Formation of the Australian Alps Earthcache Kosciuszko National Park, New South Wales, Australia
By DARKSIDEDAN. on 11-May-17. Waypoint GC767EF

Wow, what a great adventure getting here. Loved the magnificent views and enjoyed the walk. I missed taking the correct path and made the walk so much harder than it needed to be. Take the path with the SPOR. You can follow the path all the way to GZ with a bit of rock hopping.Now to make the chair lift back.Answers sent to CO.Favourite point given.TFTC

Four years ago, a Bromance team adventure to hike Australia's highest 10 peaks was cancelled after bushfires devastated the Snowy Mountains (and indeed most of the Eastern seaboard). It has taken us a long time to return - too long. With months of training and preparation completed, today was finally the day.Yesterday, we hiked from Charlottes Pass, crossing the Snowy River, visiting Blue Lake and then "bagging" the first four peaks of our Aussie bakers dozen of Australia's Highest mountains, being Mt Twynam, Tennyson Woods Knoll (Watson's Crag), Carruthers Peak and Mt Northcote. Last night, we camped on the exposed flat near Muellers Pass, enjoying a cracking alpine sunset. It was a big day yesterday (22.0 kms and 1050 m ascent), but I never seem to sleep well on the first night on the trail. Our Queensland blood also felt the cold, but we were well prepared. With a very big day planned today, we had a pre-dawn wake up call and set off at first light from Muellers Pass with our daypacks for a loop around the next 5 mountains on the list. SeffnJarah and I climbed Muellers Peak for the sunrise, before joining up with the rest of the team at approach to Alice Rawson Peak. From there, we headed back along the ridge line to Mt Townsend, where were encountered some brilliant granite tors. At Mt Townsend, we collected the clues for this EC and also the other archived traditional cache. We picked our way through the rock formations to the summit, where we were greeted with spectacular views of Australia's Alpine peaks - some already conquered and some still to come. Later on, we finished our walk at Charlottes Pass and remembered to view the rock here to finish the EC. Answers sent to the CO. This was a bucket list trip for me, and today was fantastic day out in the mountains - one that will live in my memory for a long time! Thanks for bringing me here, DarkSideDan. Pete#7,649

Just after Christmas in 2019 The Bromance were scheduled to complete a 3 day hike to visit the top 10 peaks in Kosciuszko National Park. At that stage I was already in Canberra visiting relatives and about to head off to Sydney to pick up my three compatriots from the airport when word came of the bush fires erupting in the Snowy Mountains. It was not long after that the dreaded news was announced that the park had been closed, ending any hopes of completing our walk. Dejectedly we made our way back home to Queensland.Thanks to Covid, border closures, injuries and operations it has taken another 4 years for the opportunity to arise to reprise our plans. After what has seemed an eternity, I finally left Brisbane Wednesday lunchtime for the long drive down to Canberra, and reached just north of Wollongong before finding a suitable place to stop and sleep in my car overnight. Next morning I was up before sunrise to visit some local caches before continuing the remainder of the drive to Canberra airport to rendezvous with the rest of my hiking group. From there we drove to Cooma to stay overnight before heading off Friday morning to Charlotte Pass to commence our long awaited hike.As we assembled in the car park I had to pinch myself to make sure we were actually finally here. The weather gods were indeed smiling on us with sunny skies and low winds but the fly gods were perhaps too generous, with swarms of flies accompany our journey and settling on us as we hiked up to the lake (possible making our packs a kg heavier ). Our pace of progress amongst the group was varied but finally we gathered at the start of the path for the walk down to the lake.After a visit to the lookout we continued along the path to the top of the rise where we took in the breath taking views of the valleys and hills below. This was probably my favourite viewpoint of the trip, although there are certainly many contenders for that honour. We dropped our main packs a short distance away, for the foray to our first designated peak of the day - Mt Twynam. From here the next designated peak was the summit of Tenison Woods Knoll, with a resupply of water gathered on the lower slopes. Retracing our steps, we found our packs again and braced ourselves for the long, steep climb up to our next summit - Mt Carruthers. It was quite a relief to make it to the top, knowing that the hardest climbing of the day was now done. Next was a climb up to Mount Northcote before a final hike to our overnight camp site at Muellers Pass.This morning we were up before sunrise. Crookedpete and I headed up to Muellers Peak before re-joining the rest of the group at the summit of Alice Rawson Peak for a well earned rest. It was then off to our next designated summit at Mt Townsend and a stop to visit this earth cache. Some great rock formations are visible here, my favourite by far being the fallen pinnacle of rock delicately balancing on another. TFTC.

