After all the rain of late I thought a day in the mountains would be the thing on Saturday. So I headed up to Wentworth Falls early in steady rain. It was still falling as I set off for the Conservation Hut on the Shortcut Track. From there it was down to the Empress Falls and the turn off to Wentworth Pass. Here I stayed right despite the warning signs and followed the old Roberts Pass which was quite clear and easy to follow. At Inspiration Point it afforded great views out over the Jamieson valley to Mt Solitary and to Sublime Pt. It continued hugging the base of the cliffs till a sign marked Roberts Pass pointed the way out to the tops. I continued around below two waterfalls. I didn't see where the Gladstone Pass Track came in or the old colliery. In fact my eye sight must be failing because these were just two of several landmarks i would miss completely. Dash's Cave, Lindeman's Rock and Walford's Rock were others. From here the track deteriorated badly. In fact it was largely obliterated by landslides, windfall and regrowth. The going was particularly slow up and over fallen logs and twisted vines. The occasional silver marker reassuringly appeared from time to time but there was little that resembled a track. There must have been heavy winds up in these parts recently because many of the fallen trees were very new. Later I would find that some had not even been cleared from the tourist tracks yet.
Anyway I battled on and after about 2 hours of sweat and toil I reached the base of Sublime Point where the bush is drier and miraculously the track reappeared and remained very clear. Two cairns marked where the route up Copeland Pass left the track. But I continued on past a couple more falls. The track actually past behind the second which meant you looked out to the valley through a veil of water. This is actually the 2nd drop of Gordon Falls one of the prettiest falls in the mountains. From here it wasn't long to Leura Falls which I crossed near the old sewerage infrastructure and before long picked up the tourist track to Leura Forest where I stopped for lunch and rid my legs of the numerous leeches that had affixed themselves.
After lunch I took the Federal Pass then Dardanelles Pass to the foot of the Giant Stairway and up to Echo Pt. At the top I took the Cliff Top Track right back around to the Gordon Falls Picnic area which is very pretty even in the rain which was falling again. Then down to the Pool of Siloam and up to Golf Links Lkt. From there it was across to Sublime Pt Rd and then past the resort which appeared to have a big crowd in and onto the golf course. Here I walked up and down the fairways in the pouring rain looking for the track. I didn't find it but I did find several golf balls. At length i decided to strike out across country which led down to the Empress Ck which I crossed and then up the other side to West St where I picked up the Nature Track which led back to the Conservation Hut and the car, where I arrived thoroughly drenched but pleased to have been out, not long after.
K.