by irrgent » Tue 20 Sep, 2022 8:22 pm
A few months ago I attempted to do go to Knights Deck via Breakfast Creek and Cattle Dog. Breakfast Creek was fine. A few sections where there had been landslides that you had to negotiate but otherwise relatively easy going. The climb up Cattle Dog ridge was also mostly fine and free of scrub until near the end. Once you had reached the top of the spur and were on the ridge line however there was unrelenting and very dense scrub. Young trees growing very close together made forward progress very slow and frustrating while long grass would wrap around your ankles and get you stuck while trying to push through the dense stands of wattle. We gave up on Knights Deck after only a small amount of time scrub bashing as it was quite unpleasant and also assuming it didn't get any better it was going to take a very long time to complete the walk. We instead headed south then east towards the K2K route below Mt Warrigal. The track is still easy to follow but is at times walled on either side by very dense regrowth so you won't see the track until you are standing right on it.
I'm not particularly keen to head back out there any time soon. It's a shame as it used to be one of my favorite areas to explore. I would be interested in hearing if conditions are any different in other nearby areas. My thinking is that it will be pretty bad in most places. If heading out there definitely allow a lot of extra time.