Date: 26/10/2008
Maps: LPI Cullen Bullen 89313N
Route: Reconnoiter Fire Trail 8 off Sunnyside Ridge Road and access to the Wolgan Valley Cliffs
Gear: Day Pack, Camera, EPIRB, Maps, Compass, GPS (set to WGS84), 2 litres water.
Party: Peter Medbury and Kathryn Medbury
Notes:
Every now and then I use Google Earth to look at the cliffs that form the southern boundary of the Wolgan Valley. Withouf a 4WD vehicle these areas are pretty inaccessible.
Todays trip had 2 objectives. Firstly, I wanted to know how far out Fire Trail No 8 I could get in my Honda CRV, and secondly, follow the old fire trail down to the cliffs overlooking the Wolgan Valley.
We drove in from Lidsdale along the Blackfellows Hand Trail. The track had deteriorated significantly since the last time I used it and I doubt my car will cope if conditions get much worse. Even so, we negotiated all the obstacles without sustaining any damage.
The Sunnyside Ridge Road is in much better condition but there were several large pools to be negotiated. The CRV handled all those obstacles well.
Fire Trail No 8 had not been used for quite some time. It looks like most traffic keeps going west. We took it slowly and were able to drive to the end of the road. The road used to continue almost to the cliff edge but it was been blocked at the boundary of the National Park, 1 kilometre from the edge of the cliffs.
It turned out to be a very easy walk down to the Wolgan Valley cliffs along the old fire trail. We took a while to cover the short distance to the cliffs because there were so many different plants in flower and we took lots of photos.
We reached the cliffs at an area of wide rock shelves that allowed an uninterrupted panorama of the Wolgan Valley.
The cliffs overlook the western end of the Wolgan Valley. Cape Pinnacle is immediately to the west, Cape Horn is across the valley to the north west and Donkey Mountain dominates the view to the north east.
We ate a very late lunch on a small pagoda. We had terrific views and a small patch of shade. Perfect.
Pagoda Daisies were thiving in small pockets of sand on the pagoda we were on. The heavily eroded pagodas create little rock gardens and these plants love them.
After lunch we explord some pagodas and the tops of severals ramps heading down into the valley. Tempting but it would have to wait for the next trip.
We headed backup the ridge through the forest rather than retracing our route along the cliff tops. The forest in the area is fairly open and looks easy to walk through.
The forest is broken by areas of heath but they are easy to negotiate. They don't have the tough mix of she-oak, banksia and isopogon that is found in other areas of the mountains. The heath here is quite open, mostly a mixture of leptospermum and calitrix.
| Time | Location | Grid Reference |
| 13:50 | Leave the car at the end of Fire Trail No 8 | GR 358 129 |
| 14:35 | Arrive a Cliff Line overlooking the Wolgan Valley | GR 357 142 |
| 14:45 | Lunch on a small pagoda overlooking the Wolgan Valley | GR 357 143 |
| 15:15 | Explore pagodas and top of ramps leading down through the Cliff Line | GR 358 143 |
| 15:25 | Head up the ridge to intersect the fire trail | GR 358 143 |
| 15:40 | Reach the Fire Trail | GR 358 140 |
| 16:00 | Arrive Back at the Car | GR 358 129 |
GPS Track: