Heathy Hills

Tuesday 9 May 2023

Since first visiting Heathy Hills in 2014, I have been back on two other occasions. It was quite a surprise that first time to find a spectacular arch there and I had been contemplating returning several times before finally going there on this occasion.

There was a bit of a mix up and the start as I picked the wrong road but soon realised the error. Once at the Jordan River it was apparent that it was deeper at the crossing ford than expected, but there was no problem getting over. Morning tea was at the spectacular arch and then we dropped back to the valley floor and ascended the steep and at times slippery slope the south side. Much to my delight the masses of Boronia (B anemonifolia) and Aotus ((A. ericoides)) were still present on the upper part of the ridge, although of course not in flower at this time of year.

The walk back was along this south side as it gradually descended until reaching the cliff edge. It was then an interesting scramble down past caves and cliffs to the base, a walking distance of about 270m for a height drop of 50m

Total distance for the day was 5.6k and an elapsed time of nearly 5 hours