Hornsby to Mt Kuring-gai

Rachel and I left Hornsby station at about 9:15am and headed down to the start of the track at the bottom of Quarry Rd. The birds were particularly noisy early in the morning. After passing the Fishponds, we could hear the crack of gunfire at the rifle range ahead. We continued on the track through the rifle range rather than taking the detour around the back. After reaching the old military bridge just beyond the rifle range, we had a longish climb up the fire trail to Tunks Ridge Picnic Area. It was pretty easy going from there to Galston Gorge, with a steep and scenic descent down the final ridge. We could hear the traffic going up and down the gorge road from some distance away. The creek crossing under the road was a little dodgy, although I probably could have picked an easier route.

At the Galston Gorge trackhead we had a snack break while a few parties set off. One had a particularly frail looking grandmother with them. Unsurprisingly we met her coming back after only a couple of hundred metres! Once up above the lower cliffs the walking was easy through open ridge top forest and the views of Berowra Creek good. After dropping back to creek level we passed a few campsites near Crosslands, and decided to have lunch at the last of them. We had memories of being harassed by the kookaburras at Crosslands and it allowed us to avoid them.

After lunch Rachel spotted a lyrebird on the short walk to Crosslands. We had a quick throw of the frisbee at Crosslands, and then followed the track around to the where it branches just after crossing Calna Creek. Calna Creek and Lyrebird Gully were particularly damp, despite no rain in the last week. Presumably Lyrebird Gully in particular gets very little sun in winter.

Near the top the track turned into a fire trail and then a final steep sealed section led up to the highway. We grabbed some fat-replenishing supplies at the small store before jumping on the train home.