Sydney NSW Hike’n’Hang 17th and 18th Sept – Dunphys, Mobbs Swamp, Splendour Rock

Calling All Sydney and surrounds based Hangers!!!

After an enjoyable overnight hang last weekend down at Marramarra Creek, it’s time to get planning for the next outing. One with a bit more hiking and more of a wilderness feel.

Mobbs Swamp is a great bush campsite with a water source up in the Megalong Valley area of the Blue Mountains National Park, popular with hangers and ground dwellers alike. You can find some reports and images from previous missions on the forums here, here, and here.

There’s a number of ways in to the campsite, and of course you’re welcome to meet us there by any of the other routes if the following isn’t to your liking or doesn’t fit with your schedule.

So, the plan is to rendezvous at Dunphys Campsite (aka Carlons Farm and Green Gully) at the end of Megalong Road between 9:30am and 10:00am on Saturday, 17 September.

From Dunphys, we’ll take the Carlons Creek and Blackhorse Ridge Track to Mobbs Swamp, aiming to get to the campsite at lunchtime after a 7km hike. Note that the part of the track down the creek is infested with stinging nettles, so long pants are advised (don’t say you weren’t warned!).

After lunch at Mobbs, we’ll leave the bulk of our gear (and kiwigrrl) there, and take a wander up Mt Merrimerrigal and Mt Dingo to the lookout point at Splendour Rock before returning to Mobbs for the evening and overnight – about 5km the round trip.

After a night of comfort swaying in the breeze :), if you’re in need of an early return to civilization you can walk out the way we came in back to Dunphys via Blackhorse Ridge. For the more intrepid, we’ll take the Blue Dog Ridge out to Knights Deck, and descend the Blue Dog Spur to Coxs River and its confluence with Breakfast Creek (I just wanted a chance to use the word “confluence” in a sentence).

From there we’ll ascend the Ironmonger Spur to Ironmonger Hill. At the top there’s an option to leave the packs and take a 3.5km return side trip out over Tinpot Hill to the Goolara Peak lookout. From Ironmonger Hill the track continues over Ironpot Mountain and back to Dunphys Camp. All up from Mobbs Swamp back to Dunphys about 17km, or 13.5km if you skip the side trip to Goolara Peak. So you’ll need to bring lunch for the Sunday if you want to take this option. Or you can wait till you get back to the fish ‘n chip shop in Blackheath…

If you want me to send you some more route info by email, please PM me. Otherwise reply to the forums if you’re keen to come along or have questions. If you're in need of transport, please post here to see if someone can give you a lift.

Note that this is a wilderness area, and everyone coming along needs to make the appropriate preparations and follow appropriate procedures to ensure their own safety.

This looks fab. I'm in :-). Thanks for putting all this together Marwood. Should be ok for the full walk back on the Sunday assuming I can get a complete weekend pass.

Splendid effort of preparation in getting the mob together again. I made my way to the shops today and got some long pants....

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Originally Posted by Bateman

This looks fab. I'm in :-). Thanks for putting all this together Marwood. Should be ok for the full walk back on the Sunday assuming I can get a complete weekend pass.

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Hey mate, have you been practicing? :D

This sounds like good, I'm interested. I only got my hands on my hammock yesterday but it would be a nice opportunity to get some experience with it.

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Originally Posted by Dreadbyte

This sounds like good, I'm interested. I only got my hands on my hammock yesterday but it would be a nice opportunity to get some experience with it.

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Hey Dread, great to hear from you and We look forward to meeting you.

What sort of hammock did you get yourself?

I'm normally looking to get out for a weekend day walk on most weekends, so if you wanted to join in and get some rig set time in your more than welcome.

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Originally Posted by Lepmeister

Hey Dread, great to hear from you and We look forward to meeting you.

What sort of hammock did you get yourself?

I'm normally looking to get out for a weekend day walk on most weekends, so if you wanted to join in and get some rig set time in your more than welcome.

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I ordered a WBBB while I was in the USA recently and it was waiting here for me when I got back. Seems great (not that I've seen many hammocks).

Getting out for a weekend would be good. I'm not sure what I'm doing though because I only just got back to Australia yesterday. Also the only tarp I have is an omnipresent blue hardware store tarp and I don't have a quilt. I think I might be able to rig up an old sleeping bag as an under quilt though. I'll have to try it out.

After being in the northern hemisphere for so long the cold comes as a bit of a shock.

Welcome to the hanging clan.:):)

Don't let lack of gear stand in your way of coming along on the Mobbs trip. I can loan you my spare tarp (DD 3x3) and though I don't have a spare UQ I can certainly loan you a Thermarest and/or a blue CCF pad - it'll probably be about a 5degC overnight minimum up there next month so underneath insulation is a must. Let us know if you're lacking other stuff and we may be able to help you out.

Hi all, and welcome Dreadbyte!

Been travelling up and down the country this week, so couldn't get back to you earlier Marwood. In the midst of planning a trip further down south when you posted this one. Though if that doesn't get off the ground, then I'll certainly be up for this one! I'll let you know guys.......

Hi All,
unfortunately won't be able to make this one. I'm sure you'll all have a great trip, the views from Mt Dingo are pretty spectacular- you can see all the way out to the catchment.
And Ironpot is sure to get the heart pumping! I was out there a couple of weeks ago, first time that I've been down Carlon Ck without getting leeched. Maybe it's too cold for them.