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Wilderness mountain-bike expedition
Any interest from any one in a 5-6 day wilderness mtb expedition in Wollemi/Yengo NP's?
Probably best time autumn or spring.
My rough idea is to start at Dunns Swamp near Rysltone on western edge of Wollemi NP, climb Mt Corricudgy then continue on the Hunter trail via 3ways to the Putty road and then Howes Valley 4WD trails via Finchley aboriginal site to Bucketty, pick up Old Great North Rd south to Wisemans Ferry then Womerah Range track to Putty and back via 3 ways to Dunns Swamp.
Makes me breathless just writing about it! Probably a couple of thousand metres of ascent!
Would involve bike-based camping obviously but could be facilitated with appropriate food drops.
Definitely not a race (Wildside cured me of that for a while!), need time for detours and just to stop and stare too!
Anyone as stupid as me to be interested?!?
Alan
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Maybe. Perhaps start with an overnighter first though!
Although I reckon I could carry tent & food, water will be the real problem. Think a Bob (trailer) might be in order! The MTB-OZ boys would know more... anyone out there?
I did a couple of camping trips in the Snowy a few years ago . If the trails are rough it seems good to split the load between bike and body , with about 30 litres max on the back and not much more than alight tent on the pannier.This limits you to about 45 litres total which is not much for a 5 day trip . Panniers alone are probably OK on good roads but they are difficult on the rough stuff and they tend to buckle. A bob trailer is probably good if you can't reduce your load-I saw a few people use them successfully in the Polaris.
Jeremy
Just got back from a trip to Wollemi National Park - fantastic place. Great camping, stunning scenery, truly remote feeling. Great canoeing, too - reminded me of Katherine Gorge - sans the crocs! And the pagoda sandstone rock formations are similar to what you see in the Kimberleys in W.A. All this only three hours from Sydney! (approx 1 hr from Lidsdale...)
We actually did a side trip from a "secret place" between Lithgow and Sofala - my 9 year old son is into space and science and we went to the NSW astronomy society "annual star party"...think dirt works for amateur astronomers...300 campers with 100 telesopes http://www.asnsw.com/spsp/index.asp - fantastic!
When we looked at Capertee Valley from Pearsons lookout we knew that this is a unique place within the greater Wollemi N.P.:
http://www.penrithweb.com/panorama/pan-capertee....
http://www.penrithweb.com/panorama/pan-caperteeV...
http://www.caperteevalley.com/virtualtour.htm
We then entered Wollemi NP from Kandos and spent some timne at Dunns Swamp (a much nice place than the name implies - actually a damed river valley - great for swimming, canoeing - and biking (!) - sweet trails between shady gums trees and mighty sandstone rock formations!
http://www.kjbeath.com.au/photos/wollemi%203/Pag...
Now we are mighty keen to try exploring this NP even further - bring it on...overnighters or multi day trips...I might even be able to talk my (non-biking) darling into meeting us with the 4WD for food drops and camp gear supplies....
Who is keen to join - sometime over the next 4 - 8 weeks? PM me...Rgds, Hans
How the bloody hell am I supposed to carry two cases of beer and a spare pair of undies for 5 days?
Dunns Swamp is a great place and there are some good rides on rough fire trail out that way too.
The Capertee is supposedly the second largest enclosed valley system in the world after the Grand canyon.
A great ride is to head out from Lithgow up over Newnes Plateau, down Black Fellows hands, Skim the top of Wolgan valley around long swamp and out to Baal Bone Gap and then down into the Capertee through Pantoney Station (Private property but owners usually happy as long as you let them know you are coming.
Awesome descents, fantastic view over both Wolgan and Capertee (especially great view of Pantoneys Crown...Bitch of a ride out but you can drop a car in the valley.
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/2605125
Don't forget the Capertee Challenge is on soon too
BoB Trailer
We've been bush walking out that way. The Pagodas and stuff provide some great scenery. We encountered some very rough and steep terrain on a rather random walk out there once. I was dreaming about riding some of it, would be great.
Camping is a good plan as it's a bit out of the way, although you could also choose to stay in Lithgow. Lithgow accommodation might be better outside of the summer months.
The area is used by a lot of 4WD clubs/groups by the look of it, but there's plenty of countryside to go round, I'd defo be keen for a ride out there for sure.