Breakfast Creek - medlow Gap

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Breakfast Creek - medlow Gap

Postby Rousey » Fri 21 Aug, 2020 9:34 pm

Has anyone walked all the way up Breakfast Creek to the firetrail (that heads out to Medlow Gap) rather than turn off up Carlons to the car park.
TIA.
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Re: Breakfast Creek - medlow Gap

Postby rcaffin » Mon 24 Aug, 2020 8:26 pm

Well, sort of not quite.
Half way up the valley you come to a huge waterfall. We decided to not attempt it. If you want to, the right side facing the falls MIGHT be best - maybe.
Instead we went up the left bank towards the track out to Knights Deck. It was VERY steep: do not attempt it in the wet!

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Re: Breakfast Creek - medlow Gap

Postby Grabeach » Tue 25 Aug, 2020 1:21 am

Also sort of but not quite.
Went up maybe 3km. Soon after passing what I was told was Glenalan Falls (not what I would call huge) it started to get scrubby so we pulled out on the true right up one of the Glenalan Spurs to the road. Mid 1980s, so I don't remember a lot, but I'm pretty sure I've got a photo of the falls and some dots on a map somewhere. Very busy at the moment so give me a few days.
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Re: Breakfast Creek - medlow Gap

Postby ribuck » Tue 25 Aug, 2020 2:16 am

The westernmost of the Glenalan Spurs (immediately east of Sliprail Creek, below Glenalan Falls) leads straightforwardly to the Medlow Gap Fire Trail. Our party had just descended Faithful Hound Ridge and crossed Breakfast Creek. This was two or three years ago, and at the point we crossed Breakfast Creek it was scrubby but looked navigable.
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Re: Breakfast Creek - medlow Gap

Postby FatCanyoner » Wed 26 Aug, 2020 11:34 am

As others have mentioned, there's an impressive little chasm higher up that poses the most significant obstacle.

Below are a couple photos of the waterfall and surrounding cliffs. The falls are at about 447548 on the Jenolan map.

It's a great looking chasm, and wonderful to explore around, but I've only visited from above, heading out one of the Glenalan Spurs, then continuing on to Faithful Hound Ridge. You definitely can't get up or down the area directly around the falls without a rope.

P1090025a.JPG


P1090085a.JPG
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Re: Breakfast Creek - medlow Gap

Postby Grabeach » Thu 27 Aug, 2020 11:26 am

There is an All Nations Bushwalkers photo only report https://anbwalkers.org.au/node/2001 of their 2017 trip. Their plot shows them following Breakfast Ck all the way to the road. There are photos of two medium size falls. Even accounting for the different water flows, neither of these look like the photo I took of what I was told was Glenalan Falls (attached) during a 1989 Sutherland BWC trip. The mark I put for these falls on my Jenolan sheet converts to MGA56 444.5,551. This is where they are shown on the Gangerang etc 1979 map. I like to think I knew where I was, but maybe I used this map (if I had it then) to locate the GR. In any event these falls were fairly easy to get round, but I suggest worth the naming.

The "huge" falls that Roger came to are likely those that Tim photographed from above and referenced as 447548, this being 500m further up the creek than 'my' Glenalan Falls. A look at the air photos tends to confirm this.
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Re: Breakfast Creek - medlow Gap

Postby rcaffin » Fri 28 Aug, 2020 8:29 pm

The "huge" falls that Roger came to are likely those that Tim photographed from above
Likely.
They certainly were not the shorter falls shown above.

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Re: Breakfast Creek - medlow Gap

Postby ribuck » Sat 29 Aug, 2020 2:21 am

Just a thought ... since Sliprail Creek was previously named Breakfast Creek, and the creek above Glenalan Falls was previously named Glenalan Creek, it's possible that Sliprail Creek is the natural bushwalking route out to the firetrail. The sketch map shows a section of Sliprail Creek marked "Gorge", and another marked "Deep Pass" (where the pre-firetrail Black Dog Track crosses, just below where the firetrail crosses), so Sliprail Creek might be interesting to explore.

rcaffin wrote:The "huge" falls that Roger came to are likely those that Tim photographed from above
Likely.
They certainly were not the shorter falls shown above.

Indeed. The sketch map shows Glenalan Falls as being 55 feet high (17 metres).
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Re: Breakfast Creek - medlow Gap

Postby rcaffin » Tue 01 Sep, 2020 3:07 pm

That belt of some sort of granite (diorite?) pervades the whole area. You get it in all the gullies, in Mouin Ck, in dykes across the Coxs, upstream from the 6' Track, in Galong Gorge going up the Packsaddlers (I think that is the name), and ... everywhere. Lots of fun.

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Re: Breakfast Creek - medlow Gap

Postby Mark F » Tue 01 Sep, 2020 5:23 pm

Pack Saddlers was the name of the horse riding business run out of Carlon's Farm. The cascade in Galong Creek is a nice little scramble. SUBW used to do Breakfast Ck, Coxes, Galong Ck as the annual freshers trip.
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