Kanangra to Katoomba

1 day / 46km / 2500vm
Originally schemed as a return walk over 2 days _­(KKK; mainly to avoid a lengthy car shuffle), it panned out that we’d settle for just the first day.

The drive up from Canberra, via Goulburn and Oberon, was a fun one. A 2am departure meant deserted roads the whole way. I hit snow just after crossing the Abercrombie River, and had to slow it down slightly as it got thicker nearing Black Springs. The snow continued the whole way through to Kanangra Walls car park, and I even had some ~40cm snow drifts over the road past Oberon.

I pulled in to the car park at 615 and Cam and Scott arrived about 7. We were off and walking by about 7am but the pace was very slow at first with a hard layer of ice coating the rocky plateau. After descending off the plateau a normal walking pace was possible, but we still had a few inches of snow under foot.

Ice on the plateau. Cam's photo

Our human compass, Scott, made navigation unnecessary, and to be honest the faint foot pad was pretty easy to follow / guess where it should be heading. We crested the Cloudmaker and descended down to Cox’s River for a quick lunch. After the river crossing the track was well defined and easy walking all the way to the end.

Snow underfoot. Cam's photo

Dusk fell around the time we got to the camping cave at Mobbs Swamp, and half an hour later we were walking by headlight. Up the ladder at Narrowneck and along the fire trail for the final 10km, we finished at the car about 9pm.

Nearing the end. Cam's photo

An awesome walk with great company, on a clear cold day (~0deg morning and night with a cold westerly on the ridges).

Kanangra Walls. Cam's pano