Afternoon Excursion
Posted: Mon 12 Sep, 2011 8:42 pmSunday afternoon I decided to check out Dromedary and Platform Peak. I have heard some people have had some issues with Dromedary, so thought this might interest people. Unfortunately I have no pictures worth posting because my camera went flat and had to take them on my phone.
First we tried the east face approach. You drive across the bridge water bridge, turn left into Boyer rd., then right into church rd. From here you can choose to look for a way up on Perrymore rd., Church rd. or Cranes Rd. Cranes has the most opportunities, so is probably the best. This is the option we chose. There are plenty of places along this road to go up, but we chose to try and pick up the track from the end. Close to it we hit private property and 'video surveillance' signs. We kept driving past these and soon a car took off at high speed to accost us, but the house at the end beat us to it. We were treated to a guard of honour as we were escorted out. Interesting people. We did not continue trying to find a way up the east face because they were all alerted to our prescence and would probably be abused for walking into their 'patrol zones' and outstaying our welcome.
We were then given directions (probably prepared for such occasions, given how precise and pre meditated they seemed) to drive back out (convenient, I know) right round to Broadmarsh and up Storeys Road. Near Broadmarsh there are these resident cows that 'reside' on the road (including 3 bulls) which walked in front of the car for 10minutes, they just didn't want to move! Further up we encountered people that asked us if we were heading to 'Nrth'lk' with what we suspected were trailer loads of illegally felled wood. This was just outside Dromedary State Forest, in the middle of nowhere.
We climbed Platform Peak from here, this is well marked. Very nice little mountain if you ignore then post 10 years western front replica on the ridge/ plateau between the peak and Dromedary. The sign indicates 1:30hrs, but it is more like 30mins return (just walking time).
Then we continued along the obvious road (which can get enclosed and rough) to a fallen tree where we stopped to walk. This is heading downhill from Dromedary. We picked up a tagged shortcut on the right and then the fire trails started heading up. These unexciting and demoralising roads go on for a fair while and pass directly underneath the summit. Its an easy stroll to the rocky summit from there.
This approach is definitely not preferable as it is much longer and less exciting, so am planning to try the east face sometime too. The list shows un-owned forest, and this appears to be the case on Cranes road. It may however be private land so am not sure (there are no fences or houses within 100m or so). The mountain appears to be 1.5km of easy but steep walking from this road. Best to be on the cautious side if heading up this way, it would be very easy to end up in the backyard of a ‘caravan property’ as the blocks are quite tight and probably best to not visit the end of the road.
First we tried the east face approach. You drive across the bridge water bridge, turn left into Boyer rd., then right into church rd. From here you can choose to look for a way up on Perrymore rd., Church rd. or Cranes Rd. Cranes has the most opportunities, so is probably the best. This is the option we chose. There are plenty of places along this road to go up, but we chose to try and pick up the track from the end. Close to it we hit private property and 'video surveillance' signs. We kept driving past these and soon a car took off at high speed to accost us, but the house at the end beat us to it. We were treated to a guard of honour as we were escorted out. Interesting people. We did not continue trying to find a way up the east face because they were all alerted to our prescence and would probably be abused for walking into their 'patrol zones' and outstaying our welcome.
We were then given directions (probably prepared for such occasions, given how precise and pre meditated they seemed) to drive back out (convenient, I know) right round to Broadmarsh and up Storeys Road. Near Broadmarsh there are these resident cows that 'reside' on the road (including 3 bulls) which walked in front of the car for 10minutes, they just didn't want to move! Further up we encountered people that asked us if we were heading to 'Nrth'lk' with what we suspected were trailer loads of illegally felled wood. This was just outside Dromedary State Forest, in the middle of nowhere.
We climbed Platform Peak from here, this is well marked. Very nice little mountain if you ignore then post 10 years western front replica on the ridge/ plateau between the peak and Dromedary. The sign indicates 1:30hrs, but it is more like 30mins return (just walking time).
Then we continued along the obvious road (which can get enclosed and rough) to a fallen tree where we stopped to walk. This is heading downhill from Dromedary. We picked up a tagged shortcut on the right and then the fire trails started heading up. These unexciting and demoralising roads go on for a fair while and pass directly underneath the summit. Its an easy stroll to the rocky summit from there.
This approach is definitely not preferable as it is much longer and less exciting, so am planning to try the east face sometime too. The list shows un-owned forest, and this appears to be the case on Cranes road. It may however be private land so am not sure (there are no fences or houses within 100m or so). The mountain appears to be 1.5km of easy but steep walking from this road. Best to be on the cautious side if heading up this way, it would be very easy to end up in the backyard of a ‘caravan property’ as the blocks are quite tight and probably best to not visit the end of the road.