What an amazing climb. After completing Alice Rawson we came around the side, saw some amazing rock formations, and circled around to a scramble up to the top. Answers have been sent to the CO. A great spot.

Abstaria and I took time out of our Australias Highest 15 Peak Hike to study some geology. DSD responded quick smart flattering our observations and the cloud blew through with beautiful views of the hydro pondages, Victorian Alps and a nearby physical cache (in a NSW NP?) TFTC DSD!

GEOJoh and I took time out of our Australias Highest 15 Peak Hike to study some geology. DSD responded quick smart flattering our observations and the cloud blew through with beautiful views of the hydro pondages, Victorian Alps and a nearby physical cache (in a NSW NP?) TFTC DSD!

A great weekend in the Australian Alps. Today, I headed to Thredbo and took the chairlift to Eagle's Nest. Then walked 10km to Mt Townsend, via a trip to Mt Kossie. Returned the same way, but then went off-piste, straight up the mountain to an Aussie Peaks cache. Then dropped down to Cootapatamba Hut, before heading straight up to two sections of Ram's Head and overland back to Eagle's Nest. Over 25km with a bucket load of elevation and about 5km off track. Legs are tired. Answers confirmed as good by the CO.

Tftc

Visited Mt Townsend on a beautiful day and have sent the answers to the CO.
Thanks for bringing me here and TFTCM
Cheers dkmacca
FP awarded

Although I've walked the Main Range loop several times, I'd never made the sidetrip to Mt Townsend previously. Spurred on by the promise of caches and less people and great views, the detour here was well worth the effort!

Answers sent to CO; pic attached.

Thanks, DSD! A favourite for bringing us out here!

Finally found this one, across two visits. First visit was to hike Mt Townsend which was around 28th Feb 2020. Second visit was on 16th Mar 2021 to check out the trailhead and make sure I had some answers.

Mt Townsend was a really tough hike. On the day we chose it was quite hot with a stinging wind that picked up every now and again. Plenty of grasshoppers once we went off trail, and a path that felt like it would never end. The summit of Mt Townsend requires a fair bit of scrambling as well, and the path on the way there was well guarded by large groups of crows.

Checked out things quite thoroughly around GZ for this cache, and stopped for lunch too. Only just made it back to the Thredbo chairlift in time before it closed as we went for a detour to Seaman's Hut.

The second visit was a quick drive to Charlotte Pass to inspect the rocks there.

Have mailed the CO with the answers.

Thanks for the cache!

It was an honour to accompany the rats for their 20000th find. Great day for walking,but sure windy. Made it to Rawson Pass easy on a bike and then walked with sore legs from earlier this week all the way up Townsend. Beautiful views along the way and good company, thanks for taking me along
Field log here, answers will be send, more to follow
TFTC Wilbert67

As part of my 20000th find celebration weekend, I teamed up with steeba, Hoojar and Wilbert to find a bag full of caches in the Snowy Mountains and Canberra region.

While we shared in the spoils of my milestone find nearby we also collected the info for this EC. Answers sent to CO. Thanks for the cache.

Ventured up to the top of the mountain with WIlbert67, The Rats and Hoojar today. Made some observations but can't contact the CO at this time. A great walk and some interesting geology around these parts. TFTEC!

What fantastic views at the top of Mt Townsend today. Clear sunny day with no wind, is a luxury in the mountains area. Very busy place for flies and the yellow bugs at the summit peak, therefore had lunch a bit further down. Emailed the requirements for this cache. Thanks for the cache.

Not worth the bother to look so will do an on line find. Much the way my TB’s were. It’s how the game is played.

