Yass District: Bowning Hill

 General Information

Grading: very easy

Distance:   4 kilometers

Total climb:   220 meters

Time taken:   1 hour 30 minutes

Maps:   Yass 8628-2N 1:25 000

Start point distance by road from Canberra GPO:   73.5 kilometers

Start point map grid reference:  Yass 55H FB 66960 49630

Destination map grid reference:  Yass 55H FB 67512 50027

End point:  Same as start

NOTE: Bowning Hill and its access road are on private land. We did the walk as part of a charity event which is held once a year for the benefit of the Yass Valley SPIN Foundation. The Hill is not accessible to the public at any other time without the landowner's permission.

Route

Description

Bowning Hill would be familiar to anyone travelling on the Hume Highway west of Yass: a large, steep hill just to the left of the highway. The starting point for the climb was off Common Road (which is about 8 kilometers past the Yass Service Centre turnoff). The climb was along a bitumen service road that zigzags up the western side of the hill.

As we got near the top we could see a rocky outcrop on the top of the hill, although we found that this is not the highest point.

The views from the top are spectacular. We could easily make out Black Mountain Tower, Mt Gingera and Mt Tennant, but the views in all directions were uninterrupted.

After spending quite a while at the top of the hill (despite the cold wind blowing), we made our way back down the hill by the same path.

Canberra Nature Park: Gunganderra Grasslands Nature Reserve

General Information

Grading:  easy

Distance:   4 kilometers

Total climb:   128 meters

Time taken:   1 hours 15 minutes

Maps:   Canberra 8727-2N 1:25 000

Start point distance by road from Canberra GPO:   8 kilometers

Start point map grid reference:  Canberra 55H FB 92425 01103

Destination map grid reference:   n/a

End point:  Same as start

Route

Description

This walk commenced just off the Barton Highway outside the entrance to the 1RPH radio station. We had to climb a barbed wire fence near a locked gate to get into the reserve (we found a few other wire fences during the walk but we were able to find gaps in them).

Proceeding up the track inside the gate our first order of business was to find some ancient gnarly trees that we had heard about. This required some backtracking, but we eventually found the trees one after another in the light forest to the left of the track.

 

After finding the trees we walked up to the top of Gungahlin Hill (map ref. 55H FB 92348 01747) before heading northeast to another hill at the northern end of the grasslands (map ref. 55H FB 92173 02334). There were some nice views across the grasslands from here.

Turning back we headed for a third hill in the grasslands (map ref. 55H FB 92933 01600), also with some nice views.

 From here it was a short walk back through grassland and light forest back to our starting point.

Canberra Nature Park: Black Mountain Circuit (2)

General Information

Grading:  easy

Distance:   7 kilometers

Total climb:   350 meters

Time taken:   2 hours 40 minutes

Maps:   Canberra 8727-2N 1:25 000

Start point distance by road from Canberra GPO:   3 kilometers

Start point map grid reference:  Canberra 55H FA 91816 94932

Destination map grid reference:   n/a

End point:  Same as start

Route

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

Description

Another loop walk around Black Mountain. The starting point was the carpark near the electricity sub-station on Frith Road. From there I really just explored any tracks and paths that looked interesting, following the Kids Lookout Trail, climbing over Little Black Mountain and coming back around to the Black Mountain Summit Walk. Rather than go to the summit I walked around the western side of the Forest Loop Walk. From the picnic area on Black Mountain Drive I headed bush straight down a spur to the Botanic Gardens Trail which follows the fence line of the Botanic Gardens back to Frith Road.

Uriarra: Sherwood Daffodils (2)

General Information

Grading:  easy

Distance:   8.6 kilometers

Total climb:   249 meters

Time taken:   3 hours 10 minutes (including a long break at the daffodils)

Maps:   Cotter Dam 8627-2N 1:25 000

Start point distance by road from Canberra GPO:   32 kilometers

Start point map grid reference:  55H FA 74137 95543

Destination map grid reference:   55H FA 72104 95061

End point:  Same as start

Route

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

Description

This walk was similar to the one undertaken on 10 September 2019 (link), at least in terms of starting point and destination. The difference was that about 1.6 kilometres into the walk we turned north into the pine forest to loop around towards Two Sticks Hill before heading south towards the daffodils site. We returned the same way we had taken last year.

Canberra Nature Park: Aranda Snowgums

General Information

Grading: very easy

Distance:   2 kilometers

Total climb:   18 meters

Time taken:   45 minutes

Maps:   Canberra 8727-2N 1:25 000

Start point distance by road from Canberra GPO:   6 kilometers

Start point map grid reference:  Canberra 55H FA 89746 94098

Destination map grid reference:   n/a

End point:  Same as start

Route

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

Description

This walk started at the Black Mountain carpark near Glenloch Interchange. We walked down to the stile over the fence leading into the Aranda Snowgums and followed a loop pretty randomly around the area. A short walk for a little bloke.

Canberra Nature Park: Goorooyaroo Nature Reserve - Old Joe Hill and Gooroo Hill

General Information

Grading:  medium

Distance:   9.4 kilometers

Total climb:   290 meters

Time taken:   2 hours 20 minutes
Maps:   Hall 8727-4S 1:25 000

             Sutton 8727-1S 1:25 000 

             See also (link)
Start point distance by road from Canberra GPO:   13 kilometers
Start point map grid reference:  55H GB 98346 01230
Destination map grid reference:   Old Joe Hill 55H FB 99407 03215

                                                      Gooroo Hill 55H GB 00037 04192
End point:  Same as start

Route

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

Description

This walk commenced at the Goorooyaroo Nature Reserve carpark off Horse Park Drive. We started by going through the gate and following the management trail north for a bit, taking a right hand turn at the first intersection we came to. Following this second track for a short distance we then went bush and climbed Gecko Hills where we could get some great views.

From there we followed the border fence up Old Joe and Gooroo Hills. From Gooroo Hill we followed the track back to our starting point. This was definitely the less interesting part of the walk.