Somewhere on the interwebs I stumbled across a description of a circuit walk over Mount Philp (not Philip as is often recorded) along a cirque of ridges to Glen Rock and then back down to Blackfellow Creek. I like circuit walks and was intrigued by talk of “razor backs” and “tough rock climbing routes” but, it was hot and we were still recovering from our long ocean kayak trip so the full circuit, over Mount Philp (910 metres) seemed like that might be too much of a good thing.
Of course, we had already been higher than Mount Philp the day before when we walked up Mount Marchar (937 metres) and the unnamed peak, at the southeastern acme of the circuit is higher than either Philp or Machar at 998 metres. Glen Rock, a small rocky turret which protrudes over the Blackfellow valley, also looked as if it would provide better views than Mount Philp. The topographic map showed a maze of old roads which descended down an eastern tributary of Blackfellow Creek and meant we could jump off the circuit near Red Rock avoiding the final 250 metre walk up Mount Philp and arrive back exactly where we had started at the Glen Rock slab hut information booth (worth a look).
We left four hours earlier than the day before so it was cooler but still warm climbing up the steep foot pad that runs up the west ridge of Glen Rock. If you go, look for this foot pad starting immediately to climbers (sometimes called “lookers”) right of the slab information hut and fairly clear through long grass. The foot pad is marked as an old road on the topographic map but it is just a foot pad and runs up the prominent west ridge of Glen Rock. As the terrain steepens, the track runs alongside a cattle fence for a while and then gets steeper and steeper as the ridge rears up before finally traversing about 10 metres below the short bluffs of Glen Rock to arrive on a flat ridge just north of Glen Rock. This would be a slippery track to descend.
An easy walk along a narrow rocky rib leads out to Glen Rock with views to the southeast up the Blackfellow Creek valley. There is certainly plenty of scope for rambling open ridges in this area. Glen Rock Regional Park is operated as an agistment cattle ranch and there are surprisingly good cattle pads along most of the remainder of the route.
From Glen Rock, a broad east-west running ridge is followed through pleasant open forest up and over a series of small bumps along the ridge until you should abandon the cow trails and walk eastward up gentle open slopes with shady trees to Peak 998 and some good fallen logs to rest on while you take in the view. Most of the cattle seem uninterested in ascending Peak 998 so there is no clear foot-pad along this section.
From Peak 998, an easy descent follows the height of land bearing roughly WNW until another short ascent brings you to a small rocky eminence with views of Red Rock, a short red rock bluff overlooking Dry Creek Valley to the east. The topographic map shows an old road here but we found no trace of the road and only a very scant foot pad. An easy but steep grassy descent between a couple of boulders (described inaccurately as “one tough rock climbing route between two bluffs”) is the trickiest part of the route as the next 100 metre descent is down very steep slippery high grass beside another cattle fence. Cows apparently do not like such steep terrain.
There is a bit more up and down along the ridge, now running almost due west towards Mount Philp before a prominent old road is reached about half a kilometre from Red Rock. When we walked down this old road (spring 2022) it had very recently been recleared by a piece of heavy machinery so was quite obvious, brush free and easy, if foot wearying to follow. The road is marked on the topographic map but not accurately as it actually switchbacks steeply down before crossing over a tributary creek (running well) to descend more gradually along the southern side of the tributary.
At around 400 metres ASL (above sea level), an old spur road branches left and in a couple of hundred metres rejoins the foot pad on the west ridge of Glen Rock, thus closing the circuit.
No comments:
Post a Comment