We set out from Brandy Flat and added in a hill we had planned to go around, as we knew the ride would be shorter. The extra 400vm provided a good warm up, and a 70+km/h descent down the other side to the Mt Clear campground as a reward :) We stopped here for something to eat and to ponder the challenge ahead...
We took Long Flat Firetrail toward the South side of Mt Clear and saw some more of the same incredible storm damage that we came across on the other side of Namadgi during last months Old Bobyon Road ride. Tree limbs were strewn all over the forest floor like a giant two year old had had a huge tantrum in here! Thankfully the rangers have been through with bull dozers and cleared the trails.
At the end of the road, we headed South for mt first ever search for a geocache, at the most Southern point of the ACT, sadly though I had my GPS in the wrong mode and couldn't find it, so we headed North for the climb up Mt Clear. Plenty of snow on the ground on the way up made for a great back drop and before we knew it we were at the trig point for a nice lunch stop.
At the trig I got the GPS sorted out and went hunting a second geocache, this time finding it! The coordinates took me to within 1m of it, making it very easy, and I got a smile from the contents, a cute M&M plush toy grinning back at me ;)
After some much needed food and chill time, we headed doooooown, awesome fun, with a few stops on the way to share a laugh and let the rotors cool (the brakes were smokin'!). At the bottom there is a very easy to miss left hand turn (as you are bombing along at speed), the GPS pointed it out before we'd gone more than 200m past it, and we quickly doubled back to get on course and head for another geocache "assimilate", which the GPS led me straight to, again within 1m of the box. This one is part of a puzzle series, so I noted the clue and put the cache back in place and we headed off for Horse Gully Hut.
Some reminising is always had here after a fateful night were some friends (Neil, Dave and Izabella) were forced to spend a very cold night in the hut here, thank god it was there to shelter them, these huts really are life savers.
From there it's a pleasant cruise back to the campround for another rest stop, then back to the cars via Yankee Hat on Old Bobyon Road with the ominous and beautiful snow capped Mt Ginini and Bimberi Peak as the backdrop.
A top day out, thanx for joining me Dan!!
The crew:
| Dan | Turner Flux |
| Jason | Giant Trance |
The Stats:
| Distance | 71km |
| Time | 8:00 (inc 1:00 of stops) |
| Climb | 1945vm |
| Date | 19/08/2007 |