scouts – Made by Mikal

Mount Bimberi on a Scout Bushwalking Course

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 27, 2019
Post category:Bushwalking

Julian Yates kindly ran a bushwalking course for Scouts Australia over the last five days, which covered walking in Uncontrolled Terrain (the definition in the Australian VET scheme for the most difficult bushwalking -- significant off track navigation in areas where emergency response will be hard to get). I helped with some of the instruction, but was also there working on my own bushwalking qualifications. The walk was to Mount Bimberi, which is the highest point in the ACT. We started with a short night walk into Oldfield's Hut on Friday night after a day of classroom work. The advantage of this was that we started Saturday at Oldfield's Hut, which offered morning views which did not suck. [kml: 20190524-1] On Saturday morning we walked up to Mount Bimberi via Murray's Gap. This involved following the ACT / NSW border up the hillside, which was reasonably well marked with tape and cairns. Our route on the way to Bimberi: [kml: 20190525-1] And the way back: [kml: 20190525-2] On Sunday we walked back out to the cars and did the three hour drive back to Canberra. I'll include the walk out here for completeness: [kml: 20190526-1]

Potato Point

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 23, 2016
Post category:Diary

I went to Potato Point with the Scouts for a weekend wide game. Very nice location, apart from the ticks!

Exploring the Jagungal

Post author:mikal
Post published:April 12, 2016
Post category:Diary

Peter Thomas kindly arranged for a variety of ACT Scout leaders to take a tour of the Jagungal portion of Kosciuszko National Park under the guidance of Robert Green. Robert is very experienced with this area, and has recently written a book. Five leaders from the Macarthur Scout Group decided to go along on this tour and take a look at our hiking options in the area. The first challenge is getting to the area. The campsite we used for the first day is only accessible to four wheel drive vehicles -- the slope down to the camp site from Nimmo Plain is quite rocky and has some loose sections. That said, the Landcruiser I was in had no trouble making the trip, and the group managed to get two car style four wheel drives into the area without problems as well. The route to Nimmo Plain from the south of Canberra is as follows: [kml: 20160411-writeup-1] We explored two areas which are both a short drive from Nimmo Plain. We in fact didn't explore anything at Nimmo Plain itself, but as the intermediate point where the road forks it makes sense to show that bit of route first. From…