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Walk: Gardens of Stone National Park: Donkey Mountain Circuit Leader: Yuri Bolotin

Maps, etc: Ben Bullen, GPS Setting WGS84

Description: Note: this exploratory walk may or may not visit the top of Donkey Mountain. Park at GR 370 191 on Wolgan Road and, staying within the national park, climb south and then west to the saddle between Mount Wolgan and Donkey Mountain. Optional ascent of Mount Wolgan. Then, from the saddle, walk up to the cliffs on the southern side of Donkey Mountain and explore under the cliffs, moving in a north easterly direction. The rest of the walk will depend on what we find and our progress. About 8k. Scrambling and exposure.

Rating: 5M. S233E

Gear Issues: 2 litres of water, GPS, PLB, appropriate head and footwear, electrolytes, maps, compass, tape (leader only). Change of gear for afterwards.

Date walked: 5 December 2016.

The Party: Yuri Bolotin (leader), Brian Fox, Dave Dash

The Weather: A very warm to hot and very humid day made walking conditions bearable at best and generally unpleasant. In the second part of the walk, a cool breeze was felt – at first, very light, then a bit stronger; later on, it died down. Thin cloud cover for 50-90% of the sky during most of the day. Temperature range 20 to 35 degrees C.

Existing names in the area Donkey Mountain Is a dissected mesa 8km south, south west of Newnes. This large, isolated mountain, 950m in height, is 350m above Wolgan Road. The mesa has at its southern end Mount Wolgan. Extensive views over the greater part of the Wolgan Valley can be seen from the top of this mountain. A note in Surveyor Robert Hoddle's diary, dated 12th November 1825, "Mr Walker J.P. and party in that quarter (Capertee area) A she ass foaled: being the first bred in the Colony." Ref: Colville, Berres Hoddle. Robert Hoddle Pioneer Surveyor 1794-1881, 2004, p. 92. Annabella Boswell's Journal, 1839, records that James Walker (who owned the outstation Wolgan) had quite a few donkeys. The mountain was first shown (but with no name) on the Survey Plan B4.691r, dated 3rd January 1831 Originally spelt on the early parish maps as The Donkey Mountain, for example, Parish of Wolgan, 1884. It was not until the recent parish maps of the early 1960s that the word "The" was dropped. Locals referred to the mesa as Big Donkey and Little Donkey (Little Donkey is Mount Wolgan). Ref: Joe Bird, oral history to Brian Fox, 15th June 2009. Joe also spoke

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to him about a path cut into the Wolgan Valley, called the Donkey Steps. Joe's great, great grandfather, Edward (Ned) Murray (1791-1862), was one of the earliest farmers in the Wolgan (he worked for the property owner, James Walker from 1824), and he had a donkey that he called Neddy. Thomas Archer records in his diary on the 17th June 1866, "Mule arrived last night from Wolgan." Ref: Morgan, MacLeod. A short history of the Wolgan Valley, 1959. RAHS Journal, Vol. 45, Pt. 2, p. 88. Geoff Fox, a bushwalker with The Bush Club, has explored, mapped and named many of the individual features within Donkey Mountain. North East Maze section: Grand Entrance, The Freeway, Kents Crevasse, Two Storey Cave, The Green Room, Fairy Cave, Eagle Rock, Eagle Nest, The Grand Hall, Fig Trees Green Room Portal, Jenny Craig, QANTAS Drop, Fire Ramp, Wide Ramp, Scrubby Ramp, Lighthouse, Arrow, Gum Tree Room, Treeway, Cowpasture, Donkey Canyon, High Cave, Low Cave, Mossy Rocks, Long Passage, Too Tight Crevasse, Wolgan Window. Middle Donkey Mountain section: Window, Titanic Canyon, Fern Gully, Eastern Lookout, Tayan View, Kents Ascent, Sticky Ramp, Port Canyon and Terrace Canyon. The South West End: Sun Ledge, The Columns, Python Point, Top Slot, Fence, and The Stile.

Background Notes The top of Donkey Mountain is a bushwalking mecca, and I have visited it many times in the past (never enough!!), but little is known about what happens underneath the tall cliffs that surround the mountain – particularly, the southern side where the cliffs are more prominent. To my knowledge, few, if any bushwalkers have been there – perhaps because the access from Wolgan Road is awkward, being on the opposite side of the mountain. So, I created a special walk to spend a day exploring underneath the Donkey Mountain cliff line, without once climbing on top of it.

