snooze at Mobbs.

We left early and did the Kanangara section in the dark. It helped to have some of the crew having done it before (I'd be tempted to spend an hour or two the arvo before walking to the end of K to get it in your head) as the route finding in the dark at pace in that shrubby stuff is funny. Dawn as you go up towards Cloudmaker is wonderful !

There are about 400 ways out of Dexs swamp, expect to make a small error and pick up the trail through navigation. I think the Ozultimate references this 'common issue'. Down to the Coxs later on is steep and can hurt those illiotibials if not well managed beforehand.

As noted above you could really do everything from the Coxs in the dark if you had to (well set in track or FT, from memory, once you pick up the Yellow Pup track. We were on the road from kanangra at 0415 but that was in May I think. Still effin cold.

Be aware that if the Coxs is in flood you will have to be very careful crossing. I have a mate who's party almost turned back to Kanagra when doing this as a 'traditional' three dayer. None of them are awesome swimmers and he did describe it as one of the most terrifying moments he's had with a pack.

I have not done the six foot track but I understand it is a very different beast (K2K harder). This type of distance is perfect for a hard fast day but I reckon be very judicious with gear. Light, light and more light. Fast and light can be safe. Quickish and not quite enough gear is not as safe as a 'traditional' walk nor a 'fast hard walk'. Light food, no cooking, plan your water, very minimal gear, share approriately, stay together. PAnadol / nurofen or other NSAIDS are good for reducing inflammation prior to pain and managing muscle owies. Learn soemthing on foot care if you haven't already, tape and possibly hydropel. I took extra socks as a bit of a loookshoory - felt very good after 10 hours to slip on something clean. Temperature management at the time of year you propose needs thinking about.

I wouldn't worry about animals in anything other than a common sense awereness way.

Have fun, great route, great country.

[Marwood]

Yeah. K2K in three days would be more my speed.

I found their site when I was looking to see if there was a way to link the end of the Six Foot Track at Jenolan Caves with K2K, without walking down Kanangra Walls Rd. Would make a K2K2K circuit or something. Their "Bouncing off the Walls" route (Jenolan Caves, Oaky Camp, Moorara Boss FT, Whalania, Queen Pin FT, King Pin FT, Thurat, Kanangra Walls) kind of does it with only a short section of the road, most of the rest is fire trails though. The only alternative I can work out is to go from Whalania along the Krungle Bungles to Mt Guouogang, then head to Paralyser like you would doing 3 peaks in reverse. But instead of heading down to Thunder Creek, continue along Thurat Ridge to link up with the Thurat FT to KW. And there's the option to go from the Black Range through Hellgate Gorge to Whalania along the fire trail and miss out Jenolan Caves sections.

Apparently I spend way too much time looking at maps .

[melinda]

Hi ninjapuppet,
My club (SBW) does this as one of their 'big' day walks every year.
Start as soon as there is a bit of light, out before dark. (We aim for under 12 hours.)
Pretty solid track all the way (although it's always a bit of a maze on the north side of Dexs Creek)
Guess a reasonable level of fitness is required.
Thinking you are young, give it a go!
Melinda

[DaveNoble]

There are plenty or routes you can go from K to K -
- Kanangra - Mt Thurat - Mt Paralyser - Kanangra Ck - Kanongaroo - Yellow Pup - Splendour Rock (or via Mobbs Soak (easier) - Medlow Gap - Narrow Neck - Katoomba
- Kanangra Walls - Mt Berry - Kanangra Ck - Kanongaroo - Yellow Pup (and as above)
- Kanangra Walls - Mt Cloudmaker - Strongleg - Kanongaroo - Yellow Pup (and as above)
- Kanangra Walls - Cloudmaker - Marcotts Pass - Coxs River - White Dog - Medlow Gap - Narrow Neck
- Kanangra Walls - Cloudmaker - Ti Willa - Kowmung River - Low Gangerangs - White Dog - Medlow Gap - Narrow Neck
etc etc

all of these except the last would be graded as "medium" 2 day walks (or medium 3 days walks) - so would be graded as "hard" as a daywalk. It used to be the case that many Sydney bushwalking clubs would regularly do a K to K daywalk (eg once a year) - I'm not sure if it is done that way much these days?

But - if contemplating doing it - it would be better to experience the country on a longer walk (2 or 3 days) before trying it as a daywalk. It is through country an lot rougher than the 6' track. The most common route is vai Cloudmaker. On the way to Cloudmaker - there are lot of angled rocks that can be hard on the feet. Navigating down to and from Dex Ck to the start of the Strongleg Range is not hard but can be tricky - there is some heath and not too much in the way of tracks.

