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  1. #1
    Senior Member Phillipsart's Avatar
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    Six Foot Track (Blue Mountains, Australia)

    The Six Foot Track is a three day 44km walking track from Katoomba to Jenolan Caves. The track was originally built as a bridal trail in 1884 and was planned as a shortcut to Jenolan Caves. It is now a walking trail that will take you to some of the beautiful pristine valleys of the Blue Mountains.

    I completed the Six Foot Track yesterday in the opposite direction, I had a great time, It was a bit of a tough slog out of Jenolan, made worst by the start across from the caves house being closed, I was confused, so I walked into the Caves shop cafe and asked the girl behind the counter she told me that they are repairing that section of the track, I asked her how to get onto the Six Foot Track, she told me to walk up the hill to the first car park and you will find the Six Foot Track, so of I went, got to the car park, saw the Six Foot Track sign pointing to the right, followed the sign than came to a intersection leading to two directions, no signs saying which was the Six Foot Track, looked at both, one had a sign saying to caves, I thought that cant be right, I don't want to go back to the caves, so it must be the other track, Of I went.

    Not realizing it was the wrong direction, after half hour of slogging up a hill with steps, I started to get a bit suspicious as I did not see any signs, so I turned back and taken the other trail to the caves, not far into that trail I found the Six Foot Track sign, it was a releif to be on the trail.

    Time was getting on, just after lunch by the time I got back onto the trail, so I slogged it up the hill arriving at Blackrange camp ground 2 and a half hours later, I was worried I would run out of daylight so I had the pace on.

    Arrived at camp, to find one other hiker there in a Tarp Tent Contrail, we had a good ole chat comparing camping gear, thoroughly enjoyed the talk. Weather was starting to get a bit brisk, so I thought it best to have an early dinner and hit my hammock early, temp got down to 2c during the night, but if you factor the wind chill it was a lot colder. Was a good test for my hammock, for most of the night I was toasty warm. A couple times I could feel a slight chill when a big gust of wind came through.

    It was a successful cold weather test for my hammock and gear, the coldest I have so far taken it down to. Up early in the morning, went for a short stroll around the camp ground watching some Kangaroos, an hour later The other hiker emerged out of his Tarp Tent, another hour was spent discussing gear etc. when we both decided we probably should get a move on, as He had a bus to catch at Jenolan and I had a 20km hike ahead of me.

    Left camp at 9am, had a good hike, it sure was great to be walking down those steep hills instead of up, as I passed a total of 16 hikers going up that hill and not one of them looked like they where enjoying it, the best they could get out in between there hard breathing was how far to the top of the hill?









    Last edited by Phillipsart; 05-19-2013 at 23:22.

  2. #2
    Senior Member Phillipsart's Avatar
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    Six Foot Track (Blue Mountains, Australia)

    Arriving at Cox River camp 5 hours after leaving Black Range camp, most of the time I had a good pace on, except for those times I was almost sliding down the steep descent, got a bit hairy at times, but I managed to stay on my feet.

    Cox River Camp was a delight, a beautiful Location. Being a Saturday night there was a lot of vehicle based campers, so I went down the river bank and setup my hammock not far from the water, not long after setting up I had some visitors, first there was cows, than a few other hikers followed by more cows. One hiker was in a small tent another hiker next to him in a bivy, sometime through the night a third hiker approached, I thought he was a cow, I could hear some ruffling in the branches not far from me, so I yelled out to make sure the cow didnt get to close, turned out the cow was a hiker, he got a bit of a freight, cause I heard him say ****, than shown a torch in my direction, I think he **** himself, not realizing there was someone near by. Turned out to be a hammock user.

    Woke up early in the morning, it was a chilly 1c outside my hammock, so I stayed in my hammock till it warmed up a bit, I think it was almost 7am when I decided to emerge and brave the cold, I decided a trip to the hole in the ground surrounded by a small building was in order. Someone need to put the locks back on those toilet doors as someone walked in on me while I was taking a bog in the stink bog building, that would have to be one of the worst smelling toilets out. The guy in the hammock not far from me that I startled during the night was still asleep when I left.

