Bushwalk Australia

I am planning to walk down the right bank of the Hawkesbury River all the way to Gentlemans Halt where I can get a boat across to Spencer. Is there any way to walk up to the Canoelands trail when the Singleton Road peters out at a dead end? That trail then has direct access to Gentlemans Halt

Just nose up through the bush and you should be fine.

K

The request to find a walkable connection between Singleton Road near Wisemans Ferry and the Canoelands Ridge trail is because we are establishing a 475km long distance trail called the Great River Walk going from source to mouth on the Hawkesbury River system. This connection is the remaining missing link and would be established as a proper route and advertised on our website so our request for local knowledge is not trivial but would be a substantial contribution. The Lower Portland to Spencer stage is planned for an official opening in September/October

Talk to a Park ranger. They may not want any path to be known... or they might help.

Wednesday I ran along the Canoelands Ridge Trail and onto Gentlemans Halt, There is a quite steep rock scramble for a few hundred metres on the single track between the Ridge Trail and the Halt. I am not sure what you mean when you say the right bank! Do you mean the south bank ie the Sydney side of the river. If so, there appears to be a disused road/trail from Gentlemans Halt to Singletons Mill, close to the river, not sure of that though. There also appears to be road/track from Canoelands Rd to Singletons Mill, I have no knowledge of this either.

I know about the track down to Halt from the Canoelands trail. What I am needing is local knowledge of a negotiable route connecting the ridge trail with Singleton's Road on the bank of the river either around Singletons Mill or the private camp further on near Haycock Reach where the distance between the shoreline road and Canoelands trail is less than 1 kilometre.. Once I can establish this, it makes possible a return route from Wisemans through Spencer and back to Wisemans on both sides of the river

If you show GPS traces on Open Street Map there is trace from the Halt to appx a third way along, and then a path is shown for the rest to Singletons Mill. Strava heat map indicates somebody has been on most of the length from the halt to Singletons Mill.

A GPS trace nor a Strava thing does not mean there is a legal trail/path there. Use caution.

Better still, talk to the Shire Council Ranger or Shire Engineer. All sorts of help there.

Cheers
Roger

Thanks for that info. I will be talking with the camp ground owner at the end of Singletons Road about that GPS trace from his place to Halt to see if we can get permission for access . Once past his place the route enters Marra Marra National Park so there is no problem, assuming there is a route. This coming Friday I am negotiating with Spencer businesses to establish a ferry crossing for walkers from Halt to Spencer.

Something like the below will go, but whether it's a good route for average walkers (and whether parks would want it publicised) is a different question!

Thanks Tom, I'll be on site next Friday to check that out and see if it is viable. I note the route has to negotiate a cliff line

wombeyan wrote:Thanks Tom, I'll be on site next Friday to check that out and see if it is viable. I note the route has to negotiate a cliff line

Yes, there's a couple of spots where the route deviates off the ridge line to avoid small cliffs. It may still be possible to scramble straight up the ridge, depending on what the cliffs are like on the ground.

Maybe some decent views over the Hawkesbury from the top of the larger cliff?