Track Notes For various reasons, we were down to a very small (but able!) group of three for this walk. The car was parked at the official Donkey Mountain access point, The Stile, at GR 3698 1906, 613m, and the walk began at 0823 by climbing over the now rather shaky stile that straddles the fence line. For the first ten minutes or so, it was a stroll on a pleasant, gently rising grassy slope covered with trees and a variety of introduced species; the most conspicuous was the purple and blue Patersons Curse, in full bloom. Of the native species, the bushes of White Dogwood, Ozothamnus diosmifolius, were noted in abundance. Soon, we left behind the green meadows and started to climb steeply towards the saddle that separates Donkey Mountain and Mount Wolgan. There was almost no undergrowth here, and many animal tracks running in all directions. We passed a giant rock, about 3m cube – an almost perfect dice rolled downhill by the mountain gods many years ago; next to it, stood an old gum tree with a huge burl, at least one metre in diameter – a wood turner’s dream; and further on, we saw several shallow caves that had the markings of goats presence. Even though we were ascending mostly under the forest canopy that offered protection from direct sun, the energy sapping combination of steep slope, high temperature and oppressive humidity was at times almost too much to bear. Several stops were necessary before we reached the first cliff line, at 0856, GR 3700 1815, 796m. We were now positioned at the southwestern tip of the mountain, and therefore could begin our planned traverse. However, the slope gradient here was quickly getting too steep for safety, and soon we had to come down and underneath another, smaller line of cliffs in order to continue our journey. As soon as we rounded the corner and began moving east, our perspective changed dramatically – whereas before we were enjoying distant views of Mount Wolgan to our west, now we were looking south at Sunnyside Point with several high pagodas at the very end; and southeast, where parts of the Emirates Resort were visible a long way

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down in the valley. The heat and humidity were still oppressive, and there was no wind, but at least we were now mostly walking in the shade of the tall cliffs that surround Donkey Mountain. We crossed a large section covered in small Mint-Bushes, Prostanthera linearis; their pungent smell hitting our nostrils; it felt particularly strong, maybe due to high ambient air temperature. At 0920, GR 3724 1810, 831m, we passed through the first in a long series of overhangs on our way – this one was only small, some 10m in length. Straight after it, at 0923, GR 3789 1312, 833m, we saw a ramp that seemed to go all the way towards the top of the mountain. The aerial map also shows a possibility of ascent here, but my aim today was specifically not to climb Donkey Mountain but to explore underneath its cliffs. So, we kept sidling along. In fact, at every decision point today, we would choose to follow the lower cliff line. This means, of course, that we must have missed many interesting ledges between us and the top of the mountain. They will be the subject of another walk (or two). At 0934, we came to the first of several spectacular features of today’s walk – a 30m high, 30m long slab of flat rock wall, entirely covered in striking patterns of rusty orange, grey and green lichen. Because of its flatness and the strong direct sunlight that provided beautiful illumination, the piece looked like a giant impressionist painting on display. GR 3743 1818, 854m.

Giant red wall. Photo:Yuri Bolotin From here on, the next section of the traverse features a succession of spectacular deeply eroded baroque overhangs. Because of their south east orientation, they glowed magnificently in the late morning sun. At 0949, GR 3762 1827, 853m, we recorded for future reference another ramp leading to the next level through

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the lower cliff line. Looking at the aerial map and the detailed sketch map of the area created by Geoff Fox, this ramp would give access to underneath the feature known as The Columns; exploring this location will be a very interesting exercise for a future walk. Immediately after the ramp, we crossed a very large cave, about 15m long by 5m high by 5m deep, our footprints overlapping with labyrinthine tracks left by Lyrebirds, Wallabies and Goannas on its very fine white powdered floors. The next cave was even bigger – a grand hall of wonderfully matching dimensions, 20m long by 20m deep by 20m high inside, becoming 30-35m at the outside due to its sloping floor. It is situated underneath the Lunch Lookout and High Pagoda noted on Geoff Fox’s map. At 0958, GR 3768 1827, 850m.

Dave and Brian in the big cave. Photo: Yuri Bolotin As we emerged into the full sun after spending a few minutes in that cool, calm, shady paradise, we were brutally reminded of rather challenging weather conditions that reigned elsewhere today. The continuous line of unbroken non-negotiable cliffs comes down at this point, so we now needed to follow it by descending 20-30m sharply until we emerged under the next line of overhangs a few minutes later. There was again a series of richly decorated small caves at this lower level, for us to marvel at. Apart from being aesthetically striking, they offered some shade and respite from the heat of the day. We had morning tea in one of these spots, from 1002 till 1012, GR 3770 1833, 836m.

