Three Mountains Walk (Walk #14)

 

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On this page:  

1) Walk map - Shows route and waypoint locations

2) Photo from walk  (also see Photo Galleries)

3) 3D map view

4) Satellite imagery

5) Route profile

6) Walk description

7) Waypoint listing and grid references

 

 Walk map  Photo

[Click on map for full page version]

View of Mounts Cuthbert and Vincent

 (mid-distance) and Mount Cooke (distance)

 from Mount Randall, June 2002.

[Click on photo for larger version]

More photos.

     3D map view

 

 

 Satellite Imagery
 

Click here

for Google Maps image

of the walk area. -Use zoom bar

for road details.

For Google Earth and  Google Earth Plus users

Step 1: Left Click here

For fly-in to waypoints and route on image of the walk area.

Or Right Click to

 "Save Target/Link As..."  kml file.

Step 2: Left Click here

For fly-in to 3D view

 of the walk area.

Or Right Click to

 "Save Target/Link As..."  kml file.

Hint: For enhanced 3D effect, set 'Elevation Exaggeration'

in Google Earth to "3" (via 'Tools' menu, 'Options' & 'View' tab).

 

       Route profile

 

                                   

 Walk description  
Location :

33 kms SE of Armadale along Albany Hwy.

Length :

14.5 kms (55% off-track)

Degree of difficulty :

MEDIUM   (What does this mean?)

Amount of uphill walking : 500m (positive elevation change)
GPS-preferred : YES
Access  :

See Google Map for start point on road map.

(Use zoom ladder for detail. Select 'Hybrid' to add satellite imagery.)

Good parking at 'START' point just off Albany Highway down Herold Rd (minor dirt road, 7km past Jarrahdale Rd turnoff down Albany Hwy, on right hand side going south), and at 'END' point Sullivan Rock large parking/picnic area on right hand side of Hwy opposite Bibbulmun Track exit.

'START and 'END' points are 2.5kms apart along Albany Hwy, so it's best to have two or more cars and do a car shuttle at the start (leaving one car at Sullivan Rock) to avoid  an otherwise uninspiring walk along the Highway to finish the walk.

(Alternatively, if a car shuttle is not possible,  instead of ending the walk at Sullivan Rock, see Route Notes below for an alternate ending route back to the START via the old Bibbulmun Track.

Important access issue (2008):   Walkers need to be aware that this walk area and many others on WalkGPS lie within drinking water catchment areas. In 2007 DoW in effect recommended a prohibition of all traditional off-track bushwalking activities across the entire Perth region catchment areas covering 4500 sq km, far beyond the limits of  existing or proposed Reservoir Protection Zones (see map). By March 2008, in the face of growing community outrage, the DoW has reconsidered its published position, advising that it would now be allowing walkers ‘free-to-roam’ access to the forested water catchment areas outside of the RPZs. The community, including visitors to WalkGPS, need to remain vigilant to ensure that commonsense continues to prevail over regulatory zealotry.  See also Home page: 'Access' and Related access issues on WalkGPS, and links below to Drinking Water Source Protection Plans for Canning River  and Serpentine Dam.   

Escape route/s :

Bear west or southwest to Albany Highway.

Main features

/Highlights:

This walk within the Monadnocks National Park is one of the best walks in the northern jarrah forest.  It includes ascents of Mts. Randall, Cuthbert and Vincent and some splendid views from these and the other, extensive granite outcrop at 'North Rocks' (informal name on map). The walk overlaps in a couple of short sections (totalling about 1.5kms) with the Mount Randall Walk.

For overnighters: For those keen to camp overnight in the area: The Monadnocks Campsite (which includes a 3-sided shelter; at waypoint 'BIBHUT') on the Bibbulmun Track is located after the initial 4 kms of the walk. Alternatively the Campsite  provides a useful opportunity for a brief rest stop during the walk.

Additional maps :

Jarrahdale 1:50,000 Sheet (Dept. of CALM, circa 1990);

or Jarrahdale & Yaganing 1:50,000 CALM Operations Graphics series 2003/2004, Sheet 2133-3 & 2133-2.

Other background references :

"A Guide to the Bibbulmun Track, Northern Half, Kalamunda to Donnelly River Village" by Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) 2002, 2nd ed., pp.96-102.