    I left camp at 9am and made my way for the suspension bridge, plans was to film myself walking along the bridge with my GoPro camera, but there was no chance that was going to happen, I had to hold on with both hands with all my might, the thing was swinging from side to side

    I was warned at camp and on the trail about the climb upto Katoomba at the end of the day, so I paced myself today and walked a steady pace to consume what little energy I could muster for the slog up the wet slippery rocks and steps into Katoomba. Unfortunately at this stage I had ran out of storage on my GoPro camera, missed out filming the climb into Katoomba. I did not have much energy left so it was a tough climb to finnish the hike on, I ended up doing it at a pretty good pace, but by the time I got to the top I was spent, breathing heavily laying over my hiking poles when a young couple came down to check out the lookout over the valley and noticed my state and offered a ride back to Katoomba. How lucky was that. 5 hours and 45 minutes from Cox River camp to Katoomba. The trail finished 2km short of Katoomba village. The young couple saved me a walk on a major road into Katoomba. I was not keen on walking along the edge of a major road.

    It was a great bushwalk, but I wonder if there is much difference in difficulty going in the opposite direction. I think some of the climbs leaving Jenolan are steeper.









































    Last edited by Phillipsart; 05-20-2013 at 00:01.

  3. #3
    Member Marwood's Avatar
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    Mate, it was built as a bridle trail, not bridal.

    It was made 6' wide so two horses could pass, not two women in white dresses.
    善行無轍迹
    The skilful traveller leaves no traces of his wheels or footsteps
    -Lao Tzu

  4. #4
    Senior Member MedicineMan's Avatar
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    ConSpeedy! Loved the pics mate!
    Very very cool bridge and a great pic of it too.
    Now the down parka-does it get that cold down under?
    Missed your contributions, thanks for getting zip off the whicket

  5. #5
    Senior Member Phillipsart's Avatar
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    Six Foot Track (Blue Mountains, Australia)

    Quote Originally Posted by MedicineMan View Post
    ConSpeedy! Loved the pics mate!
    Very very cool bridge and a great pic of it too.
    Now the down parka-does it get that cold down under?
    Missed your contributions, thanks for getting zip off the whicket
    Hi MedicineMan,
    I hope the quality of the images are good enough, it will be a while before I return home, managed to get the footage of my GoPro onto my old iMac, captured some screen shots and posted here, when I return home I will create a video footage of the hike as well as a few others I have completed thus far.

    Had the day spare, recuperating in my hostel, so thought I should give this ago and see if I could create a trip report just using my iMac.

    It snows in this part of the country, I was hoping it was going to snow, as I have never seen snow before.

  6. #6
    Senior Member MedicineMan's Avatar
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    Next February you and Brucie are invited to the Roan Hang....we'll show you snow
    Yes pic quality is superb.
    Looking forward to the video series.
    Hosteling, hmmmm...it must be better than in the States. I was in one in Anchorage last fall and it was in a 'bad' part of town; but anything you could imagine you could buy there.
    Won't it be colder there as June/July approach?

  7. #7
    Senior Member Phillipsart's Avatar
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    Re: Six Foot Track (Blue Mountains, Australia)

    The hostels here are good. Nice and clean. I am in a 4 bed dorm and I have the room to myself. I also have my own tv in the room. As soon the weather cooled down all the backpackers cleared for warmer climate.

    Must get ready to bake my own pizza.

  8. #8
    Senior Member Bruciehi5's Avatar
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    Your tarp looks good, so does that bridge you couldn’t film, because it wobbled. You ran out of storage and you got a lift into town. lol I’m looking forward to the video.

  9. #9
    Senior Member Phillipsart's Avatar
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    Re: Six Foot Track (Blue Mountains, Australia)

    Quote Originally Posted by Bruciehi5 View Post
    Your tarp looks good, so does that bridge you couldn’t film, because it wobbled. You ran out of storage and you got a lift into town. lol I’m looking forward to the video.
    Only 2km into town. The trail finished where I taken the lift.

    I think I will come back in a couple weeks and do this hike in the reverse direction. I will make sure I take extra storage cards. You never know therr might be snow

  10. #10
    Senior Member born2roam's Avatar
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    Wow that brings back memories! Thanks for sharing the pics and I am looking forward to the vid too!

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