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Strikingly decorated overhangs. Photos: Yuri Bolotin

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We resumed after the break and, turning another corner, gasped in awe by the sight of a massive pagoda tower about 400m away from us in the direction we were travelling. At 1015, we came to one of the most impressive eroded walls of sandstone I’ve seen, a true highlight of the day for me. It is over 50m high by 30m long and consists of multiple parallel bands several metres thick, each of them in turn has dozens of thinner plates that display infinite variety of weathering patterns and an astonishing multitude of colours – all shades of browns, greys, yellows, oranges, and whites – all theatrically lit by the sun. This nature’s masterpiece took my breath away. I have named it Masterpiece Wall. GR 3774 1837, 846m.

Brian at Masterpiece Wall. Photo: Yuri Bolotin Next on our journey, came another series of beautiful smaller overhangs adorned with more sculptural decorations of coloured sandstone; one of them featured a big Lyrebird nest. At 1030, GR 3794 1839, 837m, we reached a point on our traverse from where we can see a strikingly tall tower, rising alone about 400m to our west at the top of the mountain. This is the High Pagoda Geoff Fox’s map refers to. From our viewpoint much below it, its appearance proved that Geoff’s name is very apt.

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High Pagoda, with Lunch Lookout behind it, viewed from underneath. Photo: Brian Fox The terrain continued to be quite challenging, with frequent ups and downs, and sections where the slope was very sheer and slippery when sidling. At one of these spots, Dave stepped on a medium size tree trunk that suddenly broke under him, sending him in a somersault down the steep and scrubby incline. Fortunately, he was able to stop after about 5m and avoid colliding with a larger tree. He landed on his backpack and was injury free. We all breathed a sigh of deep relief and, after stopping for a few minutes to have a drink and recover from the shock, continued our journey. The almost unbroken overhangs section on the southern side of Donkey Mountain came to an end at GR 3819 1853, 830m, at 1045; therefore its length is about 900m; it took us about one hour (excluding the morning tea break) to traverse.

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We continued our walk under some very high, flat and very uncompromising cliffs of grey sandstone. Soon, we had to have another short rest to cool down and have a drink as the weather conditions continued to be unfavourable. My shirt was utterly drenched in sweat from constant perspiration. At 1116, GR 3842 1879, 820m, a land snail was noted and recorded. It has been identified as Family Rhytididae, Austrorhytida capillacea (Ferussac, 1832). At this stage, we also needed to make a route choice decision, as we could see (both by looking at the landscape and at the aerial map) that another cliff line was developing above; it was running north. If we ascended towards it, our traverse would take us to perhaps more spectacular, albeit known sites, such as Green Room Portal and Jenny Craig. I always prefer the unknown to the known, particularly as our plan today was to fully explore underneath the lower cliff line. We continued at the present level. At 1126, GR 3857 1877, 811m, we carefully stepped through a small section of the slope covered in small pieces of soft grey crumbly shale rock that had many fossils in it; these shards appeared to have come from a larger cliff collapse above.

Fossil rocks. Photo: Yuri Bolotin In fact, in a few minutes’ time, we had to scramble through a 20m wide area of recent rockfall, which was steep, loose and outright dangerous. I was glad to have put it behind us. GR 3866 1880, 817m, at 1135. Geoff Fox’s map puts this location directly underneath Thomas Lookout.

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Dave traversing a challenging rockfall slope. Photo: Yuri Bolotin

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Soon after the rockfall, the cliff line we had been following turned north and became a lot smaller and broken up, offering easy access to the top. Once again, we continued traversing at the same level. As we changed the direction, a slight cooling breeze now appeared at times; it provided fleeting moments of relief and could not have been more timely and welcome. We crossed a large, pretty, green gully covered in Bracken and, unexpectedly, some introduced species, including Stinging Nettle. Perhaps, I should not have been surprised, as it is also found on the top of Donkey Mountain. Next, more shallow overhangs with Wallaby and Goanna footprints were crossed. As we began to turn west towards the northern side of the mountain, the lower cliff line had disappeared completely, so only a section of fairly steep slope separated us from the higher cliffs, visible some 100m to our left. At 1200, GR 3869 1902, 844m, a large Goanna was photographed on a gum tree; it was about 5m off the ground and soon climbed even higher, away from the inquisitive humans. Soon, we were travelling above a high cliff line that had quickly developed as we went around the mountain to its northern side. The landscape here was a lot drier than on the southern side, and less scrubby. Sections of wide open terraces allowed us to make easy progress; to keep us in check, they were randomly interspersed with tight, narrow, sloping and dangerous ledges that we had to traverse with utmost care.

