26 June 2010 – Mt May
Leader: Steve
With a few members unable to attend and the promise of a hard walk, the numbers were down to just 5 hardy walkers.
Mt May is situated in Mt Barney National Park and is one of many peaks in the area that are open to bushwalkers. Mt May consist of two peaks, today we are climbing the north/west peak. The other peaks that belong to the Mt Barney group are Mt Maroon, Mt Lindesay, Mt Ernest, Mt Ballow and Mt Clunie. All of them are a “Grade 5” walk and should only be climbed by experienced bushwalkers.
The walk/scramble up Mt May starts just north of Waterfall Gorge to the right of the rocky area near the car park. It is not easy to locate so a bit of searching around is needed. From here the rough track zigzags steeply up the mountain, it is fairly hard going so the stops were frequent. This allowed us time to admire the magnificent views west towards the Main Range and Maroon Dam just below us. The last time I climbed Mt May the area was in drought so the view today down over Maroon Dam is not of a large puddle but of a dam full of water, a very pleasant view.
Smoko was enjoyed on a rocky outcrop before the hardest part of the walk which is a hand’s on climb up through a steep rock escarpment, before levelling out for a stroll through open woodland to the junction in the track. This section is very overgrown with new growth due to a bush fire last summer. From here the choice is to turn right to the top of the first peak or left to go down to a saddle for the ascent of the second peak. 
Our destination was the first peak, so we turned right and continued on to have lunch at the top. We were not the only walkers there so we shared our lunch spot with another couple of walkers. It was disappointing to find a stone cairn had recently been built at the top of the peak. This creates a human made object in a place of natural beauty. I pulled it down and replaced the rocks where they came from. A cairn should only be built as a form of navigation, not to say “Look I have been here”
A very enjoyable lunch spot with magnificent views in all directions; east towards Mt Barney, north to Mt Maroon and west towards Cunningham’s Gap, with a myriad of peaks on each side of the Gap.
As the walk down is very steep we all had wobbly legs and sore toes by the time we got to the base of the mountain. I had bought along a few bags of mandarins so that helped quench our thirst as the walk down had been very warm.
The general consensus was to abandon our usual coffee on the way home and to call into the Rathdowney Hotel for an icy cold beer. It is a good country pub with character and I do recommend dropping in for a beer. I am pleased to report the beer was not only icy cold but very refreshing at the end of a great day’s walk.
No comments:
Post a Comment