Mt Gudgenby

Getting there

The walk commences at the Yankee Hat carpark.

Route/Trail notes

The walk starts off easy enough - a nice tranquil walk along a fireroad watching the 100s of Kangaroos meander through the open plains. Before long a less graded firetrail will appear on your right - this will wind through the countryside passing by Yankee Hat Mountain and heading towards Gudgenby. Eventually you will be required to leave the firetrail and follow a rough poorly marked trail that on your right that will lead towards the saddle. This "track" becomes progressively harder to follow and strongly recommend a GPS. The issue is there are 100s of faint trails through the scrub so very easy to take the wrong one and head off in the complete wrong direction. The vegetation will become more dense as you ascend towards the saddle but as far as bush bashing goes it is relatively easy going.

Once at the saddle you will turn right and begin the ascent to the summit. This is where the bush becomes a lot thicker and the track becomes a lot fainter. Invariably you will find yourself fighting through thick sections of scrub while simeltaneously traversing big boulders and fallen trees. As you get higher you will notice more and more granite slabs which provide you with momentary relief from the bushbashing. Approaching the summit (and finally being able to see the enormous summit cairn) you will walk up a huge granite slab - go through a cave and then arrive at the 2 scrambling sections. It is a bit fiddly and requires a bit of upper body strength because you can't really use your legs short of wedging them into a slit in the rock. In saying that it is quite achievable and there isn't really much in the way of exposure. After that you have arrived at the summit where you will be rewarded with incredible views!

Permits/Costs

Nil cost

Other References

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/australia/australian-capital-territory/mount-gudgenby

GPS Tracks

No GPS available for this walk yet.

Comments

Slept in my car at the Yankee Hat carpark - not sure if I'm really meant to do that, probably not. Got an early start because I knew what I was going to be up against. Definitely bring a GPS for this one, you can move fairly quick on the ascent up to the saddle following the reasonably well marked trails - but you do need to refer to the GPS quite a bit to ensure you don't follow the wrong ones. Took me 2hrs from the carpark to the saddle, then 1hr45 or so from the saddle to the summit. And given how much shorter the distance is from the saddle to the summit you can get an idea just how much bush bashing is required. The cave and the scrambling sections where probably the highlight for me - I would rate the scrambling as being somewhat similar in difficulty to what you would find climbing the Castle, although there is much less scrambling on Gudgenby. Was strapped for time so didn't get a chance to check out the cool rock formation not far from the summit but have heard that is well worth the detour.
Vonsnrub on 16 Apr, 2024