There are lots of ways to walk up Black Mountain. I’ve walked once before from the car park on Gungahlin Drive, but today I went for the “Summit Walk”, which originates from behind the substation on Frith Drive.
It’s a tough walk! It’s only about 1km, but there’s about 815m of elevation in that time. So it’s up, up, up all the way. The first bit is pretty steep, and then the last 100m or so is really steep! And there are stairs that are just a little bit wrong. They’re uneven and they seem like they’re not quite the right height.
So needless to say, my heart was pounding for much of the time! But I just say the bush in either side of the path is quite lovely. There’s a lot of litter (branches etc),
some really funky shaped trees,
and some very pretty eucalyptus flowers in bloom.
The only think that was missing was wildlife. I heard a few magpies, and saw a bunny or two at the bottom, but I had expected some kangaroos or something!
Coming down was pretty hard too. Because it’s so steep I was almost jogging, and I don’t jog... The humpy things were tricky too. They were high enough that you need to step down off them, but because of the slope you’ve got to take a bigger step. Hard if you’re going quick and you’re worried about your knees!
There were a few people, but it didn’t seem nearly as busy as Mount Taylor in a Friday afternoon. Of course I shook my head at those fit folks that could run past me!! š°
I thought about going up the tower, but the sunset while I was on the summit, so I left it for next time.
There aren’t the magnificent views from the base that I’ve seen on other mountains, but there were some nice views through the trees on the way down.
Overall, a hard one. But satisfying when I got to the bottom. I’d go again.
Black Mountain
Elevation gain - 815m
Time to trig - about 37 minutes
Difficulty - hard. It's a steep hill!
Best part - the bush. It's very pretty.
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