"Spring Creek Ridge" is an unnamed ridge between Spring Creek and Reedy Creek on the Kings Tableland. It runs 3.5km in a south-westerly direction from the road out to the cliffline. The ridge is somewhat indistinct in parts and there are real vantage points to scout out the terrain ahead. It is best to use a GPS to naviagate it. It is fairly heavily wooded in places with the southern and western slopes being denser. The sections closest to the cliffline are worst.

Access:

• Tablelands Rd, Wentworth Falls

Map:   Jamison

Notes:

On Tablelands Rd travel 7km on the left fork past the Y intersection at the old hospital to (597 567). Leave the car and climb up onto the ridge on the western side of the road. Follow this ridge in a south-westerly direction.

The spot height at 590 556 has a cliff on its south-western edge so navigate south fom the spot height to pick up the saddle onto the spot height at 587 553. From this point head south skirting the cliff line. Be careful not to go too close to the cliff as the scrub becomes very difficult to penetrate. A detour to the cliffline at the last point above 700m will afford great views of Lions Head and Mt Solitary's Korrowall Ridge.

Follow the gully which heads down to the southern face of the head. Note do not follow the gullies that head down towards or to Reedy creek. The pass is near the tip of the head.

I have not yet attempted the pass from here. Stay tuned notes to come...

Here are some notes from the bottom up, having Descended Holbeach's Descent. My thanks to Keith J (used by permission).

Continue right around the Point until the Point faces South West along a spine. The spine is visible from the aerial shot shown below. Ascend to the spine where you’ll find a nearly ascendable wall. Don’t ascend there, but descend 10m to the East and only there scramble up the steep ramp, following the line of least resistance. This line includes a small forked Cassurina that assists up a 1.5m rock step. From there follow to the West through a small orange overhang, and find yourself at an easy 3m rock face.

The ascent is v. straightforward with wide footholds recessed into the face… and within minutes you’ll be on an easy gradient to the plateau.

From the lookout an easy further 100m North there are good views of the route from Lions Head into the valley. The dark area of the cliff near Lions Head is the Holbeach Descent, with the ensuing steep descent to Spring Creek apparent.

And follow your nose North and East across the tops for 4 km to the join the fire trail. The first 500m is mostly uphill and through springy charcoaled Banksia. After that, it gets slightly better and a little faster going for much of the remainder of the high trek.

If you feel that reversing the route is preferable, consider that Spring Creek Ridge Pass is especially difficult to find from the plateau. This is mostly becasue the short easy climb is indistinguishable from the impossible precipitous drops that characterise the remainder of the Point. The climb is directly in line with the spine that just protrudes from the greenery on the talus. To find it I’d suggest carefully investigating every edge above the spine looking for a wide ledge 3m below, starting from the East side. You may even spot a couple of well-placed rocks to guide you. However, I expect the good (recessed) footholds clearly visible from the bottom of the climb to be completely invisible from above, making any descent look impossible without a rope. There are a couple of those well-placed rocks shown below directly in line with the spine far below.