Morton National Park: Budawang Wilderness, Byangee Trail to Castle Gap

General information

Distance:  6.6 kilometers
Total climb:  around 400 meters
Time taken:  3 hours
Map:  Corang 8927-3N 1:25 000
Start point distance by road from Canberra GPO:  171 kilometers
Start point map grid reference:  56H KF 44720 87727

Destination map grid referencs: 56H KF 46129 90004

End point:  same as start

Route

http://maps.six.nsw.gov.au/

Description

This afternoon hike started at the Long Gully campground after three-hour trip from Canberra and setting up camp at Yadboro Flat (56H KF 47112 85623). Almost immediately we had to cross the Yadboro River. Since it was the start of a weekend of hiking I decided to keep my boots dry and take them off before crossing the knee-deep water on slippery rocks - hiking poles were very useful for maintaining balance. Having crossed the river we followed the Byangee Trail north. Initially the track was wide and not too steep, but it narrows and gets quite steep at about the 1 kilometer point. There were some good views along the trail to the west.



We continued along the trail until we reached the escarpment south of The Castle. At this point we turned to the east and followed the narrow path along the base of the escarpment. 



This path was slippery, with many ups and downs and sometimes quite difficult to pick out. Eventually we reached Castle Gap, where there were views of Pigeon House about 7.5 kilometers away.



It being fairly late in the day, we decided to head back by the same route. Although relatively short in distance, this is quite a challenging walk.