General Information
Route
Description
To get to the starting point we drove to Uriarra Crossing and turned right immediately after crossing the river into Fairlight Road. We followed Fairlight Road until it ends at Mountain Creek Road and turned left. About 3.7 kilometers south of the Fairlight/Mountain Creek Road intersection there is an unsignposted gravel road on the right. This is Two Sticks Road. We followed Two Sticks Road for about 4 kilometers until we found is a vehicular track obliquely to the right with a steep descent. You can either park near this intersection and walk down the side track, or if your vehicle is up to it, drive down this track until it meets Swamp Creek. This is the start point.
At the start point there is a trail that crosses over Swamp Creek - this is shown on the Umburra map as Pig Hill Trail. Following Pig Hill Trail, however, is not simple as there are many other tracks intersecting with it that are not marked on the map, and it is not always the clearest of these tracks. It is therefore essential to continually refer to the map and use a compass or GPS to ensure the correct track is followed. About 2.5 kilometers from the start point at Swamp Creek the Pig Hill Trail meets Doctors Flat Road. We followed this road to the east until we met a locked gate about 1 kilometre from where we joined the road. To the left of this gate is the start of the well-signposted Pig Hill Summit Trail. We followed this trail to the summit of Pig Hill (979 meters).
The summit is largely bare of trees and provides excellent views back towards Belconnen.
There are also views of surrounding farmland to the north and east, and less clear views of the mountains to the west.
After pausing at the summit we retraced our steps back to the car at Swamp Creek.
This is an excellent short walk with plenty of navigational challenges, despite being on formed tracks all the way. The views from Pig Hill are well worth the effort. Hikers should note that some tracks may go through private property.
Thanks for this, it's a really good write up of the walk. Aren't the views spectacular from the top! We approached the walk from Doctor's Flat Road, which wasn't a good way to go as I think it meant that we (accidentally) trespassed through someone's property, which is something I always try and avoid doing. We returned to find a letter on our windscreen. If we go again I'll take your route.
ReplyDeleteThanks Trevor and Amy. I'm glad that some people are actually using the blog. Pig Hill really is a lesser-known gem of a walk, isn't it? I would love to do more walking in the Brindabella National Park, but accessing it is a problem. The route I took necessarily involved a small amount of passage through private land, but I took the fact that the trail is marked on the Umburra map as an indication it was OK. At least nobody shot at us. Just as an aside, we did ask the landowner at the start of Doctor's Flat Road about access, and while we got a positive response from them they told us that there were several landowners along the road that we'd need to get permission from as well. It was all too hard.
DeleteHi Phil, I am thinking of doing this walk, but I only have a 2wd. Is Two Sticks Road ok to the starting point for 2wd?
ReplyDeleteI have driven the other end of Two Sticks Road to the camping ground near the start of the Mount Coree trail and it was about the limit of road conditions that I would want to take my car on.
Hi Brendan.
DeleteIt's been five years since I last did that walk, and almost as long since I've driven that stretch of Two Sticks Road. While I never had any difficulty driving it, I only ever did it in an AWD vehicle with good ground clearance. Also, I don't know what the current condition of the road is after all the wet weather we've been having - even the gravel section of Boboyan Road wasn't all that flash a few weeks ago.
I certainly wouldn't take a 2WD vehicle down the trail from Two Sticks Road to Swamp Creek since it's steep and nasty. You would have to walk to Pig Hill from Two Sticks, which adds another 2-3km including a steep climb back.