Christmas Day 2025 and, as usual, we are in the middle of a paddling training cycle, so I felt an extra bit of delight when I saw that the weather would be sunny but cool (overnight lows near zero) around Namadgi National Park. That meant, instead of doing an overnight paddle (I get weary of paddling during long training cycles) we could do something different and go for an overnight walk.
Namadgi National Park has become one of our go-to bushwalking locations. The driving, as driving goes, is pretty painless. Just a bit over two hours on good roads and we can circumvent most of Canberra. The bush is a bit less dense for whacking than around the Budawangs which has gotten really ferocious since the fires, there is always a peak to bushwack up, pretty good camping, water, and the new bonus, no ticks!
In all the walks I’ve done around Namadgi National Park, I’ve never driven up the Orroral Valley to the site of the old tracking station. The interpretive signage around the picnic area (on the site of the old tracking station) certainly highlights how much technology has changed in the last few decades.
The Cotter Hut road runs north and climbs steadily to Prairie Dog Creek. It’s not particularly pleasant walking as the road is hard underfoot, but after 5 or 6 kilometres the Australian Alps Waking Track (AAWT) splits off and head west descending a short distance to Sawpit Creek and then climbing about 200 metres to Cotter Gap. The last time we walked in to Cotter Gap we had come from Honeysuckle Campground on the far (NE) side of Legoland Ridge. That day, three years ago, we covered 20 kilometres and accumulated 900 metres of elevation gain on the first day of a three day trip, but, I’m not sure it felt any harder than the relatively modest 12 kilometres and roughly 600 metres of gain we did on Christmas Day. It turns out that walking up and down steep climbing trails with a climbing pack probably does keep you somewhat fit for backpacking.
About a kilometre downhill from Cotter Gap the track crosses the start of Pond Creek and there are a few good campsites scattered in the forest. We opted for the best one, just off the track and set among a couple of large boulders with a grassy open tent area. I think this is a better camp than we had three years previously when we camped down at Pond Creek Flats. If you are continuing west to the Bimberi Range there are unlimited good campsites down at the Cotter River Valley only a couple of kilometres downhill from Pond Creek Flats.
It was definitely time for tea and lunch. We had our new Primus canister stove with us, an upgrade from the last cheapo model which started to leak irreparably last year. With a wind guard, it was very quick to boil water. Another piece of technology which has improved a lot of the last couple of decades and, even I now think, is a reasonable replacement for the trusted liquid fuel MSR stoves that we used for decades. The beauty of MSR liquid fuel stoves, of course, was their ability to burn any fuel (including diesel or kerosene – both very stinky) and the repair them in the field if you had the parts, and you could always buy the parts. The downside, of course, is the fuss and bother of priming them and the fact that in recent years the spare parts have become as costly as a new stove.
Anyway, after tea and lunch we stashed our spare gear under a rock and set off for Split Rock. Split Rock is not named on the map but if you are at Pond Creek and look south you can’t miss it. Two tall granite tors on the ridge above. The bush was rather thick! It took us almost 1.5 hours to gain just under 300 metres in elevation over the kilometre or so to the top. That’s not fast! Near the top, you have to scramble around some big boulders but the split tors are pretty obvious and you can walk right through them. If these tors were more accessible, and had some bolts, they would provide fantastic climbing as the granite is really clean, featured and solid! I could not find any evidence on the internet of anyone climbing to the top but lots of things don’t make it onto the internet.
There is a rock balcony overlooking the two tors and the valley below and we sat here for a bit admiring the view. An hour down and back to camp. We took a slightly different route of the top which was more than slightly worse than the way up!
When we made coffee in the morning, which I enjoyed in the tent, we decided against Coronet Peak. After all, it was Christmas. Accordingly, we had two big mugs of coffee in the morning before packing up and walking out. Just before the Cotter Hut road crosses James Creek, we took an old vehicle track down to the trail that runs north up the Orroral River valley. This is pleasant open walking with views up and down the valley and much softer on the feet than the Cotter Hut road. Where the track joins the Link Track which comes over from Honeysuckle campground, I walked across open grasslands back to the picnic area while Doug followed the old roads. More tea and lunch at the picnic ground. We encountered a surprising number of people walking into Bimberi Peak from the east. I had though most folk would go in from the west (Pocket Saddle Road) which is much shorter and easily day tripped.
Another good Namadgi trip and, although we did not climb two peaks as planned, we now have a reason to go back.
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