Arden Ku-Ring-Gai Chase, New South Wales, Australia
By
Geocaching Australia on 12-May-11. Waypoint TP5807
Cache Details
| Difficulty: | |
| Terrain: | |
| Type: | TrigPoint |
| Container: | Other |
| Coordinates: | S33° 38.040' E151° 15.060' (WGS 84) |
| 56H 337784E 6277052N (UTM) | |
| Elevation: | 202 m |
| Local Government Area: | Northern Beaches |
/151.251,-33.634,14/400x200?access_token=pk.eyJ1IjoiY2F1Z2h0YXR3b3JrIiwiYSI6ImNqa2l4ZzNzMDE5bjgzdm1sZGpuODF1Mm0ifQ.q8YMzVyzDJJlJHHV8EMjwQ)
Description
Arden TS638
Official name of this Trig Station as per NSW Department of Lands is: Arden.
Serial number is: TS638.
Last inspected on: No Data.
Elevation is: 191 meters.
Arden Trig is a remnant cairn which has been significantly 'unpiled'. Take the Waratah track until S33 38.209 E151 15.055 and then head cross-country along the spur to the top, following the rocks where possible. There are some great views up here so the trip is worthwhile!
To log a find on the Geocaching Australia website, you will need to include a picture of the trig point, along with your GPS receiver and (preferably) yourself.
Logs
While the trig station is not in the best condition, there are soem great views from here - which is a nice change from most trig stations!
https://hikingtheworld.blog/2020/06/13/waratah-trail-west-head/
https://hikingtheworld.blog/2020/06/13/waratah-trail-west-head/
Rated: for Overall Experience
I was surprised to find out I hadn't logged this trig yet as I have visited it at least once before. Revisited as part of an exploratory circuit of Kuring-gai Chase NP taking in the Warratah Track, Yeoman's Track, Wallaroo Trail and the Salvation Loop Track. Great day out.
Rated: for Overall Experience
This was quite tough to get to especially as I was getting pretty hot and tired!
Impressive spot.
Impressive spot.
Found this today on a lovely 13km loop walk encompassing some of the less frequented spots in West Head guided by Blossom and Strike A Light. Great views from here and interesting to contemplate the bullet holes in the trig. Vegetation to reach here was not too bad.
Rated: for Overall Experience
Getting to this trig wasn't as hard as I was expecting. I liked following the rocks and there is a faint but fairly obvious track leading all the way there.
I have strolled Waratah Track back and forth lately as we train for our Overland Track trip in a few weeks so decided to find Arden Trig. As it promised to be a hot day I left from the Waratah Track parking area at about 6.30am and arrived at the trail head coordinates mentioned above at about 7.00. At first I thought it would be a long bush bash but the band of bush is only about 50 metres deep at this point before opening out to a terrific series of large rocky areas with patches of low bush between them as you follow the ridge. According to my GPSr you could traverse almost a straight line to the trig. I set a few cairns on the rocky bits and found a couple of handy clefts in the rocks to help scramble up a couple of rocky bits closer to trig. Both now marked with cairns
I found the previously mentioned witches hat in a rock crevice, still in good nick and nearby the remains of the waypoint details from the August 2011 navigation exercise (see pics).
About half way from Waratah Track to the trig you can spot the remains of the vanes a little to the left of the top of the hill. On arrival I found the partly de-piled trig with the remains of the post and vanes on top. There are some large bullet holes in the one remaining vane that appear to have hit it from both sides. I'm pleased I was nowhere near when they were fired
From the trig you can see West Head Road clearly and the Waratah track. It was clear today so I could see the Ba Hai Temple and Centre Point Tower in Sydney CBD. The walk to the trig seemed to take about 30 minutes and the return only about 20.
I found the previously mentioned witches hat in a rock crevice, still in good nick and nearby the remains of the waypoint details from the August 2011 navigation exercise (see pics).
