Hiking and Camping in Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park

We began our Easter weekend with a two-day hike through Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park. One of the local runners, Ray, organized the hike for about 13 people altogether. The day started out damp. It rained Thursday night, and light drizzle continued into the morning. We parked our car at Ray's house and rode with him, his wife, and Geoff to Berowra where we started the hike. The plan was to start the hike at 9 a.m., and it worked out that by 9:30 or so we were on the trail. The misty drizzle seemed like it would continue for awhile, but it let up shortly and just remained cloudy the rest of the day. The hike was to take place in two stages. The first stage was from Berowra to Cowan to Jerusalem Bay, and the second from Jerusalem Bay to Brooklyn. At Brooklyn, we would catch the train back two stations to Berowra where we started out.


The toughest part of the hike was from Berowra to Cowan, and consisted of a trek over several hills. The distance itself was not all that far, but the up and down hiking was very tiring when carrying full camping gear. It would have been far easier just carrying a day pack with water and a lunch. We were never far from civilization on this trail. We crossed a major dirt road and a highway by the time we reached Cowan station. (Geoff didn't camp with the rest of us. He only came for the first day's walk and took the train home from Cowan.) Numerous cottages also dotted the trail, so there was virtually no sense of remoteness.


We heard from other hikers on the trail that camping was forbidden at Jerusalem Bay and the penalty for doing so was a A$3300 fine. We hiked as far as we could from Cowan station before the sun started to set, and we made sure not to camp at the bay proper. The evening was pleasant, and we all had a nice dinner and some socializing before going to sleep around 8:30 p.m. We were all too tired to stay up further. Since it was somewhat warm, I opened an exterior air vent on our tent so it wouldn't get too hot inside.

Just as we were on the cusp of falling asleep, I stretched out a little and my feet accidentally rattled the pots at the end. Michelle suddenly sat up, started beating me on the chest, and screamed, "What was that?! What was that?!" (She had asked people in the group if we had to worry about any critters at night, and someone mentioned wombats -- which are docile, nocturnal foragers that look a bit like a large guinea pig.) Even after I explained the cause of the noise, I don't think Michelle really calmed down much for awhile. Later, around midnight, it started to pour rain. That's when I discovered that the vent flap on our tent could not be accessed from the inside (what a stupid design flaw!), so after spending nearly five minutes in vain trying to undo the clasp, I just cut a hole in the rain cover and cut the strap. (I'll fix it up later with a better design.) It continued to rain off and on the rest of the night and into the morning. There was enough of a gap for everyone to have breakfast and coffee, but then a light shower started when it came time to pack up.

We began the final portion of the hike around 8:30 a.m. Saturday, and the first half was more of the up and down stuff we had the day before. Fortunately, the final part of the hike was much less steep. We ended up in Brooklyn around 1:30 p.m. and had coffee at a local shop before catching the train.

The hike we did was only a small part of a much larger trail that goes from Sydney to Newcastle -- about 250 km -- and takes around 7-12 days. The full hike was first done in 1988. The total distance we covered was about 25 km. While the hike was tiring, it was not nearly as strenuous as the climb up The Castle. And I don't think it was nearly as beautiful as the area around The Castle, either. It was still decent, and made better by the fun group we were with. The hike was the perfect remedy for the final stages of my right calf muscle healing from the injury I sustained while at The Castle. The next day after we got back, I went for a 23 km bike ride. Keith and I have already begun talking about our next camping trip.

Camping and a Very Tough Hike

Keith and I hiked The Castle and camped in the wilds this weekend. The Castle is one of the mountains in the Budawangs area, in Morton National Park in NSW. It is located about 25 km down a washboard dirt road, and is about 50 km from civilization. At the north end of this same park is Fitzroy Falls, which Michelle and I will visit sometime.

The plan for this weekend was to drive to the base carpark/campground Friday evening, and head straight to The Castle to camp in one of the various caves dotting the side. That didn't work out, as we got lost on the myriad of dirt roads. There was patchy rain, making the roads a little muddy. This yielded to fog as the sun began to set, so we couldn't use any of the mountains to help us navigate. Finally, we figured out where we needed to go, but it was too dark to begin the hike, so we camped at the initial campgrounds. The next morning, we packed up and set out around 7:30 a.m. Keith found he had a couple of leeches on him from the campsite. Fortunately, we had great weather the rest of the weekend. After just a short distance through the bush, I got my pant leg caught on a log and strained the calf muscle in my other leg trying to keep from falling. I fell anyways. It didn't hurt too badly at that point, but would prove to slow me down a little later.

This hike is definitely something all nature lovers could appreciate, but only the most physically fit are able to take on. This warning is explicitly spelled out on the official park site as well as at the start of the trail. And they are not kidding! This hike starts out on a gently upward sloping trail that took us about 45 minutes. The next segment contains lots and lots of stairs, built into the dirt. That part took us about 30 minutes. After that, there is a short section where you use a chain to help pull yourself up a sloped rock face. That is the end of the first maintained section of the trail. From there on, the trail consists of paths worn by previous hikers, and it's easy in some spots to take a wrong turn and have to redo all the steps. This part goes through dense bush, a little mud, wet boulders that one must climb over, and crevices to squeeze through. You know you navigated correctly if you wind up at steps again. This continues, a mix of steps and no steps, until the trail splits. One way leads around the saddle of The Castle, and is "easy," and the other leads to a tunnel and is harder. We ditched our packs at this point, and I took only water, my camera, and my binoculars. The tunnel path saves a bit of time over the saddle path, and that's the one we took. On the other side, the trail to the top of The Castle was supposed to be nearby, but we missed it and lost about 45 minutes trying to find it. When we were at the point of giving up, we encountered some other hikers who were going that way, so we followed them. The trail seemed so obvious then, but nevertheless, we missed it on our own.

The climb from there was much steeper, and took about 45 minutes to get to the lower top of The Castle. We stopped at a flat area with a nice view and rested for a short while. After the break, we resumed our climb to the very top. The final section was the most tortuous, and certainly more dangerous. We had to climb over some very large boulders, and up through a narrow gap, with no climbing aids. After that, we were faced with an even larger rock which we could not have climbed without a rope. Fortunately, a very nice person left a decent caliber rope tied to a sturdy tree at the top. We pulled ourselves up that, climbed over more boulders, and reached another section that needed a rope. Again, someone left one ready to use, but the rope was more worn and lighter gauge, and the tree it was tied to looked more worn. We had little choice, though, and we were lucky the rope held. These ropes were not in sections where a fall would have meant certain death, but it would have meant certain injury, and the terrain would have made rescue very difficult. A few more boulders after the second rope, and we were on the top of The Castle.



Making it to the top was rewarding, but we were extremely exhausted by that point. We knew that we still had to climb down the very difficult path we had just taken. Grinning and bearing it, we made it back down and back to where we had our packs stashed. My sore calf muscle had pretty much reached its limit by this point, and ached with every step. We were originally planning to continue on to another site called Monolith Valley, but due to both of us being exhausted, we opted just to set up camp at a nearby cave. Had we gone to Monolith Valley, it would have meant an 8 hour hike back to the car on Sunday. The next morning, we packed up and headed back down to the car, a final 2 hour hike. Overall, it was a great experience, but one that requires good fitness, light packing, and determination.