Pierces Pass to Govetts Leap

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Pierces Pass to Govetts Leap

Postby Chunder fuzz » Mon 03 Apr, 2017 8:19 pm

First trip report and first time posting pictures so excuse the size, I wasn't having much luck trying to resize them.

This was my first overnight walk, had done quite a few long day walks but nothing overnight carrying my own stuff. Started off from Pierce's Pass at around midday after getting some lunch in Blackheath on Saturday, my pack was heavy (16kg) as I'm doing a walk in May where I'll be carrying for two. (serious case of DOMS on Sunday while sitting in the car driving home). I used the wildwalks track notes which were great, I also tracked our progress with my GPS watch (Garmin forerunner 920XT), seemed to be quite a variance in the distance between my watch GPS and what Wildwalks had stated ~7.6km to Acacia Flat, my watch reckoned 9.4km. Saturday was a fantastic day for a walk, sunny and clear but not too hot. The knees whinged as we got towards the bottom of pierces pass, then it was shoes off for the wade across, dry feet and continue on.

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Along the track to Acacia flat there were many small lizards like the one in the photo below (he or she was the biggest I came across), the track was pretty clear and easy to navigate. The Grose River had a nice low roar to it from the recent heavy rains I assume, was quite enjoyable walking along. Got to Blue Gum Forest which was rather spectacular and then the mozzies arrived, so many mozzies. We stopped once or twice for some photos but decided to keep walking as they seemed to have more trouble getting to you while walking, or at least, it felt that way. After Blue Gum it was a short walk to Acacia Flat where we pitched the tents at the first clear spot, which happened to be near Govetts Creek (10m behind the Orange tent in photo) and quite far from the loo and other campers. Acacia Flat was quite busy with multiple groups camping the night.

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The next morning we were off after some brief rain through the night, just to ensure we were packing everything up while it was wet...at least it wasn't raining while we were packing I guess. From Acacia Flat to junction rock the track was pretty clear, made a wrong turn just past junction rock and ended up where people had been using the 'toilet', smelt it first...right near the creek too :/ ...turned back quickly and went the right way. Up up it went, the last section of walk was nice creeks, stunning waterfalls, and trees all over the track, some quite large as seen below in the photos. As we reached the falls, we briefly stopped for some photos and then kept on heading up, trying to avoid the daywalkers coming down the stairs from Govetts lookout. Up some steep and soggy stairs we were at the top (almost), more chocolate, then we followed the road back the Heritage Centre at Blackheath.

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If you're into fungi, there were quite a few on display along Govetts Brook (I think - the trail following the creek up to the waterfall). Some bad photos are included below:

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Other than the mozzies, there were some leeches, but we only managed to attract three, and none in our group got one that latched on. All up it was a great walk and a pretty good one to do for a first overnighter, if you can organise some people with a car for the shuffle required at the end.

In total, according to my watch, we took 3hrs and 40 minutes the first day to cover 9.4km with 587m descent, and 4 hrs the second day to cover 9.4km with a total ascent of 764m.
Chunder fuzz
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Re: Pierces Pass to Govetts Leap

Postby johnw » Thu 04 May, 2017 5:58 pm

Well done! Nice report on one of my favourite places in the world, thanks for posting.
Chunder fuzz wrote:The knees whinged as we got towards the bottom of pierces pass
:lol: I recently spent 3 days in the valley myself, and the older I get the more my knees scream towards the bottom of Pierces. The sad thing is that it's actually one of the easiest descents into the Grose :roll:.

p.s. I find the quickest/easiest way to resize images for posting (including some basic editing if required) is MS Office Picture Manager - if you have it.
John W

In Nature's keeping they are safe, but through the agency of man destruction is making rapid progress - John Muir c1912
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Re: Pierces Pass to Govetts Leap

Postby Chunder fuzz » Fri 05 May, 2017 8:37 am

Thanks John, that walk had been on my list for years as I drive past it every time I head back to the parents in Newcastle via Bells. The views from the lookouts are fantastic. I finally managed to convince some mates to come along for the car shuffle which was good. I'll keep in mind it's the easiest one next time I suggest another walk to them.

I was originally going to do it as a trail run but you don't see much when running and I wanted to enjoy it rather than just get it done.

Cheers for the resize tip.
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