Martins Lookout -> Kings Link Track -> Saint Helena Ridge ->

Trip reports, stories, track notes. Multiple/large photos are OK in this forum.
Forum rules
Posting large/multiple images in this forum is OK. Please start topic titles with the name of the location or track.

For topics focussed on photos rather than the trip, please consider posting in the 'Gallery' forum instead.

This forum is for posting information about trips you have done, not for requesting information about a track or area.

Martins Lookout -> Kings Link Track -> Saint Helena Ridge ->

Postby Webguy » Sun 28 Apr, 2013 8:24 pm

Did this walk from martins Lookout up to Bunyan lookout opposite, out along Kings Link Track, along Saint Helena's ridge, down the nose to Glenbrook creek and up to Florabella Pass, and finally exited via Pippas Pass and our 2nd car in the Blaxland Library Carpark.

A really nice walk!

The walk along Saint helena's ridge was tough in places after the hazard reduction keeping on track, but we never lost it for more than a few seconds til we spotted it again.

Took an hour from Bunyan lookout to the "lookout" at the end of Saint helenas Ridge above Glenbrook creek.

One worth doing!
User avatar
Webguy
Athrotaxis cupressoides
Athrotaxis cupressoides
 
Posts: 144
Joined: Sun 22 Jan, 2012 10:49 pm
Region: New South Wales
Gender: Male

Re: Martins Lookout -> Kings Link Track -> Saint Helena Ridg

Postby johnw » Wed 01 May, 2013 3:08 pm

Yep, nice walk :), have done similar in the past but in separate trips. Used to be a great display of flannel flowers along St Helena Ridge in spring. Just curious, did you detour to St Helena Crater? Did a walk last winter from Martins lookout to Bunyan and into the crater, which was extremely weed infested. There has been an ongoing program to address that and I think NPWS were planning to actually spray there in the recent past. Any evidence of that?
John W

In Nature's keeping they are safe, but through the agency of man destruction is making rapid progress - John Muir c1912
User avatar
johnw
Lagarostrobos franklinii
Lagarostrobos franklinii
 
Posts: 8983
Joined: Wed 23 Jan, 2008 11:59 am
Location: Macarthur Region - SW Sydney
Region: New South Wales
Gender: Male

Re: Martins Lookout -> Kings Link Track -> Saint Helena Ridg

Postby Webguy » Wed 01 May, 2013 3:43 pm

Sorry John, we did not detour, were not sure how long it was going to take us and that was the main "mission" of the day. I intend to do the whole Faulconbridge to Blaxland walk someday soon, and now I know how short it is from the campsite below Marin's lookout to Blaxland, I will walk past the turn off and go check it out, or, maybe take the next ridge and extend down into Glenbrook.
User avatar
Webguy
Athrotaxis cupressoides
Athrotaxis cupressoides
 
Posts: 144
Joined: Sun 22 Jan, 2012 10:49 pm
Region: New South Wales
Gender: Male

Re: Martins Lookout -> Kings Link Track -> Saint Helena Ridg

Postby johnw » Wed 01 May, 2013 7:29 pm

Webguy wrote:Sorry John, we did not detour, were not sure how long it was going to take us and that was the main "mission" of the day. I intend to do the whole Faulconbridge to Blaxland walk someday soon, and now I know how short it is from the campsite below Marin's lookout to Blaxland, I will walk past the turn off and go check it out, or, maybe take the next ridge and extend down into Glenbrook.

Thanks Webguy, Faulconbridge to either Blaxland or Glenbrook would be a solid days outing. Mostly pretty easy walking though, just a bit of steep up and down.
John W

In Nature's keeping they are safe, but through the agency of man destruction is making rapid progress - John Muir c1912
User avatar
johnw
Lagarostrobos franklinii
Lagarostrobos franklinii
 
Posts: 8983
Joined: Wed 23 Jan, 2008 11:59 am
Location: Macarthur Region - SW Sydney
Region: New South Wales
Gender: Male

Re: Martins Lookout -> Kings Link Track -> Saint Helena Ridg

Postby Webguy » Wed 01 May, 2013 10:55 pm

Was only 3 hours or so from Martin's Lookout down and up then across to Blaxland. So, the Faulconbridge part down to the campsite below Martin's lookout may not take overly long, was going to do it as an overnighter to enjoy it more.