"Forests on Foot (40 walks in W.A.)" by Meney & Brown, 1985, pp.44-48 (Wescolour Press, Fremantle).  Describes the route from Mt Randall to Sullivan Rock prior to the development of the Bibbulmun Track.

"Family Walks in Perth Outdoors", CALM, rev. edn. 2000, pp.158-159, includes a mud map and description for the Mt. Vincent Walktrail (via Sullivan Rock), a 7 km return on-track walk.

See Climbers' Association of W.A. site for a climber's perspective on the granite 'slabs' and boulders of Mount Cuthbert and Mount Randall.

Drinking Water Source Protection Plans : "Canning River Catchment Area..." (Report # 77, Water Resource Protection Series) by Department of Water (DoW), June 2007. - See pdf version (5MB). Page 32 is of particular relevance. 

"Serpentine Dam Catchment Area..." (Report # 78, Water Resource Protection Series) by Department of Water (DoW), July 2007. - See pdf version (2.3MB). Pages 42-43 are of particular relevance.

Note: DoW's recommended protection strategy in the above reports intended to prohibit recreational off-track bushwalking opportunities within the entire 1420 sq km of these two catchment areas, far beyond the combined 180 sq km of proposed Reservoir Protection Zones, and including this walk area which is located over 20km SSE of the Canning Reservoir and over 10km ENE of the Serpentine reservoir.

Route notes :

 

Soon after crossing Albany Hwy from the 'START' point, the route goes off-track at 'ENTRY' waypoint  and northward for approx 3km, initially climbing to a N-S ridge and then reaching an old W-E track at 'W-ETRK' waypt. Approx. 50m west along that track (at waypt 'CAIRN') turn right along another undeveloped track northward to a granite outcrop very close to the summit of Mt Randall (excellent views to Mts Cuthbert & Vincent and Cooke). From Mt Randall the route is off-track downhill and westward for 750m. Turn right at track at 'BIBTR' waypt and reach Monadnocks Hut (at 'BIBHUT'). Follow track from Hut until 'OLDBIB'  (close to the intersection of old and new Bibbulmun Tracks), then route goes off-track and rises slowly to cross a ridge before descending rapidly through short sections of scratchy scrub (via 'BOLDRS' and 'NR-1') to reach an extensive granite outcrop  ('North Rocks' on map) and good views to the east.  Route follows the upper part of the outcrop SE-ward and then re-enters the forest after 'ENDROK', through a short section of scratchy scrub. The route then climbs briefly (via 'SADLE2') to  follow a ridge SW-ward until at 'C-4' it is close to  the northern granite slopes of Mt Cuthbert. At 'C-3' the route starts rising and soon meets the Bibbulmun Track (at 'TURN'). The remaining 5km of the walk from the 'TURN' follows the Bibbulmun Track  and its exit track to Albany Highway via Sullivan Rock. This part of the Bibb. Track crosses the summits of Mts Cuthbert and Vincent.(The Bibb. Track is marked by 'Waugal' markers, with black 'serpent' on yellow background) 

Alternate ending :  If a car shuttle between the END and START is not possible, a better alternative than walking the last 2.5km along the Highway back to the START, is as follows: Follow Bibb. Track down Mt Vincent only as far as waypt 'VIN S'. Then go off-track to meet the old Bibbulmun Track (a vehicle track) at waypt 'OLDBIB1'.  Follow the old Bibb. Track via 'OLBIB2' to reach 'BIBCNR'. Turn left at 'BIBCNR' onto another old vehicle track that leads back to Albany Highway and the START point.This alternate ending adds only about 1.5kms to the total walk distance.

 

 

 Waypoint listing

 

Right click here and then "Save Target/Link As..."  if you wish  to download the Waypoints in a (zipped) plain text file (in Garmin PCX5 format, WGS84 datum, and decimal Degrees) suitable for import to GPS Mapping Software or for direct serial upload  to a GPS unit (after unzipping and loading into a freeware program such as 'g7towin').   For OziExplorer users (after first loading and calibrating a map): To open the saved, unzipped file, select the "Garmin" menu button on the OziExplorer toolbar, then "Select PCX5 support",  then "Get waypoints from GRM file".

If you require another format you will need to convert the downloaded file using GPS Visualiser (online) or freeware such as GPSBabel or g7towin.

