Join me for a 1.5 day bushwalk to Mt Scabby, a beautiful granite peak in the wilderness of southern Namadgi.
The plan is to depart from canberra at midday on Saturday (sorry guys, I have a committment in the morning so we can't leave before midday). We'll drive down to the Yankee Hat Carpark in Namadgi national park and then walk towards the saddle near mt Gudgenby and set up camp there. The next day, we'll try to summit mt Scabby with just light daypacks (we'll leave the tents set up at the saddle). We may not make it all the way to the top but we'll try to see how far we can get . We'll aim to return to the saddle (our campsite) in the early afternoon (around 1-2pm) to finish packing up our tents. We'll then return to the cars via the same route, aiming to finish the walk before sunset at around 7pm (bring your head torches in case there are any delays and we have to do the final part of the walk in darkness!!) . We'll aim to get back to canberra on sunday night by around 8-9pm. Total walking distance will be ~32 km with at least 1300m elevation gain. . Most of this walking will be completely off track over uneven terrain.
Essentially, we'll be following this route as set out by John Evans, but will be camping at the saddle near mt Gudgenby on Saturday night. If participants are exhausted, we may not attempt to summit mt Scabby and shorten this to an overnight trip to Mt Gudgenby.
This won't be a particularly easy walk so I will only be willing to take relatively fit bushwalkers who have done overnight bushwalks before and have some experience walking off track/doing some more difficult trail walking. That being said, please don't be discouraged: you don't need to be extremely fit or an absolute expert to come along. Please contact me if I don't know you and you are interested in coming along so I can assess whether you've got the experience levels to be able to join this trip and complete the walk safely :)
When you sign up, please let me know:
- your experience level in bushwalking if I don't know you, and whether you have off track navigation skills (I would like an experienced navigator to join this trip to back me up in case I make any mistakes!)
-if you have a car and can drive
-what suburb you live in so I can organise carpooling
***Note that signing up does not guarantee a spot on this trip! Your spot is only confirmed once I have contacted you individually! I will decide on final participants (no more than 8 people in total) approx 6-7 days before the trip. Also note that I may postpone the trip if the weather is bad on the weekend of this trip (e.g. extreme heat/cold, storms, etc)***
Please bring:
-tent
-sleeping mat
-sleeping bag (I predict it might get as low as ~0 degrees overnight (will update you guys closer to the date of the walk) so bring a bag that will keep you warm enough at that temperature)
-hiking pack
-food for lunch+dinner on saturday, all meals for sunday (+stove,gas etc to cook you want hot food!)
-2L of water minimum
-water purification tablets if you have them (trip leader will bring spares if you dont have them)
-rain jacket
-warm layers (warm jacket, perhaps a few light thermal layers)
-sun protection (hat, sunscreen)
-1-2 pairs of spare socks (trust me they are always handy)
-any personal medication/first aid gear that you may need (I will bring an ANUMC first aid kit for the group as well)
- gaiters (to protect yourself from the numerous snakes that are lurking around in the area!)
-toilet paper + hand sanitiser
-head torch+spare batteries
-a mask
-(optional) a compass/gps if you have these things and want to help me navigate. I'll print maps for everyone.
Depart Canberra at 12pm on Saturday. Drive to Yankee Hat Carpark. Walk to the Saddle just south of mt Gudgenby and set up camp there. Wake up early on Sunday morning, summit Mt Scabby, and return to the saddle near Mt Gudgenby. Pack up tents and walk back to Yankee Hat Carpark, aiming to finish by 7pm (we may end up finishing earlier, who knows...) Drive back to Canberra, aiming to be back by 8-9pm (we may arrive earlier if we finish early).