I can remember seeing The Rock quite a few times as a young child – on car trips with my parents. It was hard to miss as you travel on the road from Wagga Wagga to Albury. It is quite dramatic in the way it rises up above the surrounding flat farming country.
I knew that there was a walking track up it, and it sounded like it was worth climbing. I had suggested it to David Hufton as a good place for a stopover on our road trip. On our drive out, it had not been convenient to call in there, but it was on the way home. we had spotted it from the Sturt Highway as we left Wagga Wagga early in the trip – and it certainly looked good.
The Rock viewed from the Sturt Highway
So, on our way back, we decided to visit The Rock, and if possible camp there at the picnic area. The Rock is a nature reserve. It was only a short way from “The Rock” town to the picnic area. It was too late in the day to climb The Rock, so we decided to do the short walk to The Towers – a rocky bluff we could see in the foothills. It is used as a rock climbing area and it is also a nesting place for peregrine falcons. Climbing is banned during the nesting season.
We camped at the picnic area, but I later found that according to the plan of management, it is not permitted there. We looked and did not see any signs prohibiting camping when we were there.
It rained a lot overnight, but it had stopped when we got up – before sunrise. So we had a quick breakfast and set off along the Yerong Track to the summit. It was quite misty lower down but it seemed likely that we would climb above the mist. We did! It was nice to be above the mist – but the mist line was very close to the summit. It took about an hour to walk up to the top from the picnic area and the climb is a little over 300m vertical.
So the views we had from the top were only of mist – but it certainly was spectacular.
I cannot seem to find the exact rock type The Rock is composed of. It seems to consist of sedimentary layers with igneous intrusions according to this site. I think the rock climbing area and the main summit cliffs are igneous rock, but the climbing site says the rock is “a hard quartzite like stone laid down in a diagonal like strata”.
On the way up we had spotted some interesting vegetation – Woolly Ragwort (Senecio garland) which is rather rare. Lower down were lots of small blue orchids.
More photos are online here.