On a rainy Saturday morning in late March Rob Black and James Buchannan attempted to cross the ACT from East Border to West.
Starting on the old train tracks to the east of the Monaro Highway we headed down the bike path to Lake Tuggeranong, we bid farewell to the pavement and welcomed the single track that is the Murrumbidgee corridor trail. At the 18km mark we arrived at Kambah pool carpark where a drop bag had been stashed in the bushes with supplies.
Heading downstream the rain persisted with the trail becoming muddy and slippery, we emerged at Casuarina Sands, 30km into the journey where we enjoyed another hidden drop bag.
Farewelling the Murrumbidgee river we welcomed the network of fire trails that zig zag through the Lower Cotter Catchment, beginning the arduous slog up and up and up.
A steep descent onto Brindabella road at 50km and it was time for drop bag number 3, a quick bite to eat and shoe changes before the final climb up Curries road into Brindabella National Park. With the day getting on and the weather still pretty miserable it was time to climb the Mt Corree summit track. All that was left was a 2.7km steep uphill push to the trig point and the journey would be complete.
The summit trig point greeted us with piercing winds, misty rain and no decent views of the surrounding country, but we had completed our successful East to West crossing of the ACT border.