Ryland Ku-Ring-Gai Chase, New South Wales, Australia
By Geocaching Australia on 01-May-11. Waypoint TP5777

I walked along the Ryland Track recently which reminded me that this Trig was on my must find list. I was walking with my wife who is very adverse to bush bashing so I had to plan a solo trip.
I was mindful of other's comments and the vertical nature of the terrain where the track is closest to the trig and decided to leave the track at S33° 41.767' E151° 11.894'. Following the rocks and more open areas it was largely a shallow arc to the trig. My downfall was deciding to continue following the ridge past the trig for 250m before angling down to the track which was only a tantalising 115m away. Like Zalgariath before me I encountered the thickest bush I have ever seen. At one point I proceeded at the rate of about 1 metre per 10 minutes. Close to the end of my bush bashing I could actually see the track but it took me 10 minutes to cover the final 5 metres. On reflection my advice to others is to approach the trig by hiking westerly along the ridge from around the waypoint above, then return to the track by back tracking. It is so tempting to go directly to the track but avoid the temptation.

Rated: for Overall Experience

Wow, what an adventure! This was my trickiest goal of the day, but 3 year unloved caches are hard to come by and Seeka said I needed this one

The first part of the hike is lovely. Parking on Mona Vale road I made excellent time along the wide and flat fire trail for a bit over a kilometre. I decided to push on to "the hard way" about 100m below GZ. This is not hard, it is impossible. The scrub is so thick you'd need a chainsaw to get through. So I backtracked a bit to S33 41.703. E151 11.727. I saw a dry watercourse and just a bit down the track from there a possible way up. After making the initial foray into the bush I found myself moving towards the dry runoff bed and following it upwards. Eventually I made the ridge and crawling in places forced my way through the thick scrub, getting many cuts and scratches for my troubles. I reach a bog flat open are at S33 41.632, E151 11.723 and took stock. I'd come about 100m and had about 50m to go. You'd think there would be a clear way to a navigational marker from here but no...more scratchy bush. I had trousers on thank god, shorts wouldn't cut it here. My forearms wish I'd worn long sleeves too! I got to within 5m on the needle and... nothing. Where could it be? I looked at the old log photos and saw this thing is HUGE, how could it be hiding. Well apparently it could because not 3 steps further and there it was looming in front of me. Mother nature knows how to reclaim her hills that is for sure! I photo'd, did a happy dance and FB post then it was off homewards. Without using the GPS I found my way back basically along the same path, the lie of the land funnelling me to the same water course I'd come up eventually and back to the track. I was covered in dirt and leaves and scratches head to toe... but it was worth it! A tough old girl and all the more satisfying for it. C'mon and visit her... I dare you!

Rated: for Overall Experience

A grey morning, but clearing. Good day for a walk.

I parked at the end of Cooyong Road. Not the quickest way to Ryland but I wanted to explore and this trail was particularly nice. It goes down through a valley and for most of it you don't hear rhe drone of traffic from Mona Vale Road and the F3 that you get on the trails that follow the ridge. Just bird calls and water burbling.

I left the trail at S33° 48.754 E151° 11.953 and the first 100m was easy going through open woodland. Then I had to climb a bit of rock. The next 300m was pushing through the bush - a bit slower but not too bad, trying to move from one rock outcrop to the next and always getting slightly higher.

With 85m to go I found a small rock cairn (see photo) at S33° 41.608 E151° 11.757.

I like the feeling of pushing through the bush and seeing these old trigs looming through the undergrowth. Found Ryland looking solid but a bit lonely. Took a photo and returned the way I came.

Found at 8:46 AM

Rated: for Overall Experience

Thanks to Yurt & son for setting up another great trig challenge!

With rogerw3 rapidly making unpublished local trigs an endangered species lately we decided to head off to try and find one of the few remaining that appears on the latest topo maps. We'd found the GC cache Ryland Riddle some time back but at the time weren't chasing trigs. This time I worked out some rough coordinates using Google Earth and Nearmap which placed the trig on top of a wide rock outcrop.

There'd been a fair bit of rain lately so the the fire trail in was rather wet. We passed by the estimated location about 100m to the south with no sign of any track to get to the top of the knoll. Very thick, damp scrub everywhere. We retreated some 400m or so back along the trail to where the bush was more open and headed in hoping to head it off at the pass or attack it from behind. We tried to follow the ridge up by sticking to the rocks but progress was very slow in places and our track had more zigs and zags than straight aheads.

After spotting a few open areas with small piles of rocks, indicating that perhaps humans had been here in the last 30 years we continued to the end of the ridge having found no trig. Checking the topo map it appeared to be towards this western end of the ridge so we started to work our way back. Spotted a long thin brown snake which slithered away from us rapidly. Working our way back we spotted a small pile of stones and then a huge old neat rock cairn. Hurrah! Was starting to think all this bushbashing might be for nothing. We did our photographic duties and then took a mark. My original coords were 60 metres out, not too bad but without landmarks not easier to do better.

The post and vanes are long gone, you can find a hole in the middle where it has rotted away. The cairn is in pretty good condition with about one layer of stones having fallen off over time. Found the elevation of the trig to be spot on as listed at 187 metres. On our way out we were half expecting to find a 'modern' white concrete trig. Who knows it could be there.

Rather than retrace our steps we decided to take a mark of the trail below and bushbash straight down the 100 metres. This wasn't easy but took a lot less time than the alternative. Got back to the track in about 10 minutes and returned along the easy fire trail, the sound of distant gunfire popping all the while.

I recommend this one for its historical value and remoteness near suburbia but beware it's not for the faint-hearted!

Rated: for Overall Experience

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