21/08/2023
Four days on the National Trail hiking through the Guy Fawkes River National Park. I started at Marengo and finished at Newton Boyd on Old Grafton Rd for a total of 62km. Please note the entry into and out of the National Park on this particular track is through private property and can’t be done without an active National Trail membership.
DAY 1 - Marengo to Jordan’s Yards - 13.25km
Started off on farmers tracks then progressed to an easy to follow single track, some of this ridge had been burnt off recently. It was a reasonably steep track but the last 2km before the river flat got really steep and I dropped about 500m of elevation. It was pretty brutal on the legs and knees. The last flattish 3km along the creek was very welcome and as I was walking along I came across 5 blokes with their horses that had made camp and had a great fire going. After a brief chat and a laugh with them about how mad I was for walking down that steep ridge I continued on. I got to Jordan’s Yards campsite around 4pm and setup camp. My legs and feet were feeling it by now and I hope they pull up ok in the morning. A total of 8 creek crossings today.
DAY 2 - Jordan’s Yards to Little Plain Campsite - 20.75km
After packing up camp I got on the track around 7:30am and within 10min I was at the creek for the first crossing for the day. 3.5km and a few creek crossings later I found the ruins of the old Combalo Hut. There wasn’t much left, mainly just sheets of tin on the ground and a few timber posts. I also saw 2 big bulls grazing around the hut area.
Then a third big black bull around the 6km mark that I spooked on the track. After some eyeballing and snorting he ran off, which I was happy about as he had me worried he was going to charge at me and I was looking for a big tree to get behind. As usual there was quite a few herds of Brumbies that I came across on the track. I also met 6 hikers having lunch about 5km past Combalo Track at the campsite Keith and I stayed at last time. I stopped for lunch while they continued on. I met up again with them about 2km further down the track where they were setting up camp. I continued on for another 3km for a daily total of 20.75km. I didn’t make it to Little Plains Campsite as planned due to my hurting feet. My feet are pretty blistered, not surprising with 23 creek crossings today but some of the damage had been done yesterday coming down the steep hill from Marengo.
DAY 3 - Little Plains Campsite to 2km before Corner Camp Fire Trail - 16.1km
I started off the morning with a small ridge climb which bypasses a steep section of the river, then continued on to Little Plains Campsite. The section after little plains was slow going as there wasn’t as many horse tracks to follow. I ended up having to climb the steep river bank at one stage as I had cliffed myself out. At about the 6km mark is where the track veers away from the river for about 4.5km. The first section is just over 1km and is straight up and over a large ridge and at one point I managed to get myself off course and in the middle of a spiky rasberry patch. Needless to say the air turned blue for about 5min until I got myself calmed down. I swear Dad would have been looking down on me saying “Well you got yourself into this predicament you can damn well get yourself out of it.”🤣 Once at the top of the ridge it was 3km of predominantly downhill to the creek again. Had to stop once I got across the creek to rest my back and my blistered feet. Man my feet were definitely sore by this stage of the day. After a good rest I continued around the bend to Weenies Gap which is a tiny gully splitting 2 big rock faces, it’s very eroded but all good on foot. Going through the gap saved approximately 2.5km as you don’t have to follow the big creek bend. Once through there I considered pulling up for the night as I was buggered, but it was only 2pm so thought I would know out a few more kilometers. Ended up doing another 4km to hopefully the last creek crossing of the NP and set up camp for the night. I’m only 2km from a 4x4 track so I’m guessing the brutal stuff is done with…….hopefully. Had a wash off in the creek and there is one good thing about solo hikes in the middle of nowhere, I could skinny dip to my heart’s content. 🤣
Day 4 - Campsite 2km from Corner Camp Fire Trail to Newton Boyd - 12.3km
After a good nights sleep with a sprinkle of rain I packed up in the morning, patched my blistered feet again and set off for the fire trail 2km ahead. At first it was barely even noticeable I was on a trail at all, obviously no one is bringing vehicles in here. The track did get more established after awhile as I went up and over a few undulating ridges eventually going through a couple of gates and down past a little off grid camp/humpy setup near the creek. It was giving me a weird vibe and looked like a remote “chop shop” with about 15 car wrecks lying around the place. I was ready to run if I started hearing banjos playing. 🤣🤣🤣
After crossing the creek I ran into the owner of the property and his beautiful big dog. After a good old chat with him about his beautiful part of the world and enough doggy pats to fill my soul I continued on the farm track another 5km or so to Old Grafton Rd. I turned east and followed the road about 1km down to the old Newton Boyd Rodeo Ground. This place definitely hadn’t been used for many years and is in bad shape, the main building is all boarded up and the swallows have built nests all around it and also inside. The timber yards were falling down and the sheds weren’t much better also the pit toilet looked like it was probably 1970’s era. I’m sure in its day this would have been quite a good place for the locals, but those times were long ago. I trekked down to the Boyd River which was about 300m or so across the paddock to get water and have a wash off in the creek before heading back to the building to cook some dinner and wait for my amazing wife to come pick me up.
