Dr Dark's Cave Kolonga Labyrinth, New South Wales, Australia
By
Jonnosan on 23-Oct-12. Waypoint GA4661
Cache Details
Difficulty: | |
Terrain: | |
Type: | Virtual |
Container: | Nano |
Coordinates: | S33° 39.013' E150° 21.229' (WGS 84) |
56H 254599E 6273484N (UTM) | |
Elevation: | 824 m |
Local Government Area: | Blue Mountains City |
Description
Dr Eric Dark was a Katoomba GP, bushwalker and political activist. He was also the husband of the novelist Eleanor Dark.
In 1937, Dr Dark discovered a large cave on Fortress Ridge, and for many years he and his family used it as holiday home.
The cave has two 'rooms' - the first (smaller) is a cooking area, the second (larger) has a waterfall and many rusty metal and canvas remains. Near the fire ring there is a square rusty metal box which contains a visitors book. In order to log this virtual cache, post a photo of yourself holding the visitors book.
Please leave all the old artifacts as you find them.
To get to the cave, take the Mt Hay road to the Fortress Ridge carpark (S33° 39.489' E150° 21.869'). Take the firetrail, turning left at the fork at S33° 39.013' E150° 21.229'. At S33° 39.224' E150° 21.410' there is a faint track heading north - follow it down the hill (some scrambling required) to the creek, then down stream before climbing up over a few more scrambles to the cave. There are some large drops near the cave, so keep an eye on the geokids. The cave itself is quite protected though.
Allow about 1 hr in each direction for the hike.
Hints
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Decode |
Logs
A short way further along and there is the magnificent cavern, the 'easy' chair, and a treasure trove of time frozen items. A read of notes, and logs (and it was noted that the previous three Walker log books are placed at the Mitchell Library, which in itself gives credence to the 'history' here), a view of the 'bath' pool ... it was all simply fascinating.
This is a walk that is well worth the effort ... a tad hard on old legs, but the rewards are to be appreciated for a lifetime.
Thank you Jonnosan for this Virtual cache.
TFTV Jonnosan!
The "cave' was well worth the visit, this obviously gets a fair number of visitors from walking clubs and let's hope from Geocachers as well now.
We made the return journey as the temperature was climbing but we got back just before the thunderstorms started so all was well.
Thanks for the great spot.
And congrats to TC for the 700th.
We had a pretty good walk down and in, but struggled a bit returning 'up' on a rather hot days for these parts. Got out before the thunderstorm.
Found and signed the old log, and checked out everything else and had a good time visiting. Left everything exactly as we found it.
Photos coming soon . . .
Thanks to jonnosan and also to TC for the encouragement.
Five 'Thumbs Up' points for the adventure of going to a secluded spot north of Leura that few people ever see . . .
I took the youngest two boys, and pjmpjm and rogerw3, for an adventure for my milestone.
The views at various points are magnificent and the cave and the waterful are breathtakingly beautiful.
But, we spent too long looking as it took about three hours round trip, but worth every minute!
TFTC.