One of the longer bushwalks in the Kincumba Reserve, the Yanina Trail leads to one of five lookouts on the mountain. Although officially an “out and back” walk along the Yanina Trail, we’re following an informal mountain-biking track which runs parallel to the firetrail. (Carolyn, who’s in our small bushwalking group, will no doubt disagree with me: the multitude of unofficial mountain-biking tracks which have been created over the last few years offer much more pleasant bushwalking experience than the firetrails. Conversely, I recognise they can have deleterious effects, and a section of the trail we’re on has resulted in deep erosion by creating a water course.)
A side track goes out to a spur off the main ridge, the last part of the track traversing a nice section of grass trees.
At the end of the spur are some rocky outcrop – but not much of a view, due to the tree cover.
We return to the mountain biking track and follow this for a short distance, before a very short bush-bash up to the Yanina Trail.
From here it’s a short distance to the start of a broad loop that goes to the Colin Watters Lookout, and then around to the Nyari Lookout.
The best views are from the Colin Watters Lookout, which is named after Colin Douglas Watters (1925-1990), who was a senior Parks supervisor with Gosford City Council. While the views aren’t spectacular, with tall trees in front of the fenced lookout platform, you can see out to Terrigal, Avoca and the Pacific Ocean.
We return via the Yanina Trail to the carpark, watched by a swamp wallaby as we walk past.
Getting to the Yanina Trail
The Yanina Trail is at the top of Kincumba mountain, which reached via Island View Drive (a partly unsealed road off Kincumber St in Kincumber). There are a couple of carparks at the top, near a toilet block and picnic facilities. Kincumba Reserve is 10km south-east of Gosford (20min drive) and about 90min north of Sydney.
More information on Kincumba Mountain Reserve
The Kincumba Mountain Reserve consists of 700 hectares of bushland between Kincumba and Erina. It’s one of the last remaining remnand bushland reserves within the Sydney-Newcastle coastal area which is managed by a local government body, and one of the largest undisturbed rainforests on the Central Coast. Farming and selective logging have taken place in the past, and some remnant logging tracks and fences are evidence of this.
Now purely used for recreation, there are 18 bushwalking tracks and firetrails in the reserve, including:
- Kanning Walk – easy loop walk passing a historic cave (1km)
- Yanina Trail – firetrail to two lookouts over (3.2km)
- Warriwari Trail – short firetrail to a lookout, which is nice at sunset (1.2km)
- Sid Pulsford Walk – firetrail up the ridge and past a lookout from Green Point to Honeman’s Rock picnic area at the top (8.2km return).
The name of the reserve is derive from the local Aboriginal word “kincumba” meaning “towards the rising sun” or “to tomorrow”. The large open flat areas on the plateau (including Honeman’s Rock or Honeyman’s Rock) would have commanded panoramic views over the region, and were used by the Guringgai people as a meeting place and camp. As the highest open position in the region, Kincumba mountain was the first place to receive the morning sun as it broke over the eastern horizon.
- Central Coast Council – Kincumba Mountain Reserve brochure [PDF]
- Historical Encounters – Kincumber
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