About half way from Waratah Track to the trig you can spot the remains of the vanes a little to the left of the top of the hill. On arrival I found the partly de-piled trig with the remains of the post and vanes on top. There are some large bullet holes in the one remaining vane that appear to have hit it from both sides. I'm pleased I was nowhere near when they were fired
From the trig you can see West Head Road clearly and the Waratah track. It was clear today so I could see the Ba Hai Temple and Centre Point Tower in Sydney CBD. The walk to the trig seemed to take about 30 minutes and the return only about 20.
14/09/14. 8:48 AM. GCA Cache #19. I was up in the area finding Tyreless' new .com caches ("Paddy's Castle" and "Waratah"), as well as the Waratah trig. Back at Waratah I had seen that this one would also be gettable on the way back, so I added it as a waypoint.
I had to leave the track about 200m from the trig and bushbash my way east towards it. Had I seen how big the climb had been I may have left it off the agenda, but I'd already said I was going to do it in the Waratah log, so I wanted to stick to it. After a lot of scrambling, I made it up to the top. The trig is not in as much good nick, but the view from here was worth the climb.
After a brief rest, I made a bad decision. I decided that it was worth continuing up and over this hill and beelining back to the Waratah track in a SE direction (roughly getting back to the track at S.191 E.208). It was very heavy going with very thick banksia trees (upright and fallen) blocking my way, so this 300m straight line took at least half an hour. Got back to the car around 0930 about 3 hours after I had left it, so this detour took away any time gains I had made earlier in the morning by jogging. My legs now covered in scratches and every limb blackened by charcoal branches, but it was good exercise. Headed for home, with Arden trig now claimed for Clan Cerberus. TFTC }:)
I had to leave the track about 200m from the trig and bushbash my way east towards it. Had I seen how big the climb had been I may have left it off the agenda, but I'd already said I was going to do it in the Waratah log, so I wanted to stick to it. After a lot of scrambling, I made it up to the top. The trig is not in as much good nick, but the view from here was worth the climb.
After a brief rest, I made a bad decision. I decided that it was worth continuing up and over this hill and beelining back to the Waratah track in a SE direction (roughly getting back to the track at S.191 E.208). It was very heavy going with very thick banksia trees (upright and fallen) blocking my way, so this 300m straight line took at least half an hour. Got back to the car around 0930 about 3 hours after I had left it, so this detour took away any time gains I had made earlier in the morning by jogging. My legs now covered in scratches and every limb blackened by charcoal branches, but it was good exercise. Headed for home, with Arden trig now claimed for Clan Cerberus. TFTC }:)
Rated: for Overall Experience
There were aboriginal carvings just off the start of the main trail and also on the rocks during the off-road final assault on Arden. The orange witch's hat is still there - I took a photo of the note attached to it related to some sort of orienteering type challenge.
The off-road part of the walk to Arden isn't too hard at the moment (winter after summer bushfires) - all I had to do was keep climbing up the rocks that form the ridge.
There are 360° views when you reach Arden - spectacular! You can see Pittwater, Akuna Bay, the Bah'ai Temple, Hawksbury River and all around the green landscape of the National Park.
I took my photos and set off for Waratah.
Found at 8:18 AM
The off-road part of the walk to Arden isn't too hard at the moment (winter after summer bushfires) - all I had to do was keep climbing up the rocks that form the ridge.
There are 360° views when you reach Arden - spectacular! You can see Pittwater, Akuna Bay, the Bah'ai Temple, Hawksbury River and all around the green landscape of the National Park.
I took my photos and set off for Waratah.
Found at 8:18 AM
Rated: for Overall Experience
We passed a lot of people admiring all the wildflowers as we headed to Arden trig. It was pretty thick going once we left the track but luckily there was a fair bit of bare rock and bits of track from one to the other. The views from up here are really great. So good in fact that I left my glasses here to enjoy the view a bit longer as we headed back. whoops! So we treked back to get them and then out again. The track between the bits of rock is pretty good by now!
We headed off along the Waratah track and watched the thick bush along either side for a gap or thinner area but nothing appeared. So we decided to go past a bit and head off along the spur. This turned out to be a very good move as there was a bit of an animal track in lots of spots between the bare rock which made it relatively easy going.
