Six foot track overnight

 

Date: 13-14/09/2020

Participants: Me and Peggy

 

Day1:

 

I finally did the very popular Six Foot track in the mountains. After days of planning. We have decided to start at Jenolan caves and finished at Katoomba instead of the other way because Katoomba is closer to civilisation. It was also very exciting for me that I get to create the route on my GPS app because there weren't any GPS route existed. We started later than expected, at around 10 am since we had to take the replacement bus (there was track work this weekend). But, we can feel the excitement and nervousness since we had to cover roughly 22km the first day. 

Jenolan Caves Cottage

We headed straight up from the caves, ascending about 1000m to reach mt George (Saw a lyrebird on the way). The walk up was really nice and wasn't very steep. We could saw the whole Kanangra Boyd national park when we reached the top. 

From there, it was a nice and easy walk. Although we went off track once along the trail by the highway. After crossing the highway and walked for another 4km, we reached Black range campground and had our lunch there. 

The way to Black range campground was very scenic

The campground was very nice, they even had nice toilets. After reading the map at the campground, we were worried that we might not make it to the campground before dark since it said 6 hours to get to our campground for the day - Alum's creek campground. However, it took much less for us, around 2 hours because it was a very well paved fire trail. A minus was that there were motorbikes and cars on the track, a lot of them. It was very interesting at a section as it was covered by pine trees, which you wouldn't find normally in the blue mountains area. 

We descended roughly 600m to Little river, seeing spectacular views of mountains along the way. I felt a bit lucky that we came from Jenolan caves since a large part of the walk was descending instead of ascending. We saw more walkers as well, going the other way, which is more popular. 

 The walk down to Little River

A little pretty flower bush

We did three crossings of Little River, which wasn't really hard, but one of my feet was wet. 

We reached Alum's creek campground at 5:30 and had a nice dinner, with Peggy using the stove for the first time before heading off early to bed.

  

 This picture was actually taken the next morning, since when we came it was too dark for my camera

 

Day 2: 

The historic Bowtell swinging bridge

My sleeping mat deflated during the night so I woke up at blew it after closing the closing vault tightly. Peggy also woke up as well, telling me that she couldn't sleep at all because it was so cold. It was expected since this is her first overnight trip. For me, apart from the deflated mat, I had a nice and warm sleep, even though I had a nightmare about waking up late for the next day. Luckily, it was all a dream. We wake up right on time at 5:30 and had a nice and warm breakfast before packing up our tent and headed back to the track at 7:40 am. I was also quite happy that I used most of the water I brought, leaving only 1.5L for our last day. 

Morning was beautiful

The first half of the track was very easy. There was a short ascend to gain some height since Alum's creek campground is at the lowest point of the track. We arrived at a turn that had a sign saying "Wrong way, bushwalker turn back". Peggy found it was too interesting to not have a picture for it. We then reached a gate, Peggy thought it was the wrong way but according to the map, it was the track so I opened the gate, nervously, and we proceed warily. However, I quickly realised we were on the right track after seeing walkers coming from the other way. 

 Descending while other people were struggling to ascend felt nice

Along the descending trail, we noticed a lot of horizontal pillars made from what seemed to be straw. We reached Cox's river campground and decided to have a little break there. 

 

Coxs river

The river had a really nice water flow. We could clearly hear the rushing water while walking past the eco-lodge - a luxurious hut for people with more money. After climbing up a few stairs. We finally arrive at one of the most famous sites of the track - The historic Bowtell swinging bridge. Peggy was especially excited about this since she loves suspension bridges. For precautions, only one person is allowed on the bridge at a time. I could feel all the adrenaline rushing to my head while walking on the bridge. Looking down, I could see the amazing view of the Cox's river. I wanted to take pictures but the fear of dropping my phone stopped me from doing that. 

 

We both safely arrived at the other side and proceed to our lunch stop, Megalong village cemetery, passing a lot of gates and climb-over-fences staircases.

Along the way to the cemetery, we passed through a huge grassland area that seems to be endless, with vineyards and horse ranches. Personally, that was one of my favourite parts of the walk There was also an overhang with an enormous beehive inside, very exciting. 

 

 

We arrived at a car park that seems to be for the Megallong village historic site that we have just passed. The farmhouses were very ancient-looking but there was a wedding convention house that looks like a greenhouse! We stopped for about 20 minutes for lunch before continuing to the last part of our walk.

The Oberoo section of the walk consisted of a fire trail in the middle of private-owned lands of blue gum forests. With the clouds chasing over our heads, it looked like scenery from old, rusty cowboy movies. 

 We passed a ranch where two horses approached us for food but after learning that we wouldn't give them some, they seemed pretty annoyed. 

We continued our way, ascending to Nellies Glen. 

Peggy started to look very tired now. However, as I knew the secret way to Nellies Glen falls (or Bonnie Doon Falls), I encouraged her to keep going. After more ascending, passing through rainforest along the way. We reached the climbed up to the falls. Peggy was very surprised at how there was an enormous waterfall at this place. I lied down and we took a quick break and snacked before the hardest part of the walk.

The waterfalls were next to the last section of the Six Foot track, the very steep and slippery steps that led us straight back up to the top, ascending around 1000m. 

A tired Peggy

After 20 minutes of nonstop walking, finally reached the top, with a relief shout, Peggy was very happy that she could achieve this. We walked for another half an hour along a fire trail to the finishing point, the explorer tree. It was quite sad how the tree was damaged from a car crash. We walked for another 2.4 km to Katoomba station. 

Well, I can say now that I completed the 44km (with another 2.4km extra) Six Foot track in two days. It is doable since the track was very well paved. The walk is very scenic, we passed through a variety of landscapes, from caves to rainforests. This was also my first time to do 44km in two days so I am very happy with my progress, even though my pack was a little bit heavy on the first day due to 6L of water. Looking forward to long walks in the future.