With the relaxing of restrictions its time to get out walking again! As such, I am planning an overnight trip in Kosciusko National Park to visit Kidmans Hut, an old cattlemans hut. Please note this trip is not suitable for beginner walkers previous overnight walking experience is essential owing to the alpine area we will be visiting in winter. Experience in cold weather camping is beneficial.
The route will start from the Gungarlin River camping area, which is a 2.5-3 hour drive from Canberra, then following the route described in Robert Green's book exploring the Jagungal Wilderness - along a firetrail past Daveys Hut, past the ruin of Harveys Hut and on to the junction of Teddy's Creeka and Collins Creek. From here it is less distinct track - footpads mostly up and over the 1700m elevation (we start from about 1300m) then dropping down to Kidmans Hut at around 1500m. Owing to the time of year and area, there is potential for snow in the area and if the weather forecast is not suitable this trip may be postponed/cancelled. On Sunday we will return via the same route we took on Saturday. Total distance each day is about 12-14km, with 400-500m of elevation gain. As some of this is on old overgrown tracks/offtrack, it could be slow going in places.
The first day from this trip report will give an indication of the trip https://actelan.com/kosciuszko-national-park-24-28-mar-2020-gungarlin-kidmans-mawsons-jagungal-area/
As the gear store is still closed, all participants will need to have their own gear or access to gear. Being in an alpine area a warm sleeping bag and mat is essential, as is warm clothing for Saturday evening.
With regard to cars, the last 6km of fire trail may be a bit rough - as such it will be beneficial to take vehicles with some reasonable ground clearance (think mid sized suvs, subarus, etc). If you have a car and are willing to drive please let me know. If you are interested in this trip, please email me stevenmhare [at] gmail dot com
There will be no pretrip - details will be sorted via email leading up to the trip.
Upon registration, please:
- indicate your bushwalking level and experience - the alpine environmenta and weather may make this challenging if you have not wintere camped so please consider your sign up carefully!
- indicate whether you have a car and would be willing to help drive
- indicate if you have the COVID safe app or not
In line with our Covid-safe policy: do not attend if you're feeling unwell, have flu-like symptoms, have travelled internationally or been exposed to someone with COVID-19 in the last 14 days, or your health is considered high risk.
See description abot