The park is 65 km north of Sydney and we reached the starting point of this beautiful walk by driving on the F3, and then through Peats Ridge and on through Central Mangrove.
The park’s original inhabitants were from the Dharug and Guringal tribes of the Aboriginal people.
From the very early days of settlement, until 1980, limited logging of red cedar and large hardwoods took place.
The area was declared a national park in 1994.
The park’s geology is predominately sandstone, and at this time of the year there are masses of flowers. Although we have visited the park quite a few times previously, we all commented that it was the first time when we could recall seeing waratahs in bloom. The flowers appeared to be slightly smaller than those we see in other places.
A short walk from our parked cars took us to the official start of the tracks in this section of the park. There was a large information board from which we were able to check our proposed walk.
Our morning tea stop , at the top of Mount Olive ( 309m above sea level) was reached by an easy ascent. From there we had wide views of the surrounds, including the Glenworth Valley. Then onto a fire trail - slightly tricky in parts, simply because of loose stones in some places, meaning that we needed to watch our steps carefully. We were then onto a single file track which took us to Hominy Creek ( this flows into Mangrove Creek, and ultimately the Hawkesbury River. ) How beautiful ! Fed by a small waterfall, this wonderful pool ( shown in Di’s photo) was clear and very inviting. So much so, that three members of the group decided to “test the waters!” The majority of the group was happy to accept their report about the temperature!
After lunch we set out to complete the circuit. The terrain was different to that in the first section - more open and grassy ( as opposed to bushy) and then we walked through Donovan’s Forest on a fire trail again. There were a few “ups” but they were all quite manageable.
On arriving back at our entry point, we re-checked the information board. As we had some in the group who had not done the walk previously, it was interesting for them to see how our day’s effort fitted into the bigger picture.
On the day, the weather was glorious and helped to make this a very pleasant visit to this lovely park.
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