From the Coxs - you can follow a horsetrack all the way up Yellow Pup to Mobbs Soak and then to Medlow Gap, and then pick up a track to Narrow Neck - this is easier going - but there is a fair bit of uphill.

Here is a trip report of a party that went from Katoomba to Kanangra and back in a day -

http://www.subw.org.au/archives/POR/Kan ... eturn.html

Dave

[melinda]

Wow,
Katoomba - Kanangra - Katoomba is a pretty solid 'day' walk.
Melinda

[ninjapuppet]

Gee, those SUBW guys from years past make us all today look soft. Thats over 100km of hilly terrain in a day!

[tom_brennan]

The Kanangra plateau can be difficult navigating in the dark. If you haven't done that part of the walk before, I don't recommend starting before first light. I remember an after dark finish from Danae Brook in high water a couple of years ago where we spent a couple of hours wandering between the rock outcrops trying to work out what was track and what was scrub.

Also, you should be walking at a pace to allow you to get up Taros Ladders in the light. The rest is fire trail and can be done after sunset.

As Dave says, if you're not familiar with the route, you might be best to do it as a 2- or 3-day walk first. There are some tricky bits around the plateau, Cloudmaker and Dexs Creek. While I'm sure you will work them out, you don't have the luxury of much time to rectify mistakes.

[ninjapuppet]

Just an update. I ended up doing the whole thing today by myself.

i went and scouted the first section to mt cloudmaker last week, and logged tracking coordinates into a gps.
camped by the car at Kanangra last night and Made my way off this morning in the freezing cold 3C at 5am. Somehow the track looks very different in the dark and I couldnt get the speed I was hoping for. First light filtered through just before 7am as I was reaching Mt Cloudmaker. From Dex creek, I made a few wrong turns which killed alot of time having to retrace my steps. I got really demoralised here and contemplated whipping out the satellite phone and making a call to be pick me up - back at Kanangra walls, but decided not to and tried my best to power ahead.

Finally reached Kanangra Creek and thought YEH BABY! Ive camped here twice before, and it was such a great feeling to be in familiar terrain again. GPS batteries died soon after (I should have put fresh ones in). I had spares, but navigation was straight forward so I didnt bother replacing them. Finally reached medlow Gap where my friend was waiting, and it was so nice to have a bottle of gatorade. We both made it back to the car at 620 in the dark, so the whole trip took me 13h 20mins.

I highly rcommend this trip but should anyone contemplate this trip, definitely walk it before hand as others have mentioned. The part around Dex's creek wouldnt have been such a pain had I known the way. GPS helps abit, but believe it or not, you can still make the wrong turns with a GPS if it thinks you're 300m from where you really are.

Just another easy day.

[DarrenM]

Well done Ninja! I've been thinking about this one myself. Walked it years ago but wouldn't mind a day trip. Thanks for the report.

[climberman]

Nice one ninja ! I think it's actually one of the rules of Blue Mts bushwalking to get 'confused' at Dex's ! Pretty much every report I've read suggests to allow for it to happen. Nice day for it, if it was similar to our day yesterday in the Illawarra.

[DarrenM]

Ninja, if you don't mind me asking, what was your water strategy? I personally will probably go through around 4 litres at pace but wondering whether you collected at the usual spots and carried less?

[ninjapuppet]

I carried 3L in a platypus and had a 600ml gatorade bottle as a backup.
carried some aquamira treatment drops, and collected water once at the Colo river. It was a pretty cool day and i used just under 5 L all up.

A trick I learnt from the army was to hydrate well for the few days leading up to a hard mission. I'm not too sure if it works or not but I do it anyway and over-hydrated myself for 3 days before hand. Water wasnt too much of an issue for me because my friend was waiting at Medlow Gap with supplies for me since Ive never done any sort of long distance walk like this before in a day.

I hesitate to call it an easy walk, but You look in better shape than me from your packrafting Videos Darren so you will definitely not have no problems doing this walk.

[DarrenM]

Thanks mate. It's always interesting to see what others do and I'll probably go for a similar setup. Again, well done, looks like a great walk.

[sydneyhiking]

we are planing to walk during Labor day long weekend.

It may not hard for experienced walker(s) for one day only.

[north-north-west]

A trick I learnt from the army was to hydrate well for the few days leading up to a hard mission. I'm not too sure if it works or not but I do it anyway and over-hydrated myself for 3 days before hand.

I think it does. If you start out well-hydrated you go further and faster, and everything's so much easier. I make a point of drinking twice as much water as usual on the day before starting a walk.