Mt Jagungal Loop

On the Canberra Day long weekend four friends and I headed out for a three day stroll from Round Mountain to Mt Jagungal following the route described on Greg’s Walks Blog. For three of us it was set to be a relatively leisurely stroll with hills, and swims and lots of chats. For the other two it was set to be a three day run with some side trips to explore the more crazy approach routes etc. Luckily I was in the group of three taking it fairly easy!

We started very late due to a trip to see the balloon festival in Canberra in the morning so day one was more of a push than I had hoped. 16km after lunch was a bit of a shock to everyone’s systems but we arrived at O’keefes Hut to be met by the maintenance crew who were fixing windows, cutting firewood and wallpapering the walls with newspapers from the 1930’s to 80’s. An evening of port around the fire left everyone in a wonderful mood.

Day two was a late start with a leisurely stroll to the base of Mt Jagungal – a fairly big push up to the summit – and then a swim in the afternoon! What luxury!

Derschkos Hut was another great spot, and lying out on the grass at night we saw a meteorite come down quite low over the mountains which was something special indeed.

Day three was a splendid stroll out along the ridge lines. We were back at the car by lunch time and made a detour to Yarrangobilly before heading back to Canberra.