A great hike from the Golden Stairs at Narrowneck (Katoomba), via the Ruined Castle, over Mt Solitary, then down the other side to the Kedumba River, and then up to the abandoned Queen Victoria Hospital at Wentworth Falls.
Along for the ride were Michele, Honor , Serena (10), All the Castros (Ed, Carol, Emma, Rohan, Alanna (9), Nicky (7), Kath, Kate(9) and Geoffrey (6). The weather turned out to be perfect except for occasional strong westerlies.
Honor and Serena on top of Ruined Castle - Mt Solitary behind
The hike to Ruined Castle was easy and we were rewarded with great 360 degree views. The kids were in high spirits. Pushed on up the ridge to Mt Solitary summit. This was a little tricky all the kids handled it fine. Along the way we passed several groups of whingeing adults in other parties, but the kids never complained. It was the parents with the heavy packs that had difficulty with the scrambles!
The Scramble up Mt Solitary - Come back Miranda!
We camped at a lovely spot right on the summit in a stand of casuarina trees, so the ground was covered in soft nettles. The kids had a great time playing in the evening and we had a good feed which including roasting marshmallows of course.
We set off along the Mt Solitary summit ridge about 8am next morning and were impressed with the remarkable views to the North and South. Quite a bit of the summit ridge is only 20 metres wide so often you can see great views of both directions at once. Occasionally we stopped at the dramatic cliff edge lookouts which required close supervision of the kids, but were worth it for the dramatic views.
Honor at another dramatic cliff line looking South from the Summit Ridge
We hiked on to the Eastern end where a log book is located. This is called the Col and for the first time we could see the steep Kedumba river valley that we would have to cross. The Col is a striking knob of rock which in cantilevered out over the valley providing dizzying views. The track down is very steep loose dirt with poor footing. This was a challenge and it took about two and a half hours to cover the 2 kms or so to the Kedumba River.
The Kedumba River was an Oasis which lifted everyone's spirits
Some of the kids were a bit down when we got to the river, but after resting for an hour by this beautiful river and getting a good feed of noodles, spirits were high again. If we didn't have a time deadline this would have been a logical place to camp.
The waratahs were spectacular.
The ascent out of the valley turned out to be easier than the descent. We made it to the Sydney Water access road in one hour and then one more hour to the locked gate. Along the way we saw numerous waratahs and xanthorreas in bloom. In a remarkable performance Geoffrey, Rohan and Alanna raced from the road junction to the gate. A distance of about 3 km up a steep hill. I struggled to keep up with them. Then when they got to the top we took off our packs and ran down to help the others behind us.
Ed, Kath and I then left everybody at the cold, spooky hospital while we retrieved the cars from Narrowneck. Everyone was tired but happy. Finally got going home about 6.30pm
