Bridle track-Hill End

Road is saisd to be unsuitable for trainers as there are in places (Narrow) no passing points. Having said that, if you come from the Bathurst end, there are about 6 good camping spots along the river that you can get a CT to without any drama. It will be very busy at easter, so get there early or expect to have to look around. You will have to bring your own firewood & water but most of the camp spots now have lonbg drops or composting toilets.
As for gold, you will pick up coulors anywhere along the rive. Just look for where the water is forced to slo, say the insideof a bend, or where there are natural traps such as a rock bar or crack across the flow.
Have fun
vINCE

Was there a few weeks ago. Not much flow in river - that's the one at the Bathurst end - nothing in Hill End end river (can't remember names).
If Easter is going to be busy I would not recommend going around the bluff with a trailer. We did it mid week and thankfully met nobody coming the other way. It's a bloody scary section and whilst it may be short (a k or so) it is VERY narrow with very few areas for passing. There are huge signs telling you not to tow when you get to the really narrow bit (pity they don't put them at the start of the track).
Not all camps have toilets - there's only a few that have. Suggest you contact Bathurst tourist office and get some info - it details everything you need to know.
Hope this helps.

G'day,

there are indeed signs at both ends of the bridle trail (worded as ADVISORY information) that specify no trailers or caravans, not just for Monaghan's Bluff. They also specify 4wd only but this would probably be to deter those chancing it with the likelihood of rain. Up to you if you want to take one anyway. It would not be a drama for the first bunch of sites coming in from Bathurst. You could crawl down from Hill End to the Turon River but it is a bit narrow in parts and again would be frowned upon by some.

You could ring 63378206 at Hill End who may be able to give you some ideas too.

Hi,
Being fairly local, we used to go down the Bridle Track on a regular basis but haven't done so for a few months. I do however have a friend who lives on the way to the Bridle Track and he was saying last week that the Macquarie River has been running quite well as wev'e got a bit of rain of late. We used to camp at "Root Hog Crossing" which is a great spot probably about a quarter to halfway between start of the Bridle Track and (heading to) Hill End. They seem to be able to 'cram' quite a few campers in that area. The only thing being that you will need to cross the river (if you don't come in the backway which is part private property anyway). As per a previous post, I would also probably advise to ring Bathurst Tourist & Info Centre before departing to make sure the track is open and check out the conditions as they are telling us that we should expect above average rain from late Feb onwards......can only hope for the farmers. Anyway, hope this helps with your travels.

Sue

These are the signs posted at either end of the track. I was down it 3 weeks ago. Dry as and nice and rough.

Plenty of campers up till the signs but none after it.

I went down with my Pajero and a Disco following. I personally had to reverse up a few times to let people past.

Problem is the blind corners. No way of preparing.

!MPG:11!

We did it in May last year. 3 cars (Tribute, Prado with a trailer and Paj) it was really dry so the only river crossing we came across was dry as.

The section in question is short, about a K. There are a couple of sections where you can pass but it's tight. Thankfully we didn't come across anyone. We did the track from north to south (Hill End to Bathurst). Camped at the bottom off the first section. On the Sunday arvo we left and encountered one group of people going S to N. I reckon it would be busy at Easter.

We were up there a couple of weeks ago driving from Bathurst to Hill End, then on to Lake Burrendong, near Wellington.

The track itself was fine - not too bumpy, bit narrow in places. Nothing to really worry about.

The whole area is very dry, although the campsites all seemed to have nice grassy patches, and shady spots.

We saw quite a bit of wildlife too - snakes, lizards, roos, sheep, cows, all sorts of things, and not many other vehicles. We did go mid-week on a 37 degree day though.....

Cheers,

Chris

Hi S.M.
The gallery pic is part of the narrow section the lads above are talking about, taken 2 days ago, don't think it's all bituman, this section looks like it was refurbished and built up not long ago, only about 200 mtrs is tar the other 2-3 km looks the same but dirt.
There are 8 or so good camping spots beside the river between the base of the climb you are looking at (which is south of Hill End village ) and Bathurst, 2 of which have toilet facilities and 1 of those has a water tank ( not sure if anything was in it ).

!MPG:26!

Cheers
Pezza