north-north-west wrote:
Just a few things that were confusing: there's a line of tape continuing parallel with the creek from the base of the steep climb on the new track, but it doesn't seem to go anywhere. Was that just exploratory or is it intended to be taken further? Then there's the mass of taped leads heading off from the old track along various old vehicle tracks. Most confusing if not for the signs that tell you the best route to take for either carpark. Do they all join Belstone further down? And then there's an older line of tape and cairns heading up a rocky gully from the old track. Where does that go?
AS I mentioned in my introduction at the top of this tread, There is a confusion of tape in the Minnow Falls Tracks area. I have been told that a lot of the pink tape, white capped pegs and plastic markers on wire pegs, are Mineral exploration surveys. There is also a lot of pink tape left by Bush walkers who did cross walks. Along the old Minnow Falls Track you will find tape of all colours and even strings, whatever was available at the time to mark the track. We only added pink tape to the Old Minnow Falls Track where tape was missing. We deliberately used Orange tape to Mark the new track, part of the old quarry/gravel pit Rd and the Cross Track to set it apart from the other tracks and also to get people back to Bottom1 Rd Carpark [We did not disturb any other tape that was already there so you may find Orange and other tape mixed together]. Unfortunately the Orange tape that we used fades pretty fast in the sun. We have recently purchased new Orange tape that is supposed to be UV proof and colour fast and we will replace the old tape over time. We also Installed wooden signs with tape attached, follow the tape attached to the sign and you will get were you want to go. It is also a good Idea to print the map of the tracks that show what tape is used to flag it. When I first Started looking for a way along the river to the falls, I discovered intermittent pink tape on the northern side of the river and an overgrown track of sorts where people had cut branches and trees previously. Higher up the river where the bank became very steep the tape sort of run out, I'm sure it carries on but I did not like where it was going, so I decided to find an alternative route higher up the ridge. My mate told me that he knows a guy who went all the way up to the falls, following the river bed. Even if the river was almost dry it would have been a one hell of a challenge to travel 1.7km and climb 300m over sometimes Giant boulders. The attached whereis map shows the old and the new track including the track up the escarpment to the top of the falls. It also shows the diversion up the gully then over the balconies and back to the track, that is actually part of the original route as laid out by Fred Groenier, I was told by Bill Shepherd. Apparently that is quite a challenging section, so Bill created a short cut which is now the main track. When Bill comes back we will check that section out and we will also check out the track on the southern side that runs from the end of the logging road, higher up the hill running parallel to the river, up the ridge to the top of the Falls and then come down on the track coming up from the northern side, creating a loop track over the escarpment and the top of the falls from bottom Rd Carpark. The Whereis map also shows another cross track, one of our mates took that cross track by mistake and he recons it is passable but pretty rough.