The walk up to Bunyan Lookout is always a killer LOL.
User avatar
Webguy
Athrotaxis cupressoides
Athrotaxis cupressoides
 
Posts: 144
Joined: Sun 22 Jan, 2012 10:49 pm
Region: New South Wales
Gender: Male

Re: Martins Lookout -> Kings Link Track -> Saint Helena Ridg

Postby Chief » Thu 02 May, 2013 6:58 pm

I walked Woodford to Faulconbridge the week after Easter.
There was a NPWS sign at the intersection leading off to St Helena crater saying it was closed Feb. for weed spraying.
I wasn't planning on going down there but I saw some smoke, so decided to have a look and found this about half way down.

DSCN1696.JPG


Obviously a left over from the hazard burn in the area.
I camped over night down on Glenbrook Creek, about 2am the next morning I was woken up to pouring rain so I'm sure that fire was extinguished.. :lol:
It's just around the corner..
User avatar
Chief
Atherosperma moschatum
Atherosperma moschatum
 
Posts: 85
Joined: Wed 06 Oct, 2010 5:34 pm
Location: Mount Annan
Region: New South Wales
Gender: Male

Re: Martins Lookout -> Kings Link Track -> Saint Helena Ridg

Postby jonnosan » Mon 24 Jun, 2013 11:38 am

I did Faulconbridge to Blaxland yesterday, via Victory track, Lost World Lookout , St Helena Ridge track, stone stairs up to Ross Crescent.
I am a bit confused about the actual name of the ridge. According to my topo, St Helena Ridge is the one south of the ridge we walk down, yet St Helena Gully is north of that unnamed ridge. Anyway, the track along The Ridge Without A Name was reasonably easy to follow, a couple of points to note though.

1) Someone has marked the track on TRWAN down the slope to the creek with masking tape, in many places there were both cairns and masking tape, and the cairns seemed to show a different route to the tape, IMO the cairn route was better (e.g. a spot where the cairns marked an easy slot through a cliffline that looked impassible from a few metres away, the tape route did a zigzag route around the cliffline, on a slope that is likely to erode if subject to lots of traffic)

2) Someone (possibly the same person) has constructed some kind of fence across the track at a point on TRWAN about 100m before it starts dropping down steeply towards the creek. The "fence" was easily stepped over, but is quite long, going maybe 20m (? from memory) either side of the track, and consisted of a line of rocks on which trees have been placed. The trees looked to have been sawn, and from the burn marks, this was down AFTER the backburning i.e. quite recently. This would have taken quite a lot of effort, several hours at least. I couldn't see any purpose for this fence, and it doesn't seem to align with any property boundary (according to my topo, it is well inside the National Park). It reminded me a bit of a stone cross I found laid out in a clearing while bush bashing from Davies Ave down to the Victory Track (S33° 42.556' E150° 33.145' if anyone is interested). I.e. possibly the result of someone having a spiritual / psychotic episode in the bush.
User avatar
jonnosan
Phyllocladus aspleniifolius
Phyllocladus aspleniifolius
 
Posts: 893
Joined: Fri 27 Jan, 2012 4:06 pm
Region: New South Wales
Gender: Male

Re: Martins Lookout -> Kings Link Track -> Saint Helena Ridg

Postby Webguy » Mon 24 Jun, 2013 11:48 am

There was no such "fence" when we did the walk a month or two ago, the route down to Glenbrook creek we followed from memory the odd cairn but we could also make out a track on the ground, so stuck to that and the lower you go, the easier it was to make out this track. It's a great walk.
User avatar
Webguy
Athrotaxis cupressoides
Athrotaxis cupressoides
 
Posts: 144
Joined: Sun 22 Jan, 2012 10:49 pm
Region: New South Wales
Gender: Male

Re: Martins Lookout -> Kings Link Track -> Saint Helena Ridg

Postby Kasumisen » Wed 12 Feb, 2014 10:56 am

Hey Johnnosan,
We saw a rock 'fence' yesterday on the Bull-ant Track north of The St Helena gully. Sorry, didn't get the co-ordinates, but is was just up the track from the St Helena Lookout (S33° 44.537, E150° 35.445'). It went across the track for quite a ways on either side. We were going to see how far it extended, but I got stung by a Spitfire caterpillar and decided that a retreat was in order. PS agree that the following the cairns down the ridge were better going than the masking tape:)
IMG_8134 copy.JPG
Rock 'Fence' on Bull-ant Track (Martins Lookout to Ross Cres)

IMG_8142 copy.JPG
'Spitfire' Mottled Cup Moth Caterpillar on Bull-ant Track near St Helena Lookout
Kasumisen
Nothofagus cunninghamii
Nothofagus cunninghamii
 
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue 11 Feb, 2014 8:57 am
Region: New South Wales
Gender: Female


Return to NSW & ACT Trip Reports & Track Notes

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 13 guests