I spent three days up in the Mountains walking from Blackheath to Leura via Govetts Leap, Blue Gum Forest, Lockleys Pylon and the Mt Hay Road. This was almost the opposite to a walk I completed earlier in the year. On that trip I experienced a big storm while on Lockleys Pylon and found good shelter there in a small camp cave. I used a nearby cave on this trip for the second night.
I started from Blackheath Village and walked down to Govetts Leap Lookout. This took about half an hour. Then without delay, I continued down the steps to the base of Bridal Veil Falls.
Below the falls, the track meanders through beautiful rainforest, but now it was dry and cold and no fungi was out – unlike the previous trip. I sought out a sheltered sunny spot for lunch a few minutes before Junction Rock.
And then I continued along the track down Govetts Creek to Acacia Flat to camp.
When I arrived one another party was there, and we were later joined by a third party. After setting up my shelter I headed down to Blue Gum Forest to take some photos. The light was reasonable but nothing special.
I then had a quiet night. The temperature dropped to nearly 0°C overnight, but there was no frost in the morning. Nor was there any morning mist. I had been hoping for some – which I though would provide interesting lighting and atmosphere for photos. But when the sun appeared over the Grose clifflines and hit the forest things improved.
There had been no valley mist but when the sun’s rays hit the trees, some sort of condensation effect took place and a short section of mist formed. Curiously, this was only in the place in the forest where the sun beams had just hit. A few minutes later – the mist disappeared. But I was in the right place at the right time -and I could move deeper into the forest following the rays. So I was able to capture some images that at least were different to others I had from this magnificent forest.
In the late morning, I wandered back to my camp at Acacia Flat and packed up. Then I headed back to Blue Gum and crossed Govetts Creek and climbed up the spur to Lockleys Pylon. It was a beautiful sunny day with no wind. Very nice conditions.
I had lunch where the track breaches the cliffline. Lots of day walkers were around and oe of the other parties that had camped at Acacia Flat were also there – having lunch on the Pylon.
Before climbing the Pylon, I parked my pack in the one of the small camp caves in the cliffs below the summit. Then I headed up with my camera.
I spent the late afternoon on and around Lockleys Pylon and enjoyed a nice “golden hour”. Then back to my refuge cave. Just on dark – it got quite cold and a bit windy. Overnight the wind picked up considerably. By morning the wind was cold and very strong.
I got up for sunrise, and enjoyed nice conditions despite the constant bitter wind. It was nice looking down the Kolonga Gorge with the Grose River far below. Sun rays and back lighting created a nice separation of planes. Back at the cave, I had a minimal breakfast and packed up. It took about an hour to walk from the Pylon back to the Mt Hay Road and then another two hours to walk to Leura in good time for lunch and the train home.
More photos can be viewed on my website beginning with this page.