Howes Valley

There was no queuing for the ferry as we set off from Wiseman’s Ferry promptly at 0930 on Saturday morning, a beautiful sunny day, but still crunchy underfoot.

Our route took us along Settlers’ Road past St Albans and The Common (a pause to admire swan and ducks aswimming) and on up Mogo Creek Rd to join The Great North Road – the Convict Trail. We made stops to examine and admire the stonework and road building of 1830 when this road was made.

The, now, main road joins the Great North Rd near Bucketty and continues beyond Wollombi, but we turned off at the Boree track and wound along to our lunch spot near Finchley Aboriginal rock engravings. Some of the markings are a map pointing to a further aboriginal site to the south and also to a birthing place.

We climbed up to the Finchley Trig platform. Being such a clear day, there was a 360-degree view. You could see right across the Wollemi Wilderness to Nullo Mt and Coricudgy.

From here, we turned west along Yengo and Howes track, descending on a good track to the Putty Rd. Frank and James headed off then. Frank was very pleased with the performance of his Series 2 shortie. We enjoyed having an historic vehicle along.

A few k’s down the Putty Rd and we turned onto the Commission Rd and so to our camp site, collecting some firewood along the way. It was definitely a 3-dog night. Next morning, we felt like the Ancient Mariner- the ice was here, the ice was there, the ice was all around!

However, fires were rekindled, breakfast arrived and the sun crept down the hillside. We were cheered when someone called out, “It’s -2 degrees now!” The milk container slid off the icy table and I had to melt the icicles on the table legs before I could fold it up.

The Goddens returned home, so six vehicles set off along the Commission Rd, a solid, fairly wide track. The bush looked so crisp, with subtle changes as you looked down into gullies or up amongst the cliffs. At King’s Cross, we turned onto the Hunter Main Track and headed to Sheepskin Hut for lunch. It was good to be out of the wind, but we did seek out the sunny patches. It was still a multi layer day!

As we came along the western rim of the range, we met the results of the gale force winds of the previous week. Tree Down! And again! And again! And….. The A team would don gloves and shift the Possible. A couple of times we could drive around the tree. One detour was a tight squeeze for the 130. Lookouts were posted at the corners and with some forwards and back, and left hand down, now right, she made it. A couple of trees responded to the drag chain treatment, but another 7 needed real muscle. Yes, Fred and Roger were forewarned and armed and Grant had an axe. Some trees just needed a couple of cuts to make them light enough to pull or drag aside, but two trees after Nita said ‘enough’, we came to Big Daddy and Little Brother. They had fallen from well up hill across the track and BD had a 750mm diameter trunk!

The A Team got to work on the Possible, while the Consultants conferred. There was Bruce the Builder, Grant the Engineer and Fred and Roger, graduates of the Tocal School of Chainsaw. The question was- if you managed to cut through the trunks, would the timber on the uphill side slide down? It was decided there should be enough weight to hold it in place. So Fred and Roger, with earmuffs and glasses on, set to work on the lower end of the big one. Fred, with the larger chain saw, was cutting the wedges and making the deeper cuts. Eventually there was a crack, and the lower end settled on the road. No sliding downhill.

Now the top end. Fred was able to balance on the smaller log to cut. He discussed with Roger his escape route should the log start to move. We stood back, but kept an eye out for any movement of the tree. It took some time to make a deep enough cut. It needed bites from different angles and different sides of the log. When the log started to sag, Fred cleared out and at last it fell to the road. The smaller tree was easier to cut through, but awkward as Fred had to reach up to saw.

While Fred took a breather, Roger fixed the drag chain on and we could reverse back and manoeuvre the logs to either side on the track. No sign of the trees sliding down. Off we set with fingers crossed.

We had a very quick cuppa at the rain gauge at Three Ways (wind very cold) and set off down Bakers Rd to the Putty valley. (Only one tree to detour around on the way.) We turned onto the Putty Rd just on dark, so our tree clearing had added two hours to the day. So glad we didn’t have to turn around and retrace our steps.

It was an enjoyable weekend, dramatic scenery, good track, great team!

Ros Mayer