On our semi-regular pilgrimage to the Jindabyne area, a good friend LH and I had penciled down a jaunt up to the 3 Rams Heads as a day walk. After an overnight walk to the Guthega area, and a couple great days blasting up and down the various mountain bike trails around Jindabyne, New Year’s Day saw us driving up towards Dead Horse Gap. After dropping one car off in Thredbo, we were soon parked at the Cascade Trailhead.
A quick walk up the road to Dead Horse Gap soon ensued where I saw a large parking lot, which had a lot fewer cars than Cascade Trailhead. LOL. Note to self - park up at Dead Horse Gap next time around.
- Walking through the Snow Gums
We were a party of 7, LH had his two kids with him, and my wife and I had our two kids with us. After a group wefie at the Dead Horse Gap, we started up the trail. The trail although a little faint, is very noticeable. I would say that unless it was entirely snowed over, in a whiteout, and in really dense fog, there is no way you could lose sight of the trail. When we started entering the snow gums, there was a lot of horse poo on the trails, looks like the brumbies also use this trail. Better than the poo though, were the wildflowers. They were in full bloom and beautiful, Daisies, Alpine Trigger Plants, Billy Buttons, and many others.
- Rocks and Brumbies
We climbed steadily in a northwesterly direction and soon enough we were above treeline. The trail does become less obvious at this point, but South Rams Head (the 2052m version) is immediately obvious so it was quite easy “aiming” for it. We headed due north till we were roughly east of the peak and then made our way up. After a quick drink and the obligatory photos, we headed in the north easterly direction towards Rams Head. We did not try for the 1951m version of Rams Head South. Maybe another time.
- Between Rams Head South and Rams Head
Two years ago we climbed up Rams Head from the east, I must admit the peak looks a lot different from Rams Head South, hardly any boulders from this viewpoint. We came across a lot of fresh horse poo after Rams Head South, and sure enough, we spotted two of these brumbies. My wife was quite excited as after 5 trips to the park, she finally got to see them. What I found really cool about the area between Rams Head South and Rams Head was that no more than 50 metres apart were two streams, one flowing in the south easterly direction, very likely joining up with the Snowy, and the other flowing in the north westerly direction, possibly joining up with the Murray. What different journeys the difference of those 50 metres results in! Our group stood there for a bit contemplating this thought. Once we were close to Rams Head, we basically walked north up its southern flank. No rock scrambling was necessary. I found it quite a slog here from Rams Head South, so I was glad to fire up the stove for some coffee and lunch on the summit. The kids on the other hand were flying and had to often wait up for the slower “oldies”. I still remember those first few walks with my kids many years ago, where merely completing 1 km was a cause for celebration with icy poles. Now my older kid carries the same weight as I do, and walks twice as fast as I am able to.
- Lovely cool stream
We couldn’t really see Rams Head North from where we were, but after picking our way down the boulderly east side of Rams Head, we pretty much headed in the north easterly direction up towards a rise. As mentioned earlier, there isn’t much of any trails above the treeline, but with a map, we found it easy to target the peaks. We came across the first humans for the day here, meeting a group of four who were headed towards Rams Head. After some pleasantries about the walk and weather, they headed off for Rams Head while we headed towards our final destination.
- Scrambling up to Rams Head North
Having arrived at Rams Head North on its South West side, we found a boulder field (choss pile?) on its Western Side and 3rd classed up the rocks. After carefully picking our way up this line of weakness, we were soon on the summit. Again, after the obligatory wefies and pictures, we looked for a way down. Those of you intimately familiar with Rams Head North will be saying - dude you came up the wrong way. Yes we did, LOL. At the summit, we could see the easy grassy way down, on the North East side of the peak. Sure enough, we could pretty much walk down this side. We headed due East for the metal Kosciusko walkway. After the days solitary stroll, the crowds on the metal walkway took a little getting used to. But it was nice just “switching off” and striding back.
- Metal walkway and the end of a great day
Would I do this walk again? Most definitely. Maybe with an overnight pack the next time, and the visit to the 1951 m version of Rams Head South. Other than the skin melting UV levels, we lucked out with the weather on this trip. A gentle breeze most of the day, comfortable temperatures, and all shades of azure on display in the sky. As such, I’ll forever of good memories of the Rams Heads.