The waypoints in the alternative listing below are given as UTM coordinates with datum to match the Walk map.

 

Route list :

Projection : UTM       Datum : Australian Geodetic 1966       Zone :  50

Waypt name           Easting     Northing                Comments

START        427553  6419218     Park car, Herold Rd, off Albany Hwy.

TRNOFF       427768  6419273     Cross Albany Hwy.

ENTRY        427929  6419268     Begin off-track.

SFLANK       428060  6419930

ROX          427959  6420023     First granite outcrop.

S-1          427874  6420261    

S-2          427899  6420847

S-3          427976  6421034     Onto ridge.

S-RAND       427937  6421437    

S-4          427883  6421831

GRAN         427764  6421927     Granite outcrop.

W-ETRK       427663  6422107     Meet old W-E track.Walk west.

CAIRN        427621  6422091     Small rock cairn. Track nth.

R-1          427710  6422340     On undeveloped track.

R-1A         427630  6422434     On undeveloped track.

R-2          427639  6422616

MT RAN       427570  6422616     Near summit, Mt Randall.

R2-A         427727  6422718     Off-track.

RIDGE        428115  6422752     Off-track.

BIBTR        428310  6422701     Meet old track.Turn right.

BIBHUT       428219  6422611     Monadnocks Campsite (Bibb. Track)

OLDBIB       428476  6422562     Cross old & new Bibb. Track.

BOLDRS       429185  6422294     Granite boulders.

NR-1         429459  6422213     Granite slope(‘Nth Rocks’)

BIGROK       429432  6422086     Extensive outcrop. Good views

NR-2         429501  6421962     Outcrop continues.

NR-3         429488  6421890     Outcrop continues.

NR-4         429492  6421839     Outcrop continues.

NR-5         429611  6421780     Outcrop continues.

ENDROK       429636  6421683     End of main outcrop.

NR-6         429666  6421614     Re-enter forest.

SADLE2       429678  6421398    

C-4          429497  6421127

C-3          429353  6421122

TURN         429337  6420936     Meet Bibbulmun Track, follow.

C-2          429607  6420779     North flank of Mt Cuthbert.

MT CUT       429665  6420355     Approx. summit, Mt Cuthbert.

C-1          429911  6419829     South flank of Mt Cuthbert.

SADLE1       429831  6419312     Saddle.

V-2          429607  6419053     North flank of Mt Vincent.

MT VIN       429656  6418849     Approx summit, Mt Vincent.

V-1          429610  6418250     Sth flank of Mt Vincent.

VIN S        429408  6418170     Sth flank of Mt Vincent.

EXIT         429699  6417637     Bibbulmun Track exit for Hwy.

SULL-1       429657  6417382     Sullivan Rocks outcrop.

TO-BIB       429349  6417071     Cross Albany Hwy.

END          429264  6417084     End walk. Car back to start.

Additional Waypoints on map: 

BIB          429172  6421044     Bibb. Tr., nth of Mt Cuthbert.

BIBCNR       428369  6419430     Old Bibb. Tr. & track to Hwy.

CRNRK        429211  6422069     Small outcrop above‘Nth Rocks’

FALLOG       429004  6421561     Bibb. Tr.,nearby fallen logs.

NTHROC       429354  6421833     Small outcrop above‘Nth Rocks’

OLBIB1       429213  6418115     Old Bibb Tr., nr Mt Vincent.

OLBIB2       428622  6419260     Old Bibb Tr., nr ‘BIBCNR’

OLBIB3       428627  6419931     Old Bibb Tr.,nth of ‘BIBCNR’

OLBIB4       428757  6421127     Old Bibb Tr.,NW of Mt Cuthbert

OLBIB5       428487  6421839     Old Bibb Tr.,W of ‘Nth Rocks’

OLDTRK       427878  6422319     Old track, extn. of ‘W-ETRK’

RAND-S       428081  6420443     Small peak sth of Mt Randall.

CLTRK1       429649  6420402     Top of old 'climbers track', Mt Cuth.

CLTRK2       429218  6420381     On old 'climbers track'

CLTRK3       428686  6420186     Old 'climbers track' meets old Bibb Tr.

 

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This page was last updated  :   13 April, 2008

 Site authored by David Osborne.  Photographs and text are copyright  © 2003-2008 David Osborne.