There is great bush-walking in the ACT, which should surprise no-one as Canberra is surrounded by bush land. I’d only done one walk in Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve before, Mount Domain from Fishing Gap (it appears I never wrote that trip up for the blog). Anyway, when we walked up Mount Domain (1506 metres), I thought we were walking up the highest peak in Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve but we were not. Tidbinbilla Mountain, about four kilometres north at 1615 metres is the highest peak in Tidbinbilla NR.
ACT Parks, who seem to be eminently sensible compared to many other state Parks and Wildlife government bureaucracies, are clearing a grade 5 track which will, when complete run along the spine of the entire ridge crest that divides Tidbinbilla from Namadgi. The trail will start at Fishing Gap in the south (fire trail accessible) and run all the way along the ridge top to Camels Hump in the north (accessible via various fire trails). Note that the fire trails in Tidbinbilla are, appropriately enough, walking or bicycling only.
This is not a new route as bush-walkers have been trekking along this ridge for many years, likely decades. No real major work is required, just a little cutting back of brush. Certainly, ACT will garner a new high quality bush-walk for far less than the recently opened “new” Clifftop Walk in the Blue Mountains, which ran at a cost of over $500,000 per kilometre to essentially upgrade an series of existing tracks. Publicity, I guess, costs a lot these days.
With that digression out of the way, on a wonderful clear blue sky day, we parked at Mountain Creek car park in Tidbinbilla, and walked along the fire trail that runs north below the ridge crest until we reached the ridge crest at a saddle immediately south of the Camels Hump. A short walk up a steep track (the grade 5 bit, I guess) and we were on top. Second breakfast or first lunch, was taken on a rocky overlook just below the top in the sun with grand views.
Back at the saddle, a good track runs along the ridge crest to Johns Peak which has some rock and scree on the northwest side. Beyond Johns Peak, the track is not yet complete, but it is easy enough to walk along to Tidbinbilla Peak, a kilometre to the southwest. Tidbinbilla Peak has an old burnt down trig which makes a good spot for second lunch. From Tidbinbilla Peak, we wandered down a good track for about 100 metres vertical chatting away before I thought “Wait a minute, this track is going down too steeply to be heading for the pass with Tidbinbilla Mountain.” Indeed it was, we had inadvertently wandered off the ridge and down the spur track which leads back to the fire trail. Doug decided to keep going down, but I turned around and walked back up soon regaining the ridge that runs along to Tidbinbilla Mountain.
The two kilometre section to Tidbinbilla Mountain has only a vague track and some flagging, but it is easy enough to follow if you don’t get drawn into conversation with your hiking partners. I was longing to walk out to The Pimple from point 1555 metres on the ridge, but was aware that Doug would be waiting for me back at the car, so I continued past. Tidbinbilla Mountain has probably the best views, but, with Doug waiting at the car, I did not linger long but found the track that plummets down a steep spur ridge to join the short nature trail at Mountain Creek. This section of track loses about 600 metres of elevation in about 1.5 kilometres so plummet is a good adjective, or even a verb as I was plummeting down the track.
If I were to do this walk again, and I might, as I did not tag The Pimple, I would walk up the steep track to Tidbinbilla Mountain and take the fire trail route down.
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