Little Forest Plateau, Pigeonhouse Gorge

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Little Forest Plateau, Pigeonhouse Gorge

Postby qednet » Wed 23 Apr, 2014 12:08 am

In the week prior to easter I decided to have a crack at a circuit walk from Little Forest Plateau into Pigeonhouse Gorge, across to Tatalerang Mountain and back to the Plateau via Gadara Point. A previous attempt in the other direction was aborted early after my companion sprained his ankle.

The walk from the carpark to Rusden Head was along a vehicular track that was quite swampy after the recent rain. My teenage companion was highly amused by my very unceremonious dunking courtesy of the slippery duckboards but the 5k's were otherwise unremarkable. From Rusden Head we got a good view of the country we intended to cross in the next few days, or so we thought.

DSCF5181.jpg
Southwest from Rusden Head


Descending off Rusden Head is fairly straightforward using a short rope down to an outlier and then down a chimney about 50m SE of the track end. We investigated the nearby overhangs before picking up a track down the ridge to the Wombat Ridge Fire Trail. The trail itself is quite overgrown is a few places and the scrub growth either side of the track was causing me some concern, especially in view of our intended route across the Tatalerang Plateau. However we departed the track around Milton 543893 and dived into the tea tree. The next hour or so wasn't glamorous and quite a few times we were forced to double back by the thick scrub. Eventually we made the upper cliff line of Pigeonhouse Gorge and located a pass down to the lavishly appointed Oyster Cave.

Although it was only about 10k's from the carpark, the combined pack relay down Rusden Head and scrub bash had taken over 6 hours. To top it of, light rain started falling as we set about getting dinner organised, fortunately the cave was dry but the nightime temperature dropped rather drastically once the cloud cleared around 2 in the morning.

Day2 and we decided that we would take the long way around to Dummal Creek rather than hack our way through the scub but we still had to get down into the gorge. Here things started to go slightly awry. The creekline immediately north of our cave look promising so we descended for about an hour only to be confronted by a second cliff line (clearly marked on the map) but one which I was hoping to find a suitable pass. After some slightly risky exploration of the nearest possibilities we decided we had to contour around, but which way? Both directions seem to indicate at least 500m of unbroken cliff and the preferred souther route looked even further on the map. We opted north, a decision we later came to regret.

After several hours of tedious scrub work and with both my hands suffering from the stubbornly thick undergrowth we eventually located a passage down into the gorge using our short rope. Once down below the cliffs we quickly made it to the creek for a very late lunch, almost 5 hours since we left the Oyster. With little daylight left we started rock hopping down the gorge hoping to at least make a decent creek camp before dark. The gorge itself is quite spectacular with waterfalls and rugged cliff lines collapsing into a boulder strewn canyon and well worth another visit. Unfortunately the fading light found us with only a large flat rock to camp on, perhaps not ideal but better than nothing.

Day 3 dawned and we realised we had a solid slog to get around to Dummal Ck. The rock hopping soon gave way to slightly more hospitable walking through cool climate rainforest that inhabited the creek edges with the occasional creek walk when things got tricky on the banks. Yet despite the relatively easy going it was well after lunch before we made the Clyde river junction and by 430 we had had enough. A suitable sandy bank was located on the Clyde and we hugged the fire trying to warm our waterlogged toes. Once again, a relatively short walk had taken far longer than expected and we were now seriously running out of time. We had 2 days food left and the prospect of another day of slogging through the amply undergrowth up Dummal Creek before we made track again on the slopes of Tatalerang, plus we were at least 5k's off finding Dummal. On paper these looked like easy targets but clearly we were in trouble.

On our 4th day we decided to bail out to Yadboro and take our chances with getting a lift. The biggest problem was a work commitment for my companion and this option at least provided some certainty. Another factor at work was the unknown condition of the Dummal Creek ascent, it seemed reasonable given the experiences of the last few days to expect this would be more difficult than it looked on paper. Consequently we located the old fire trail and headed south to Yadboro.

I believe this track was once quite substantial but the sections north of the first Clyde river crossing are seriously overgrown in many places. Some tape markers can be found but it is very easy to lose the path. The other somewhat counter intuitive thing about the track is that it often leaves the river to travel over a ridge line. Still we made relatively good progress to the Yadboro Flats yet despite a few hours of daylight we didn't get a lift anywhere. Yadboro itself is popular with 4wd campers and cows but we found a quiet campsite up river resigned to spending the next day hitching out.

On our fifth day we thought we were stuck with hitching a lift back to Milton and then some tricky favour calling to get home when we got picked up early by a car heading to Pigeonhouse. Arriving at the turnoff around 1030 had me reaching for the maps with a the crazy idea we could still walk out, Sure enough, the maps indicated a 16k slog all on track would get us back to the car and we decided to give it a crack. The trail up Pigeonhouse was like Pitt St on a friday afternoon with joggers, families and retirees keen to make the best of another great day. We left them just before the summit ladders and picked up the eastern track that skirts around the rocky summit. Yet again we had to deal with a badly overgrown track but fortunately I have a some experience with Budawang tracks and we made the Longfellow Ridge track without drama.

The remaining 7k's or so along the Womabt Ridge was the most consistent walking we had done in days and we managed to get back to Rusden Head with a good hour of daylight making the ascent back up the pass a lot safer. As we ate the last chocolate the sun dropped behind Tatalerang and we surveyed the sunset scene we had left 4 days before. The trip back to the car in the evening dusk on the Plateau was also quite beautiful and we arrived safe but somewhat exhausted. Despite the difficulties it had been a very rewarding 5 days.
qednet
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Re: Little Forest Plateau, Pigeonhouse Gorge

Postby DarrenM » Fri 25 Apr, 2014 2:23 pm

Nice report and lovely area. Thanks.
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