Mount Wolgan viewed from one of the narrow sections of the ledge. Photo: Yuri Bolotin We were hot, sweaty and tired, so it did not take much time to decide to have a lunch break in a small flat spot between the steep ledges with a pleasant view towards Wolgan Road and the valley below. From 1223 till 1235, GR 3816 1908, 861m. By consulting the detailed maps later, I found out that our lunch spot was just below Eagle Rock, but about 50m north and down the slope from it. Just before stopping for lunch, we had had a conversation about whether or not we should head back to the vehicles, as the temperature in the afternoon was very likely to increase even further; our route would also

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be fully exposed to the merciless western sun. Even though none of us could eat much because of the heat, this short period of rest made a big difference in our thinking. We felt a bit of the cooling breeze during lunch, which also dampened the humidity, so the decision was to continue our traverse. After lunch, the cliffs subsided temporarily. We observed a few pretty overhangs and baroque caves as we passed about 120m below the Grand Entrance, making good progress, but soon, once again, another big drop developed below us and the ledge narrowed significantly. Then, at 1254, GR 3790 1877, 869m, when we were about 80m west of Titanic Canyon exit, we noted a gully that promised an easy way down through the cliffs. We kept going. In a few more minutes, the ledge started to narrow even further; in many spots, it was covered in loose rocks and sharply inclined towards the 30m+ precipice below, with no trees or roots to hang on to. It had become too dangerous to continue at this level, so we decided to turn back and sidle to the gully we had seen a few minutes ago that would enable us to come underneath the cliffs. The turn around point was at 1305, GR 3781 1866, 872m; we were about 50m east of the area of the relatively recent rockfall, visible from Wolgan Road and roughly beneath the tall pagoda called Tyan View. Within ten minutes, threading very carefully along the treacherous ledge, we made it back to the descent gully. Going down was very steep but doable, mostly by hanging on to some branches and rocks. After clearing the big cliff line (which was, in fact, a series of 15-20m smaller bluffs), we proceeded south west and soon came to the bottom of the big rockfall, which was about 30m wide at this point and could be crossed with ease. GR 3771 1864, 844m, at 1328. The rockfall continued for at least another 150m up and 50m down from our location, but we did not follow it. Too hot and too dangerous.

Brian at the rockfall. Photo: Yuri Bolotin

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There were no cliffs at the level we were presently on, just thickly forested slope. By looking at the aerial map, we saw that it would be pretty much similar kind of terrain if we continued south west along this contour for about 900m that separated us from the spot where we had started our circumnavigation. Somehow, the cool breeze that had been helping us along in the last couple of hours had vanished, and the oppressive humidity and temperature both came back with a vengeance. We all thought it would be a good idea at this point to start gradually descending in the direction of the car. Just as we turned west and down the slope, a very pretty specimen of Rosy Hyacinth, Dipodium punctatum covered in delicate pink flowers with dark polka dots and yellow and white centres, was photographed.

Rosy Hyacinth, Dipodium punctatum. Photo: Brian Fox At 1351, GR 3728 1867, 708m, we reached the familiar ridge that has an old fence on it and the track that leads to The Stile. We made it to the car at 1400. The air temperature at the time was 35 degrees C. No wonder we felt very hot and tired! But we also felt happy about finding this very different way of experiencing the wonders of Donkey Mountain. Another walk to visit the magnificent caves and overhangs of the southern side that would include exploring higher ledges is on the drawing board. Trip statistics are: total distance walked 7.5km, total ascent 454m.

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Topographic map of the walk. Recorded by Brian Fox and prepared by Yuri Bolotin

Aerial map of the walk. Recorded by Brian Fox and prepared by Yuri Bolotin

Table of Times, Locations and Grid References

Time Location Grid Reference Elevation 0823 Car parked at The Stile GR 3698 1906 613m 0856 First cliff line GR 3700 1815 796m 0920 First overhang GR 3724 1810 831m

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0923 Ramp for possible access to higher levels GR 3789 1312 833m 0934 Red lichen wall GR 3743 1818 854m 0949 Ramp for possible access to higher levels GR 3762 1827 853m 0958 Big cave GR 3768 1827 850m 1002 to 1012

Morning tea in overhang GR 3770 1833 836m

1015 Masterpiece Wall GR 3774 1837 846m 1030 View of High Pagoda GR 3794 1839 837m 1045 End of continuous overhangs section GR 3819 1853 830m 1116 Land snail found GR 3842 1879 820m 1126 Fossils GR 3857 1877 811m 1135 Rockfall (southern side) GR 3866 1880 817m 1200 Goanna sighting GR 3869 1902 844m 1223 to 1235

Lunch GR 3816 1908 861m

1254 Possible descent gully GR 3790 1877 869m 1305 Turn around point GR 3781 1866 872m 1315 Back at descent gully GR 3790 1877 869m 1328 At rockfall (northern side) GR 3771 1864 844m 1351 On track GR 3728 1867 708m 1400 Back at the car GR 3698 1906 613m