Lotkow Road – Track-finding, Wednesday 2 September 2015.
Map: BJ37
In the past couple of years, the Wednesday group has tried to complete the loop from Lawrence Road to Lotkow Road and back, along an old ridge track that eventually leads down to the Donald River.
On both occasions, we have been stumped – losing the track amongst lots of windfall on the spur leading down towards the river.
So we went back again, starting this time from the car park at the end of Lotkow Road and heading down to the small creek which feeds the Donald River on the main Lawrence – Lotkow track. Thanks to Robyn, who had been there a couple of weeks ago, the start of the track was marked and easy to find. It was also reasonably easy to follow, pushing through scrubby manuka and prickly mingimingi.
Making good progress, we steadily climbed up the ridge until the track ran out under a huge mess of windfall. We could see the top where we needed to be, so we pushed, crawled and scrambled the last few metres. The GPS said we were on track; just a bit more pushing through to reach the wider open track through the pine trees.
From then on, the track was once again marked and it was easy to follow until it reached the road. Brushing ourselves off, we wandered down the road to the Lotkow car park, arriving about 1.30pm and feeling pretty pleased with ourselves. But will we be back?
Trampers: Murray White, John Burrell, Dorothy Sole, Dianne McBride, Robyn Smith, Vic Bullock, Bruce Hodgson, John Marshall, Rose Fillary and reporter Alison Greer
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