Mt Clear

Mt Clear

On Saturday 15 April 2017 the Geehi Bushwalking Club conducted a 23km round trip walk to Mt Clear which is located in the southernmost tip of the ACT. Like all good bushwalks this trip criss-crosses the edges of two maps, the Colinton 8726-3N and Bredbo 8726-3S 1:25,000 sheets.
The walk had been scheduled for the previous weekend, however severe thunderstorms were predicted, which eventuated. John Hutton and Peter Davis drove north from Cooma on the Shannons Flat Road then turned right onto the Boboyan Road past Shannons Flat Hall to the Mt Clear car park, which is just south of the Mt Clear camping area (refer grid references below). Departing the car at 9.30 we sauntered along the Nass Fire Trail keeping left as we passed the Long Flat FT on our right, 400m from the start. About 3 kms from the start of tracking ENE with a few easy creek crossings on stepping stones, it was time to head into the bush, aiming ESE for a point on the Mt Clear FT about 1km north of the mountain peak. The going was generally open grassland with peppermint and snow gums with some low scrub to step through. We used a compass here to keep on course.
Hitting an old wire fence, which is mostly on the ground now and hard to spot, we knew we were close to the Mt Clear FT, so headed due south up the face of Mt Clear, again in reasonably open going. We hit the fire trail close to the summit and arrived to see stunning views to the north, east and southeast. A new solar powered communications system has been installed off to one side of the trig. John successfully scouted round for a geocache using his GPS. After lunch, and the now obligatory selfie on the trig, we headed south on the Mt Clear FT. We considered taking a shortcut west at Tea Tree Swamp Flat, however, the shadows were starting to lengthen and the scrub didn’t look very inviting so we opted to stay on the fire trail which, although being a further distance, turned out to be the best option.
We turned north onto the Long Flat Fire Trail at a point only a short distance from the very southernmost point in the ACT, staying on this trail until we returned to the car at about 6.15, just after dusk. This walk could be regarded as medium to hard mainly due to the distance involved and the 550m climb to the summit. An earlier start may have been beneficial. Along the way we had encountered mobs of quite kangaroos, spotted wild deer footprints, chatted with a helpful park ranger in the car park, and enjoyed a wonderful walk on a beautiful calm sunny autumn day.

Navigation details

Start/finish, Mt Clear Car Park 681400E, 6028950N Alt 1100m
Turn ESE off Valley Fire Trail 684400E, 6029600N Alt 1060m
Mt Clear 686400E, 6027800N Alt 1603m
Turn north onto Long Flat Fire Trail 684500E, 6023300N Alt 1350m

2017-09-03T04:17:38+10:00Walks|