Saturday 14 November 2020

Yass District: Mundoonen Nature Reserve South of the Hume Highway

General Information

Grading:  hard
Distance:    14 kilometers
Total climb:    567 meters
Time taken:   4 hours 45 minutes
Maps:   Jerrawa 8728-3N 1:25 000
Start point distance by road from Canberra GPO:   65 kilometers
Start point map grid reference:  55H FB 87265 44055
Destination map grid reference:  Margules Hill 55H FB 88361 43792
End point:  Same as start

Route

Description

The Mundoonen Nature Reserve straddles the Hume Highway between Yass and Gunning. Having done the smaller section of the Reserve north of the Hume Highway at the beginning of October (link) we decided to give the south side a go. Our starting point was Sheldricks Lane on the north side of the Hume Highway, about 3.4 kilometres along the Highway from its intersection with Yass Valley Way.

We began by walking under the Hume Highway via a culvert and then cutting through the bush to the highway trail. When we came to the Swamp Gully Trail we followed it for about 230 metres before turning left towards Margules Hill (791m). Passing by old charcoal pits...

...and making our way to the summit.

There were no great views from the summit due to the forest, so we walked back the way we had come back to the Swamp Gully Trail which we followed south for about 2.3 kilometres until we came to a power line clearing near a creek with some very nice Xanthorrhoeas.

From here we found the Old Gap Road, which in the 1830's was the equivalent of today's Hume Highway. 

We followed Old Gap Road until we reached the border of the Nature Reserve, and turning right we followed the border fence at first through light bush, then along the Dam Trail where we unsurprisingly found a nice dam by the side of which we could have some lunch.

Continuing along the Dam Trail until its end, we again headed bush along the boundary fence to a point  around map reference 55H FB 88939 41879. Here we decided to turn back, making our way through the bush by a direct route to the Swamp Gully Trail, retracing our steps back to tour starting point.

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