Logged with permission .... Geodaughter and her friends walked to hike to mountains and beautiful view... thanks

Completed with JohnnyBoyACT and another part time cacher. Great spot and have not been here for years. Scenery and rocks make this mountain a better spot to visit than nearby Mt K. After working out the answers a scramble to the top of the mountain before starting the homeward journey. TFTC.

Enjoyed my time up on Mt Townsend! This cache was a great drawcard.

#3021
Field log. More to follow
TFTC DARKSIDEDAN.

The second day of a big caching weekend, Team Canary, Bella at Waggy, Crash2079, ZQX, TikvaNZ, and purplepeopleeater teamed up to combat the highest peaks in the Australian Alps.
After taking the chairlift up (I was glad i didn't have to climb most of the way) we set off up the track.
We had to rush our time here as we were sorry on time to get back to the last chair lift back down. It didn't help that i was trailing behind on the way up as i missed lunch in order to get here in time.
Thanks for the cache.

Logged with permission as part o f the Team Canary support team's alpine trek.
TFTC

#3021
After a big day yesterday where we headed off from Charlottes Pass, we were back for more but this time starting with an easy chairlift ride at Thredbo to gain some elevation. Before we left Jindabyne, we met up with ZQX and TikvaNZ who were joining the Team Canary Hiking Support Crew for today's adventure.

After visiting the Rams Head, Kosciuszko summit and a few unnamed peaks, a group of 5 of us headed out to Mt Townsend, hoping to make it back to the chairlift before it closed at 4:15pm. Little did we realise just how hard those initial downhill steps would be on the way back. Found the cairn and the faint goat track heading out to Mt T. Very surprised to make it here in about 1.5 hours. Spectacular scenery and another cache to top it all off. Needless to say that the return journey was a bit of a slog and we ended up making the chairlift with about 10 min to spare.

Group answers submitted by b@w.

TFTC DARKSIDEDAN.

Logged with permission
Day 2 of walking the main range as part of the Team Canary Hiking Support Group as part of the 10,000 finds milestone.
We estimated we had a small window of time to get out to Townsend after the CITO on Mt Kosciuszko and as the weather was good went for it. Second time for Geocaching we have been here having previously found the Traditional ( there was a bit of snow around then).
We made it just in time. Carried out our observations and also managed the scramble to the actual summit. Great views but it was time to head back for the last chair which we made with a little time to spare. TFTEC

#10764 @1330
A long day caching at the top of Australia. ZQX and I left Canberra at 6am, and caught a ride with Crash2019 ans Noodles22 from Jindabyne, arriving at Thredbo in time to meet up with other cachers and catch the chairlift soon after it opened. After attending the event at the top of Australia, some of the crowd came here to grab this earthacche. Given that time was tight, we power walked, arriving in just under 1.5 hours from Mt K. A quick photo stop at the top, followed by collecting the information, and then high tailing it back to Rawson's pass. After a short break we departed from Rawson's pass at 3pm arriving back at the chairlift with time to spare. A highlight was coming across two small snakes about 100m apart not far down. After arriving back in Jindabyne, ZQX and I joined the others for a pizza dinner. We arrived back in Canberra just on 9pm. TFTC.

The others got here before us and they helped us confirm our answers which sat over dinner later and sent to the owner. Logging with permission.

Another interesting look at the world and it’s formation.

TFTC.

Actually did this cache back at New Years but only submitting the answers now. Completed as part of an annual walk around the main range. Spent a lot of time here. Used to assist with research on Mountain Pygmy Possums and have also carried equipment for geological research teams to Townsend before so I knew about the fossils here.
Thanks for the earth cache.

With a couple of friends we were on a pre-Christmas lap around the Main Range. Having come in via Charlotte Pass and a pack raft on Blue Lake, we came to Wilkinsons Creek to camp for the evening. My friends were keen for a lazy afternoon, so I made the 4km round trip from camp to Mount Townsend and back solo.

As always, the views from here were excellent, it is (in my opinion) a far superior Peak to (the 'other') Mount Kozi.

Answers found, I headed to the very top for a few photos, then wandered back to camp.

Thanks for the excuse to come up here.

Post Script - I have just realised that this was FTF! Excellent!

Cheers

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