Intermediate Overnight Hike – Wollangambe Crater

Photo: Sudarshan at Submarine Rock (halfway along this walk).

Please read the entire post in full to ensure you get accepted.

Hello! Keen to do an overnight hike? Crazy, lock next weekend into your calendar!

Sudarshan and I (Callum) are running a trip to the “Wollangambe Crater” in the Blue Mountains. The walk itself is about 10km on each day, and contains some amazing views of rock pagodas and distant hills, and springtime means there will be lots of flowers in bloom as well.

This is a great place for a first overnight bushwalk, as it is close to a lovely river, and about 10km walk each day.

Where/When:

The hike starts from Bell and goes out to Wollangambe Crater, where we’ll camp for the night.

We’ll leave on the morning of Saturday (27 Sep), and meet at Bell station. The first day is about 9km of hiking, starting with a descent and some rock scrambling along the way – you should have at least some level of hiking experience for this! Once we reach the crater, we’ll set up camp for the night, before heading back the way we came, getting back to Sydney on the evening of Sunday. That means a good amount of elevation on the way back 🙂 There’s more detail about the track here and here.

Cars are not necessary, I’ll be taking the train up!

What to Bring:

• Hiking pack – a proper hiking pack* with a waist strap, around 50L capacity (depending on how efficiently you pack!)
• Clothes – long hiking pants, hiking shirt (preferably lightweight and with long sleeves/collar), well cushioned socks, wide brimmed hat, sunglasses. A spare set of clothes and socks of some description (don’t want to smell you over dinner), warm jacket, beanie.
• Shoes – solid hiking boots or trail runners
• Tent – consider sharing a tent* with others to save weight (can coordinate on group chat once you’re accepted 😄)
• Sleep system – a warm sleeping bag* as temperatures overnight will be around 5ºC, a sleeping mat*. Thermals, it has been cold recently.
• Water – At LEAST 3L. We are camping by a river, and can refill and cook dinner from there. I will be bringing Chlorine purification tablets to share, however you’re also welcome to filter and/or boil the water. Gatorade or other electrolytes are good to have as well.
• Food – enough food for 2 lunches, 1 dinner, 1 breakfast, and lots of snacks. High energy, light weight, and easy to cook/prepare. If you’re cooking food make sure to bring a camping stove* (with fuel), matches/lighter, pot, etc. Lots of good options for meals, we can give suggestions to those who need them.
• Medical Stuff – an emergency blanket* (compulsory). Any personal medications, and hygiene products if applicable.
• Miscellaneous – a charged head torch, basic toiletries, sunscreen, phone and powerbank, some toilet paper in a zip lock bag. A small trowel if you have.
• Optionals – rubbish bag (if you don’t want trash directly in your bag), things like hiking poles, camera, compass, insect repellent. A poncho is nice to have, or you can just accept your fate if it rains. Inflatable pillow if you’re fancy like that.

You need all of this gear, but please make sure to keep your pack as light as possible. Things marked with an asterisk* can be borrowed from the gear cupboard on Thursdays.

You will have to carry all of this on your back for the whole trip! Don’t make it harder for yourself. To make sure you’ve read all of this, please tell us in your comment what your favourite piece of hiking gear is (mine is my leatherman multi-tool!). If you have further questions about gear you can ask us (please don’t hesitate), or use this great resource.

Please note: we will be doing a bag check at Bell Station for the essentials. There are no shops, water, or toilets at Bell station. If you do not have the necessities listed here, you will be left behind.

There is no toilet or bin at our campsite.

How to join:

Sign ups will open on Tuesday 16th September at 11am. You don’t necessarily need to have done an overnight hike before for this trip, but you must have some hiking experience – so please also tell us in your comment what kind of hiking experience you have. Once the attendees have been finalized, we’ll make a facebook messenger chat with everyone to coordinate the trip. Please make sure yours is linked in your profile.

Thanks to Hugh for some inspiration on the template 🙂

You can contact either of us via Facebook if you have any questions or concerns.