Down the Track - Tracks and Access

There has been a lot of TALK about Tracks in the last three months, but virtually none about Access ! More of that later.

I mailed to a random sample of 30 members of Confederation, one from each club in the Sydney suburbs, and have had three recruits to the T & A sub committee. I would welcome some more people either to attend committee meetings in the City or to be corresponding members to whom I can write for personal opinions on draft documents or for advice on issues local to them. So lets hear it from club delegates outside the suburban area. I should emphasize that I am not necessarily seeking for club opinions, but input from individual bushwalkers so that documents can receive a wider scrutiny before presentation to the Management Committee and then to all clubs if that Committee so decides.

The invitation is also extended to any bushwalker. If it is convenient for you to attend sub committee meetings you can be co opted and vote in that sub committee as an individual. You can of course attend Management and general meetings, as a visitor, and may address those meetings , but without any voting rights.

Australian Alpine Walking Track (AAWT)

I represented Confederation at a workshop on a Management Strategy for the AAWT. It was attended by representatives of the Victorian Federation of Bushwalking Clubs, the National Parks Associations of Victoria and NSW and Canberra Bushwalkers and the Rangers responsible for the various sections of the track. Naturally the majority of the latter were from Parks Victoria as the route of the 396 km track starts from Walhalla and continues through the Baw Baws, the Razor - Viking Wilderness,the Barry Mountains, Hotham and Bogong to the Cobberas Wilderness.

In NSW it goes through the Pilot and Jagungal Wildernesses to Kiandra and Murray Gap. In the ACT there is the Cotter Wilderness and the track ends at the Visitor Centre of Namadgi NP Notice that the AAWT avoids the Main Kosciusko Range by going from Dead Horse Gap, Charlottes Pass, Smiggins and Guthega PS to Slink Pass. Many walkers will no doubt think that this somewhat round about route is a good thing to avoid overuse of the Main Range.. Do you ?

A working group which includes a delegate from the Canberra Club and one from the Victorian Federation is preparing a draft strategy which will be discussed at a meeting in Canberra at the end of April. It is hoped that the final draft will be available for wider comment later this year. Please tell me if you are interested in making an input.

Standards Australia.

I represented Confederation on a S-A committee reviewing AS 2156-1978 - Walking Track Signs. The committee was established following a request from the Victorian Federation. The existing standard is limited to specifying an isosceles triangle indicator which is mounted with the base vertical to indicate a change of direction or horizontal to indicate straight ahead. The preferred colour is fluorescent orange or, in desert areas, blue. Information signs covered are limited to routed timber. There is a very brief look at the relationship between the grade of track and the frequency of indicators.

Several Land Managers are represented on the review committee and the Western Australia, South Australia, and Queensland authorities are seeking a considerable expansion of the standard to included engineering standards for track construction,as well as the use of internationally recognised grading symbols. An officer of the NSW State Forests also represents NPWS and DLaWC.

Nominations have been called for a Working Group to draft engineering design standards for presentation to the main committee. I think that three or four meetings might be involved between now and the next full committee meeting in October/ November.

I would appreciate comments on my ideas for the new standard. It seems that every track management has its own grading and signage system and I dent think they will be very willing to make major changes. Obviously most systems are targeted at the popular short walks. For example, one authority uses the International symbols for three grades of walk;

• EASY defined, amongst other criteria, as less than 2 km long

• MODERATE between 2 & 5 km

• CHALLENGING greater than 5 km

I don’t know if the definitions are also international standards but assuming that they are , S-A would find it difficult to use the symbols with vastly different definitions. So I propose to leave them stand and let each authority reconcile their own gradings with the symbols. It might mean that track head signs would have several grading symbols to establish the relation between the international and the local gradings. This is not very different to the practice in Finland, for example , where track head signs are usually in Finnish, German, English and Lappish (Sami) in the North and the first three plus Swedish in the South.

If the definitions can be modified, I would change the length criterion to one of walking times, since this allows for differences in gradients number of steps etc. I suggest that times be based on say 2:5 km per hour on level track and on a lesser rate for steeper gradients and many steps. So " Easy" would be up to one hour return, and Moderate up to 2 hours.

Obviously, bushwalkers are mainly (?) interested in Challenging Walks. Here I would add to that symbol a "Boot " rating which I understand is used in parts of Europe and Asia. I am told Everest rates 15 boots ! Whilst one criteria of Moderate walks is a recommendation for sturdy footwear and whilst many experienced bushwalkers prefer Volleys, for me, bushwalking needs the ankle support and protection provided by boots !

I would limit this additional sign to four boots, and define the latter as the hardest, or longest walk in any specific management area. If visitors from interstate or overseas find a One Boot walk is too easy for them they can upgrade. They can be warned about tackling a four Boot walk first off.

I would appreciate comments from readers before I put the above to the S-A committee.

Blue Mountains Track Survey

Establishing Limits of Acceptable Environmental Change.

I attended a workshop at which the consultants for this project aimed for input from bushwalkers to complement that available from surveys of users of more tourist oriented tracks. A questionnaire was distributed to allow individual bushwalkers to comment on track management matters with specific reference to the Blue Mountains NPWS District. The Project officer, Ms Sue Morison is located at the NPWS Blackheath office, PO Box 43 BLACKHEATH 2785, phone (047) 878 877.

Manly Link to Great North Walk

My direct mail also achieved some helpful comments on alternative routes for this link track. I have some site checking to do before I write to DLaWC so if you want to comment on the information in the November Bushwalker, please do so quickly.

Track Maintenance Parties.

Although I had no direct response to the section of my article headed a Confederation Construction Corps ?, I have learnt of a number of clubs who are involved in track maintenance in NP’s and of other clubs who could support the idea. I have the approval of the Management Committee to commence preliminary work on a submission to NPWS. By the time you read this I hope to have submitted a draft to the General Meeting on May 27th.

Blue Mountains Crossing Track.

The proposal by the Scripture Union Club for a Blue Mountains Crossing Walk was detailed in a back issue of The Bushwalker. I have now had the opportunity to talk to two of the three people who have, over several years, developed more ambitious plans for such a walk. I am engaged in plotting the four routes on one map to facilitate comparisons. There are, of course, several sections which are common to two or more schemes.

Two proposals start with the Great North Walk at Acquire Place and at Epping and these might well prove as attractive to politicians as the GNW did in 1987. Once we get into the Mountains,

I expect that the SU .route, comprising mostly existing "day" tracks from the railway stations and requiring minimum new construction, will prove more politically achievable as Stage 1. The extended routes through Eureka, Ironbarks. the Oaks, Murphies Glen and Kings Tableland etc do require more track construction or upgrading and will have less appeal to the non "bushwalking" population. I hope that the latter might be funded as a "Millennium" or Centenary of Federation Project as Stage 2, because of their historic and cultural heritage.

The end points of the routes are either Hartley Vale, Clarence Zig Zag Station or Lithgow . There are also possible extensions to the 1860 Engineer’s Track, to Mittagong , Jenolan or Rylstone.