THE WALK IN SECTIONS

DAY 1

Mountain Lagoon to Colo River

17km; 110m ascent/590m descent; approx 7-10 hours

From Sams Way, walk north along the fire trail for 400m to a fork in the trail and a locked gate. The left-hand branch is the Tootie Creek (T3) Track, which you will return on. The righthand branch is the Gospers Ridge Track, signposted to Colo Meroo. Take the right-hand branch and follow it. After a short steep uphill, the fire trail swings roughly east for about 2km, and then roughly northeast for about 1.5km. After another 1.5km heading roughly east, you should reach a track junction at about GR848985. By this stage the fire trail is more like a wide foot track. The right branch continues down Gospers Ridge to Upper Colo, so take the left branch which swings north onto Mailes Ridge.

Continue north on a foot track along Mailes Ridge. After a couple of kilometres, the ridge starts to narrow, and there are great views of the sandbanks in the Colo River several hundred metres below from numerous vantage points. From the first of these lookouts, you can see your intended campsite less than a kilometre away, and 300m below you—but still 10km away by foot!

The track is vague in places, and while it has very occasional track markers, for the most part, it is unmarked. In general, the track keeps to the ridge, or just below the ridge on the east side.

From the final high point above the river at GR827047, the track heads down the ridge to the ENE. The descent stays mostly near the nose of the ridge with the exception of one section where it drops off the right-hand side to negotiate some small cliffs. Some easy scrambling is involved in this section. Return to the nose of the ridge as soon as possible.

Near the bottom, the track descends steeply to a 4WD trail, and a signpost. Turn left and a short walk brings you to the pleasant Colo Meroo Camping Area. There is a large shelter and a pit toilet.

While it is possible to camp here, it makes for a long second day; it’s advisable instead to get some distance along the river.

Head down to the river along the marked track that leaves from near the toilets, and wade up the river. If you don’t want to walk in your bushwalking shoes, Dunlop Volleys or light sandshoes will come in handy here, although they’ll fill up with sand regularly. It is also possible to walk in bare feet, but this risks punctures from sticks buried in the sand.

For the first 5km south to the big bend (Townsend Bend), the Colo is mostly shallow and sandy. The river is dotted with large sandbanks, and deep pools are uncommon and easily avoided. The occasional foray onto the bank is required. As is common on this river, there is plenty of ‘Colo quicksand’ here. There is typically an excellent sandbank for camping opposite the creek junction on the big bend, at GR840000.

DAY 2 Colo River to Mountain Lagoon

12km; 500m ascent; approx 6-9 hours

The next day, continue walking upstream along the river. As you round the big bend and swing north, the river gets deeper. There are still numerous sandbanks, but the pools between them are more frequent, and often chest deep or more. There are three sets of rapids to bypass, adjacent to three successive creeks that enter the Colo from the west. The first is at GR833008, about 1km upstream from the big bend. The water is usually deep near the rapids, and excursions onto the banks may be required to avoid swimming. The banks around the rapids are scrubby with dense water gums, and these sections can be slow. For the last kilometre to Tootie Creek, the going is often easier keeping to the west bank.

The fourth set of rapids marks the Tootie Creek junction. This is where you will leave the river. Enjoy a cool swim in the river before the start of the steep climb out! Locate the rough track that leaves from the big sandbank, just below the junction. It climbs steeply up a small gully before cresting the ridge. After the first steep pitch there is a saddle, not visible on the map, at GR822027, and a good lookout back to the cliffs and the river.

If you are unable to find the start of the track, the best alternative is to head up Tootie Creek around 50m and climb the obvious ridge to the southwest. The track should become clear around the saddle noted above.

The next section is the steepest, climbing up under the cliffs to the west, before cutting back east on a higher, narrow ledge to a particularly spectacular lookout. There are superb views both up and down the Colo River, and across to the cliffs below Mt Townsend.

From there, continue up the ridge, over a number of unmarked knolls. Around 2km of steep climbing brings you to the fire trail. About 100m before the fire trail, there are excellent views to the west over the Wollemi Wilderness, with the ridges and creeks stretching off into the distance. From the end of the fire trail, it’s about 5km of easy walking back to your car. Be sure to stop in at one of the many pie shops that line the Bells Line of Road on your way home; you’ve earned it! W

Ripples begin to disturb the morning reflections in the Colo River

Nearing the cars on the T3 fire trail

Colo views from the cliffs on the T3 Track Waist-deep wading upstream of the campsite Sandbank camping at its best near Townsend Bend

CONTRIBUTOR: Sydney-based canyoner and bushwalker Tom Brennan wishes he had gotten into photography years earlier when he could have physically carried all the gear that he’d like to lug around.