canberra – Page 3 – Made by Mikal

Old Joe and Goorooyarroo

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 29, 2015
Post category:Diary

Steve, Mel, Michael and I went for a walk to Old Joe trig yesterday. I hadn't been to Goorooyarroo at all before, and was quite impressed. The terrain is nice, with some steep bits as you get close to the border (its clear that the border follows the water catchment from a walk around here). Plenty of nice trees, not too many thistles, and good company. A nice morning walk. We bush bashed to the trig straight up the side of the hill, and I think there were gentler (but longer) approaches available -- like for instance how we walked down off the hill following the fence line. That said, the bush bash route wasn't terrible and its probably what I'd do again. I need to come back here and walk this border segment, that looks like fun. There are also heaps of geocaches in this area to collect. [kml: 20150928-1]

First trail run

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

So, now I trail run apparently. This was a test run for a hydration vest (thanks Steven Hanley for the loaner!). It was fun, but running up hills is evil. [kml: 20150922-1]

Camp Cottermouth

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

I spent the weekend at a Scout camp at Camp Cottermouth. The light on the hills here in the mornings is magic. [kml: 20150919-1]

Exploring for a navex

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 17, 2015
Post category:Diary

I feel like I need more detailed maps of Mount Stranger than I currently have in order to layout a possible navex. I there spent a little time this afternoon wandering down the fire trail to mark all the gates in the fence. I need to do a little more of this before its ready for a navex. [kml: 20150916-3]

CBC Navigation Course

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 13, 2015
Post category:Diary

So today was the day long map and compass class with the Canberra Bushwalking Club. I liked this walk a lot. It was a good length at about 15km, and included a few things I'd wanted to do for a while like wander around McQuoids Hill and the northern crest of Urambi hills. Some nice terrain, and red rocks gorge clearly requires further exploration. [kml: 20150912-1]

Lost and alone in the dark

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 9, 2015
Post category:Diary

I've been doing the Canberra Bush Walking Club navigation course for the last couple of weeks, and last night's exercise was a night time dead reckoning navigation session. The course is really good by the way and I've been enjoying it a lot. It should be pointed out that I also wasn't lost, or alone, but it sure was dark. Anyway, the basic idea of the exercise is that you're given a hand drawn map, and a set of markers. You determine the bearing from each marker to the next, and the distance to walk. You then set off on your adventure. Getting a bearing or distance wrong matters, because you either need to stop and find the next way point, or carry the mistake on to the next marker. The markers were generally things like "gate in fence" or "two big trees". It turns out for me the hardest part is walking in a straight line when its dark. If you look at the GPS logged map below, you can see that the consistent error is that I tend to veer slowly to the right. That's a pretty useful thing to know, because it means I can correct a…

Walk to the Southern Most Point

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 1, 2015
Post category:Diary

I've just realized that I didn't post any pics of my walk to the most southern point of the ACT. The CBC had a planned walk to the southern most point on the ACT border and I was immediately intrigued. So, I took a day off work and gave it a go. It was well worth the experience, especially as Matthew the guide had a deep knowledge of the various huts and so forth in the area. A great day. [kml: 20150818-2]

Casuarina Sands to Kambah Pool

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

I did a walk with the Canberra Bushwalking Club from Casuarina Sands (in the Cotter) to Kambah Pool (just near my house) yesterday. It was very enjoyable. I'm not going to pretend to be excellent at write ups for walks, but will note that the walk leader John Evans has a very detailed blog post about the walk up already. We found a bunch of geocaches along the way, with John doing most of the work and ChifleyGrrrl and I providing encouragement and scrambling skills. A very enjoyable day. [kml: 20150718-1]

Wanderings

Post author:mikal
Post published:July 16, 2015
Post category:Diary

I am on vacation this week, so I took this afternoon to do some walking and geocaching... That included a return visit to Narrabundah trig to clean up some geocaches I missed last visit: [kml: 20150715-1] And exploring the Lindsay Pryor arboretum because I am trying to collect the complete set of arboretums in Canberra: [kml: 20150715-2] And then finally the Majura trig, which was a new one for me: [kml: 20150715-3] I enjoyed the afternoon. I found a fair few geocaches, and walked for about five hours (not including driving between the locations). I would have spent more time geocaching at Majura, except I made it back to the car after sunset as it was.

Quartz trig

Post author:mikal
Post published:July 14, 2015
Post category:Diary

A morning of vacation geocaching, wandering, and walking to quartz trig. Quartz was a disappointment as its just a bolt in the ground, but this was a really nice area I am glad I wandered around in. This terrain would be very good for cubs and inexperienced scouts. [kml: 20150713-1]