Mt Banks Traverse – 4 December 2022

Some friends were keen to do this walk on the ledges on the south side of Mt Banks, and invited me to join them and show them the way in the tricky spots. I had done the traverse earlier in 2016, and was happy to do it again. The walk offers some amazing views of very steep and rugged country, and it is quite remarkable that a relatively easy route is possible.

In the party were Enmoore, Brent, Su Li, Steffy, Dave W, Phil and myself. Phil, a botanist, was particularly keen to look for the rare Isopogon fletcheri which does grow in small numbers on some nearby cliffs.

We certainly went on ag ready fro wildflowers. The Flannel Flowers were stunning –

And we spotted a number of orchids, but not in great numbers. Here is an old Beard Orchid – Calochilus sp.

Here is a Mountain Dragon –

Thanks to Roger, for identifying this as Olearia tomentosa –

Waratah

And more Flannel Flowers –

It took about an hour to walk from the carpark, along the fire road to the lookout on the east side of Mt Banks. Here there are very fine views of the Grose River Valley.

And we could now see the route of our  traverse –

On my earlier post, I noted that this travers does not use the half-way ledge, which is lower down, but instead uses the ledge formed by a rock layer called the Wentworth Falls Claystone. It lies between the Narrabeen Sandstone and the (higher) Hawkesbury Sandstone.

To get onto the ledge, you need to walk east along the fire road for 100m or so, until it possible to scramble down a short way. Here there is a rough track made by walkers and climbers.

And then the first bit is very straightforward.

Along this section, we found another orchid – Green Rock Orchid – Rimacola elliptica –

And it was interesting to see the Crane Flies caught in Sundews (Drosera sp.)

The photo below shows perhaps the most dangerous part of this part. If you slip – its along way below.

We also found some old bolts. These seem to be the remains of an abseil route used by commercial operators.

More Crane Flies –

Phil was happy to find some Isopogon fletcheri. This species of Isopogon has relatively wide unbranched leaves. Its seems to grow on the cliffs rather than flat ridges.

It was in this area, just near a large rainforest amphitheatre that route finding is needed. On my previous trip with Bob, we tried a series of ledges, to see which one was the correct way (and the only way). We had started looking too low, then tried a higher ledge, then finally found the correct way on an even higher level. And this time, I was the guide – being the only one who had been on the traverse, and I more of less made the same mistakes – trying lower ledges that looked right, then retreating and trying a higher ledge.

The key is to stay in the easy rainforest country, till you find a small sandy cave. This has a logbook in a plastic container. Its not that easy to spot the container – resting on a back ledge in the cave. Then from that cave you traverse west on a small ledge. Further along, don’t go up too high. You eventually (after about 150 m) reach a steep area called “The Devils Throat”. You cross over a drop on a narrow ledge amongst ferns to reach another corner. Then you can either traverse on a very narrow ledge, or go down and climb up short face – about 2m high. Most of us went up this direct way – climbing up the face. There are good handholds.

This took us into another small cave, and just round the corner, it is much easier going.

Once around the corner, you can climb up some slabs. The traverse is finished.

And then you have more nice views –

And here we found a Flying Duck Orchid – Caleana major –

We climbed up towards higher cliffs, then traversed back towards the car park and gradually climbed a bit more to the Mt Banks summit track.

Tufted lily – Thelionema sp. –

Thanks to Phil Foster for this id.

And near the track, we spotted some Aboriginal sharpening grooves –

And these look like food preparation bowls –

This had been a nice day out. Thanks to Enmoore for suggesting the walk.