Walk 17 B:- Brooklyn to Berowra At A Glance
Route Summary:- This walk is wholly on roads, trails or tracks. It starts with about 350 meters on Brooklyn streets, then for about 5 km. on service roads interrupted by about 0.5 km on walking track near Brookly Dam. The next 14 km. of this walk are almost entirely on walking tracks, across Cowan Station and through Berowra Waters where a short section is on a public road. Then about 2 km. on fire trail to Benowie Walking track and about 1 km. on this to Berowra.
RQI:- 76
Highlights:- Beautiful Jerusalem Bay; Brooklyn Dam camping area; grand views over Hawkesbury River; interesting rock formations; wildflowers; rugged terrain between Cowan and Berowra Waters; Berowra Waters settlement; splendid views over Berowra Creek; all on track
Negatives :- Approximately minimum of 6 km. of this walk is along service roads and around 1 km. on public roads
Length:- 23.0 km
Grade:- Hard. This is arguably the toughest walk in this series
Weather:_All weather except when creeks in flood
Continuous walking time with a few 3-4 min. stops:- 6 hrs 50 mins.
Train Time from Central to Start :-. 1 hr 01 min. via Strathfield, Central
Train Time from finish to Central:-. 0.47 mins. Via Strathfield or 1 hr. 6 mins via T1 North DShore Line
Total Climb :- 1,025 meters
Total Descent :- 800 meters
Water:- Brookly, Cowan, Berowra Waters, Berowra
Toilets:- Brooklyn, Berowra Waters, Berowra
Café/Kiosk :- Brooklyn, Berowra
Published 1:25,000 Map :- Cowan
Walk 17B Track Notes Brooklyn to Berowra
02/07/2013
Km/Hrs.min Kilometers in bold are shown on map
0.00/0.00 Brooklyn Station; go up station steps, turn right and descend stairs on town side; turn right; follow road to intersection with Anglers Rest Hotel on corner.
0.14/0.02 At intersection, turn left and follow Bridge Street
0.27/0.03 Turn left into George St.
0.31/0.04 At intersection with William St. on left at cream coloured arrowed post turn right and walk a few meters up unnamed sealed road to a sign board on your left.
0.35/0.05 At sign board:- ‘Great North walk’ and ‘ Cowan 12 km’ ; turn left, walk past locked gate and follow grooved concrete service road steeply up.
0.80/0.14 Top of long steep climb; continue on gravel service road to Brooklyn Dam; ignore side roads- they lead to power poles; there are sufficient arrowed posts to avoid confusion
2.84/0.39 At Brooklyn Dam; turn right, leaving service road; walk past camp site on your right to find a walking pad below the dam wall leading down to a creek crossing.
2.96/0.42 After crossing creek, walk up bank, past a small campsite on your right to re-intersect the service road; turn hard left and follow service road for a short distance with dam on your left.
3.02/0.43 At a large sign board on your left ‘ Kuringai Chase National Park- Brooklyn Dam’ look for a bush track on your right; take this uphill.
This track now follows a geologically interesting feature; there is much close jointing with iron staining grading to ironstone in parts; white clay; possible basalt dike intruded along this joint/fault zone.
3.37/0.51 Bush track makes T intersection with service road and sign board;- ‘Great North Walk’ with arrows in both directions; turn left and follow service road uphill.
3.95/1.00 Excellent views of Hawkesbury River from top of long solid sandstone cliff line on right; continue straight along service road
6.05/1.22 Track junction and sign board:- ‘ Great North Walk’ and ‘Cowan
5 km’ , ‘Brooklyn 6 km’; turn hard left here, leaving service trail.
6.68/1.34 Impressive cave overhang
7.12/1.44 Creek crossing
7.23/1.47 Tessellated sandstone outcrop
7.74/2.02 Top of saddle plateau after long climb
7.82/2.03 Sign board:- ‘ Great North Walk’ with faint track crossing main track at right angles; continue straight
8.57/2.19 Minor creek crossing after steep descent.
8.60/2.21 Larger creek crossing a few meters upstream of Jerusalem bay
8.84/2.26 At main Jerusalem bay terrace with views along bay; new sign ‘Great North Walk’
10.05/2.44 Creek crossing
10.93/3.02 On footbridge over motorway.
11.21/3.05 Cowan Station; cross rail lines at boom gates, then cross the Pacific Highway at right angles to a signboard and locked gate at start of a service road
11.31/3.07 At signboard:- ‘ Great North Walk; Berowra Waters 8 km’ ; take this initially along service road
11.82/3.13 At green arrowed post, leave service road and take walking track on right
12.63/3.26 Walking track crosses service road almost at right angles; signboard:- ‘ Cowan 1 km’ backtrack and ‘Berowra Waters 7 km’
12.88/3.30 Track junction; go left on arrowed post along power lines for about 40 meters, then veer right away from power lines at arrowed post.
14.00/3.51 Crossing Joe Crafts Creek
15.41/4.19 Track junction; continue straight at arrowed post.
15.57/4.21 Camp site and major track junction with signboard:- ‘ Cowan 4.5 km’ backtrack; ‘ Berowra Waters 3.5 km’ track on right; go right gently uphill
15.81/4.26 Three way tack junction; go right at arrowed post
16.53/4.43 Significant creek crossing.
16.88/4.54 Top of small plateau with attractive camp site and fireplace ; follow track down to Berowra creek on steps; at Berowra Creek, turn left and continue along walking track along the left bank of Berowra Creek; this track merges with an unsealed and then a sealed public vehicular road with parking area on left; follow this to a T junction with the main Berowra Waters access road; just before this junction on the left, are toilets, picnic tables and a water tap next to lower tables.
18.00/5.19 Cross Berowra Waters access road at right angles to a signboard:- ‘ Cowan 8 km’ backtrack and ‘Berowra Station 5.4 km’ straight on along left bank of Berowra Creek; continue straight; after crossing a small creek on rocks, the track goes steeply up on steps
19.58/5.51 Track T junction with minor track on left; fireplace and camping area; continue straight.
19.98/5.59 Creek crossing on bridge
20.03/6.00 Walking track T junction with service road and signboards:- ‘ Berowra Heights’ to the left and ‘Great North Walk’ to the right; go right now along service road.
20.77/.6.11 Track T junction; walking track on right goes down steeply to Sam’s Creek and on to Crosslands and Mount Kuring-gai Station; signboard:- ‘ Berowra Station 2 km’ straight on along service road
21.72/6.23 Service road T junction; concrete paved road on left goes up to Berowra Streets; signboard:- ‘ Crosslands 3.8 km’ backtrack and ‘Berowra Station 1.5 km’ straight on along service road.
21.86/6.25 Track Y junction ; Benowie Walking Track splits off on left; take this at arrowed post, now leaving the service road.
22.64/6.42 Benowie Track ends at Cowley Road, a sealed public vehicular road; signboard:- ‘ Berowra Station 750 meters’ straight on; cross Cowley Road, veering to the left, then follow footpath to the right of one roundabout at Cowley Road and to the right of another several hundred meters further; follow footpath to a T junction
with the Pacific Highway and railway lines; cross the Pacific Highway on traffic lights, then turn left and walk along Highway to Berowra Station
23.00/6.51 At Berowra Station
Route Quality Index
On public vehicular road- 1.24 km/ 6%
On locked service/fire trail- 8.59 km/ 37%
On walking track- 13.15 km/ 57%
RQI= 57+19+0= 76
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