Its been too long since I’ve attempted a trig walk — 15 days to be exact. That’s mostly because I’ve been really busy at work these last couple of weeks. That said, it was time for another trig, and this one was a bit of an adventure.
Forster Trig is in the Bullen Nature Reserve and is one of the least urban trigs I’ve attempted so far, which is why this post is a bit more detailed than normal. Big Monks is probably the other trig walk most similar to this one. One of the challenges with this trig is that there is no track to the trig point. Reading John Evan’s walk notes from his single assent of this trig, it seems that many people follow the 132kV power lines to the trig, but I consider this “cheating” as the power line is on private land and I didn’t want to spend effort on getting permission to walk on someone’s farm.
Instead, I followed the Kambah Pool to Cassurina Sands track, and then turned right to bush bash to the trig when I got reasonably close. There wasn’t any formed track this way, so I don’t think this is a common approach. On the map you’ll notice a fence marked — that’s where I had to jump a barbed wire fence, which wasn’t the best plan ever. On the way back down from the summit I found a vehicle track, and I’d recommend that others follow that route (the one on the map with two gates marked and some stairs). The stairs are interesting — a previous walker has mounded stones on both sides of the fence to make it easier to cross.
Either way, its a bush bash up the hill itself, which is covered in reasonably dense spiky vegetation. You’re going to want gaiters or long pants.
