Merton Ruins

Friday 21st July 2017

Merton Ruins

It turned out to be a glorious winter's day today and not the really cold conditions that were predicted. The aim of the walk was to visit the ruins at Upper Merton, not by the direct route on the Tolosa Fire Trail, but to make a more circuitous trip.
I parked in Lower Tolosa Park and set off up to the Knights Creek Trail and then along the Quarry Trail to the quarry.

Small Weir on Humphrey Rivulet

Quarry

Not long after the quarry I decided to take to the bush and walk along the ridge line because I knew of a steep slippery section up ahead from past walks. This proved to be a good idea as it was easy walking and I easily avoided the problem section, and was soon back on the Knights Creek Trail.

Along Ridge Line

After a short distance I left the Knights Creek Trail and walked quite steeply downhill to Humphrey Rivulet where there is another weir.

Humphrey Rivulet

Humphrey Rivulet

Humphrey Rivulet

From here it was up to the Ruins Fire Trail before branching off and walking along the cleared section that contained the ruins.

Mount Wellington

Cleared area containing the ruins

 I just continued walking along the cleared section until it came to an end.

From here I noticed a bike track heading up so thought I would follow that to see where it went. It just ended up doing a loop and rejoined the trail near the intersection of the Ruins and Tolosa Trails. It was quite nice walking in there anyway. I then walked along Tolosa Trail for a short distance before deciding to head uphill to the North South Track. It was easy walking through the low scrub. After reaching the track I followed it until I took a side track leading to the Downhill Track where I stopped for lunch. After that it was a simple matter of following the Priest, Merton and Park Trails back to the car.
A really nice short walk on a perfect day.
Distance: 9.4 kms.
Time: 3'43"
Ascent: 560 metres
Click here to download GPX file.