Made by Mikal – Page 33

A quick walk through Curtin

Post author:mikal
Post published:March 24, 2015
Post category:Diary

What do you do when you accidentally engaged a troll on twitter? You go for a walk of course. I didn't realize there had been a flash flood in Canberra in 1971 that killed seven people, probably because I wasn't born then. However, when I ask people who were around then, they don't remember without prompting either, which I think is sad. I only learnt about the flood because of the geocache I found hidden at the (not very well advertised) memorial today. This was walk inspired by one from Best Bush, Town and Village Walks in and around the ACT by Marion Stuart. I was disappointed that the guide book didn't mention the flash flood however, and skips the memorial. [kml: 20150323]

Narrabundah trig and 16 geocaches

Post author:mikal
Post published:March 22, 2015
Post category:Diary

I walked to the Narrabundah trig yesterday, along the way collecting 15 of the 16 NRL themed caches in the area. It would have been all 16, except I can't find the last one for the life of me. I'm going to have to come back. I really like this area. Its scenic, has nice trails, and you can't tell you're in Canberra unless you really look for it. It seemed lightly used to be honest, I think I saw three other people the entire time I was there. I encountered more dogs off lead than people. [kml: 20150321]

A quick trip to Namadgi

Post author:mikal
Post published:March 21, 2015
Post category:Diary

I thought I'd drop down to the Namadgi visitors centre to have a look during lunch because I hadn't been there since being a teenager. I did a short walk to Gudgenby Hut, and on the way back discovered this original border blaze tree. Its stacked on pallets at the moment, but is apparently intended for display one day. This is how much of the ACT's boarder was marked originally -- blazes cut on trees. [kml: 20150320-1]

Goodwin trig

Post author:mikal
Post published:March 19, 2015
Post category:Diary

I talk about urban trigs, but this one takes the cake. Concrete paths, street lighting, and a 400 meter walk. I bagged this one on the way home from picking something up in Belconnen. To be honest, I can't see myself coming here again. [kml: 20150318-2]

Stromlo and Brown Trigs

Post author:mikal
Post published:March 10, 2015
Post category:Diary

So, the Facebook group set off for our biggest Trig walk yet today -- Stromlo and Brown Trigs. This ended up being a 15km walk with a little bit of accidental trespass (sorry!) and about 600 meters of vertical rise. I was expecting Stromlo to be prettier to be honest, but it wasn't very foresty. Brown was in nicer territory, but its still not the nicest bit of Canberra I've been to. I really enjoyed this walk though, thanks to Simon, Tony and Jasmine for coming along! [kml: 20150309]

Tuggeranong Hill (again)

Post author:mikal
Post published:February 26, 2015
Post category:Diary

I walked up Tuggeranong Hill again, this time as a geocaching run. This is the first trig I've visited twice! [kml: 20150225]

Oakey trig

Post author:mikal
Post published:February 24, 2015
Post category:Diary

I've got to say, this trig was disappointing. It was a lunch time walk, so a bit rushed, but the trig was just boring. Not particularly far, or particularly steep, or in a particularly interesting area. That said, it wasn't terrible. It just felt generic compared with other trigs I've walked to. [kml: 20150223]

Geocaching

Post author:mikal
Post published:February 23, 2015
Post category:Diary

I've been trapped at home with either a sick child or a sick me for the last four or five days. I was starting to go a bit stir crazy, so I ducked out for some local geocaching. An enjoyable shortish walk around the nearby nature park. [kml: 20150222]

Command and Control

Post author:mikal
Post published:February 22, 2015
Post category:Book

I finished this book a while ago and it appears that I forgot to write it up. This book is by the author of Fast Food Nation and it is just as good as his other book. The history of America's nuclear weapons and their security (or lack thereof) is as compelling as it is terrifying. I found this book hard to put down while reading it, and would recommend it to others.

Forster trig

Post author:mikal
Post published:February 21, 2015
Post category:Diary

Its been too long since I've attempted a trig walk -- 15 days to be exact. That's mostly because I've been really busy at work these last couple of weeks. That said, it was time for another trig, and this one was a bit of an adventure. Forster Trig is in the Bullen Nature Reserve and is one of the least urban trigs I've attempted so far, which is why this post is a bit more detailed than normal. Big Monks is probably the other trig walk most similar to this one. One of the challenges with this trig is that there is no track to the trig point. Reading John Evan's walk notes from his single assent of this trig, it seems that many people follow the 132kV power lines to the trig, but I consider this "cheating" as the power line is on private land and I didn't want to spend effort on getting permission to walk on someone's farm. Instead, I followed the Kambah Pool to Cassurina Sands track, and then turned right to bush bash to the trig when I got reasonably close. There wasn't any formed track this way, so I don't think this is…