As we clambered up from the thicker scrub to the rocky top, we saw an orange witches hat!! There had been some sort of navigation exercise to this spot sometime in the last month and the checkpoint and paperwork for it were still in place. No wonder the "animal track" had been so useful
We headed on a bit and soon came to the trig. What great views from out here! We took photos, ate chocolate (lunch) and listened to heaps of birds while we admired the scenery then headed back towards the track the way we'd come in. DEFINITELY not going to try Yurt's "cut through to the track" option here, the bush is impossible thick that way.
This trig was probably the hardest going for the day. And I feel that partly becasue we did the cross-country part of it 4 times
As we were almost back to the track, strike-a-light realised he'd lost his glasses 
So we headed back through the bush, looking as we went and got all the way back to the trig where he luckily spotted them. Back again across a fairly well remembered route by now. On to Waratah....
As we clambered up from the thicker scrub to the rocky top, we saw an orange witches hat!! There had been some sort of navigation exercise to this spot sometime in the last month and the checkpoint and paperwork for it were still in place. No wonder the "animal track" had been so useful
We headed on a bit and soon came to the trig. What great views from out here! We took photos, ate chocolate (lunch) and listened to heaps of birds while we admired the scenery then headed back towards the track the way we'd come in. DEFINITELY not going to try Yurt's "cut through to the track" option here, the bush is impossible thick that way.
This trig was probably the hardest going for the day. And I feel that partly becasue we did the cross-country part of it 4 times
As we were almost back to the track, strike-a-light realised he'd lost his glasses So we headed back through the bush, looking as we went and got all the way back to the trig where he luckily spotted them. Back again across a fairly well remembered route by now. On to Waratah....Headed back in the National Park to try and log a few more of the recently published trigs. I'd seen this one on old parish maps and determined some coords but when rogerw3 published it I decided to use his. Mine were only about 30 metres out which may have got us there.
Parking at the start of the Waratah Track we noted the sign mentioned great view from the trig but they were talking about Waratah trig of course. It's 1000m as the crow flies from the start of the track, we got this down to 310 metres before heading north for a bushbash. No track is apparent but you can get through patches of prickly native plants and onto rock outcrops fairly regularly. We worked our way to the top of the rock and followed the ridge ducking in and out following rocks until we reached GZ.
We were greeted by an 'unpiled' trig. The basic cairn was there and the post in the middle. Also the vanes were there but on the ground. However most of the larger cairn stones had been pulled off the pile and rolled down. It's a little too remote for vandals so I assume this was intentional. One of the rusting vanes has 'Arden' etched into it and there's some whitefella rock graffiti dating back to 1939 nearby. Sad to see it like this but good fund to get here and 'rediscover' it.
We spotted the track on to Waratah trig to the west so bushbashed down to it rather than retrace our steps. It wasn't easy and was a relief to get back on the fire trail. Off to Waratah!
Parking at the start of the Waratah Track we noted the sign mentioned great view from the trig but they were talking about Waratah trig of course. It's 1000m as the crow flies from the start of the track, we got this down to 310 metres before heading north for a bushbash. No track is apparent but you can get through patches of prickly native plants and onto rock outcrops fairly regularly. We worked our way to the top of the rock and followed the ridge ducking in and out following rocks until we reached GZ.
We were greeted by an 'unpiled' trig. The basic cairn was there and the post in the middle. Also the vanes were there but on the ground. However most of the larger cairn stones had been pulled off the pile and rolled down. It's a little too remote for vandals so I assume this was intentional. One of the rusting vanes has 'Arden' etched into it and there's some whitefella rock graffiti dating back to 1939 nearby. Sad to see it like this but good fund to get here and 'rediscover' it.
We spotted the track on to Waratah trig to the west so bushbashed down to it rather than retrace our steps. It wasn't easy and was a relief to get back on the fire trail. Off to Waratah!
Rated: for Overall Experience
