Dears Ridge

Thursday 23rd April 2015

Large expanse of flat rock in Garden Island Creek

I have had this walk on the "To Do List" for quite some time (since I did Mount Cygnet in 2013) and decided to walk it today. My aim was to walk up the old track which was Garden Island Creek Road and hopefully come back via Clennett Hills thus completing a circuit. It did not all go to plan.
I parked the car at the end of what is now Garden Island Creek Road where there is just enough room for one car at a track junction.

Looking down the creek from flat rock

I set off on the track on the left up to the flat rock section in the creek which was only about 200 metres from the car. I had intended to walk from there up to the main track but the foliage was too wet, and not wanting to get wet so early, I walked back to the track junction and took the right hand fork.

Start of track uphill

The track climbed quite gradually and was easy to follow. I passed the remains of an old building or shack.

Old building foundations

The track kept climbing and was soon high above the creek. I came to a scree slope which headed downwards towards the creek. Someone had pushed a vehicle off the track some time ago and I dare say it will stay there for a fair bit longer, which is a shame. I think the only way to remove it now would be by helicopter as the road is not suitable for vehicles any more. The only recent evidence I saw of any vehicle was a lone motor bike track.

Looking down scree towards the creek

Abandoned vehicle

Up higher the track became more overgrown with some trees across it in various places, but quite easy to negotiate. The track also became steeper but not too bad.

Track up higher

Track crossing Dears Ridge

I eventually reached the top of Dears Ridge and headed down the other side a little, but when no views appeared I retraced my steps back to the top of the ridge and found the track that I wanted to head over to Clennett Hills. It was easy going and fairly flat and I found the track that I had decided to take to head back to the car. However, it soon deteriorated and was very overgrown, and when I ran into a thicket of cutting grass, I simply had to abandon my plan and head back the way I had come. This did not disappoint me too much as I had been expecting that this would be the case.

Clear area on Dears Ridge

There were plenty of fungi on the track as it was very moist and a slight mist came in as I was heading back to the track. I walked back downhill to the car taking extreme care as it was very slippery. I did manage to slip a couple of times.
When I returned home I did find five leeches, much to my wife's disgust.
This was a good walk through some nice forest but it would have been nice to have some views.
Distance: 14.0 kms.
Time: 4'22"
Ascent: 590 metres
Click here to download GPX file.

Sandstone Cliffs opposite car park

Garden Island Creek

Garden Island Creek

Eldon and Dead Creek Falls

Thursday 16th April 2015

Eldon Falls

Eldon Falls

My aim today was to walk to two of the lesser known falls around the Judbury area. Even though both walks are quite short by bush walking standards the day turned out to be rather a good one.
To reach the start of Eldon Falls I drove west out of Judbury and turned right into Jacobsons Road and kept driving up to find a small parking area off the road.
The walk followed an old forestry track downhill, and just as it turned south, I left it and headed down to Dora Creek. The creek had some flow but not as much as when I was here about three months ago. After crossing the creek I walked uphill and then down towards Eldon Falls. The coordinates that I had for the falls were not really accurate and I ended up slightly above the falls. A bit of a scramble brought me down to the base of the falls. They were flowing quite well and I was pleasantly surprised. The rocks were very slippery. I ended up walking a little further downstream before returning to the car more or less the same way. There was no thick scrub to contend with on this walk and it was mostly open type forest.
A good, fairly easy walk although there are a couple of steep sections going down to both creeks.
Distance: 2.7 kms.
Time: 1"58"
Ascent: 254 metres
Click here to download GPX file.

Eldon Falls

Eldon Falls

Eldon Falls

Looking down the creek from base of falls

Looking up to the falls from lower down

Open mossy forest

Dead Creek Falls

Dead Creek Falls

After finishing Eldon Falls, it was then onto Dead Creek Falls. I have called them Dead Creek Falls as they don't seem to have an official name.
To get there I continued driving up Jacobsons Road to Puzzle Road and Paddys Flat Road and found a park just over Dead Creek.
Now, I should have guessed that Dead Creek might not have much water in it going by its name. After I headed off back down the road and crossed the creek, I found that there was no flow whatsoever. I debated whether to keep going or not, but seeing as I was here I decided to carry on with no expectations of there being any water flowing over the falls. I found an old forestry track that ran along the edge of a pine plantation and that headed uphill in the right direction. It was quite overgrown but easily managed and when I reached the place where I thought I should head off in the direction of the falls, I did so. It was rather steep going down and I came to a scree slope at the base of the falls. As I had suspected, no water, but if you look very closely, maybe with a magnifying glass, you may see a glisten of past water. Okay, I am stretching things a bit. I climbed up the scree, which was quite slippery and prone to move and checked out the top of the falls. A couple of puddles!! There was a view from up here of the surrounding forestry plantations. I then headed back through the scrub to find the old track again and back to the car.
This was a good short walk, even though there was no waterfall to be seen. I would think that it would be quite spectacular after some decent rain as it has a good drop.
Distance: 2.1 kms.
Time: 1'55"
Ascent: 208 metres
Click here to download GPX file.

Dead Creek Falls

Looking down the creek from base of falls

Scree Slope

Top of falls

Forestry Plantations