Failure On Erics Ridge

I wanted to call this report "Defeated By Two Kilometres of Bush-Wacking" but then I remembered the first ever ski traverse Doug and I did with the inimitable Captain Bivouac in the Coast Mountains of BC in 2002 to pioneer a new route into and up Mount Elaho. Robin (Captain Bivouac) called the report "Failure On Mount Elaho" and it is written in typical Captain Bivouac style on the Bivouac.com site but you have to be a paid member to read it. The report is really funny, in the way Robin characteristically is, and I remember that this was our first ski traverse through the Coast Mountains. Klaus Haring, another well known figure in BC Coastal mountaineering navigated the entire route with a photocopied black and white map and a compass and, after 6 days skiing in a massive loop around the Elaho Icefield and over many peaks, Klaus brought us back out to the logging road where we had parked our cars approximately 6 metres from where we had first entered the forest. This was in the glory days before GPS units and, in case you don't recognise the significance of that feat, it shows absolutely top notch navigational skills.

But I am out in the thick bush of Australia not the icefields of Canada. I had set out with the idea of taking a fire trail through Currowan State Forest for about 4 kilometres to a spot where I could drop off the ridge and cross the headwaters of Nelligen Creek, many kilometres upstream of the tidal limit but still at only 100 metres above sea level (ASL). Then, I would bushwack uphill for about 300 vertical metres over 2 kilometres to reach another fire trail which runs along a rocky ridge overlooking Cabbage Tree Creek in Monga National Park.

I have previously run from the Kings Highway over a couple of ridges to Cabbage Tree Creek, a distance of about 18 kilometres on infrequently used fire trails, and I have also run up "Erics Ridge" from the Old Bolaro Road, which is about 14 kilometres and pleasantly downhill all the way back. Here's a sneak peak of what happened: the bushwacking is horrendous!

On fire trails, I made good time to a 220 metre knoll above Nelligen Creek. It was misty rain but not heavy enough for a rain jacket or rain pants although I had both with me as I wanted to avoid another hypothermic bushwacking event. At the knoll, I left the track and struggled downhill for 120 vertical metres over about half a kilometre to Nelligen Creek. Very thick burrawang regrowth after the fires, fallen trees, spiky vines, the usual. Across Nelligen Creek I started the 300 metre climb, with rain pants on now as the bush was soaking, but, I did not want to put on my brand new Goretex rain jacket as this kind of bush is death to new and old jackets alike. So, I just got wet.

This entire valley from ridge to creek to ridge burnt in 2019/2020 and the regrowth has to be experienced to be believed. Acacia and burrwangs have proliferated, both are now well over my head and growing in a density of about 100 stems per 10 centimetres square. This is only a small exaggeration, there is literally only a centimetre or two between most stems. In between, although there is not much in between left is head high Cobblers Peg (a noxious invasive weed) and draped over it all are vines made from high tensile cord. Oh, and there are huge trees lying down buried under a metre or so of vegetation.

After an hour of fighting through this and gaining perhaps 75 metres, my rain pants had been ripped to shreds and I had decided this was just not worth it. I turned around and fought my way back down to Nelligen Creek. I knew without checking the map that I was downstream of where I had first crossed but I also knew that the old fire trail uphill and east made an unmissable back stop and all I had to do was bash up until I intersected it. By some crazy fluke of fire behaviour, the slope I walked up had not burnt in the fires and was the usual open bush with big widely spaced gum trees and an understory of scattered burrawangs. It was really easy walking. So easy that I ended up following a spur ridge back down to Nelligen Creek again to the upper end of some private land, and then back up again to intersect the fire trail.

To make a loop, I decided I would walk back over another 240 metre bump that has a lot of exposed granite. Although I would be bushwacking again, the bush around the granite bedrock is pretty open and there are even a couple of very faint old trails. Since the fires, the trails have pretty much disappeared (a good thing) but the walking was easy and after a couple of kilometres through the bush I intersected my first fire trail and walked down to the car.

Given the regrowth, it will probably be decades before the forest fully matures back to open spaced trees with a low under-story. Until then, I am staying out of these areas or using tracks.