ussher point and escape river

friar for the best info on that area ring Linda at the croc shop in cook town or pay her a visit she can tell you some good yarns about the crocs at usher point.
All the best
Eric
4x4 tag along adventuresCape York Connections

Hi,

I was up there a few months ago. Vrilya point was my pick if staying for a while. Remember you need a permit to stay there, which was rather sternly pointed out to me at the servo near the barge, just after a couple of feral kids kicked my door when running past. Usher point took us around 4 hours to get into. The track was pretty overgrown and many trees over the road. Fantastic scenery once you get there but at that time there was no way you could get on the beach. The beach ran steeply up to a very soft dune about 2.5m high dropped straight down into a fresh water creek and then straight up to the exit. At that time there was absolutely no chance of getting onto the beach, not sure about now. We decided not to go to Escape river on the way back. Maybe next time. I think we saw the turn off though, but it's very overgrown and in the last quarter of the run in. It's on the left as you head in and very easy to miss, it almost looks like another bypass so keep your eye out. In fact unless you've been up there before (our first) even finding the turn off to Usher point is difficult. The road into Bamaga has been graded and we missed the turn off a couple of times, had to back track a few times and went up a number of dead end roads before finding it. Keep your eye out for a tower on the right (heading north) turn off to the tower and stick to the right, the track was torturous on the paintwork, so be prepared for it.

Hi,

We went to Ussher Point and Sadd Point (not far from Escape River) in June 2002. Road to Ussher was fairly rough with washouts and fallen trees but we managed in a Pajero. We were solo and needed to winch out of a washout but was otherwise pretty pain free.

The Road to Sadd Point hadn't been used in a few years and you could hardly see the track most of the time. This track was VERY slow going and you will encounter many fallen trees and narrow sections of tracks. We were trying to record GPS points for turnoffs but we could not find any visible turnoffs along the whole track as it is too overgrown. The camping area at the end is very small and only suitable for 3 cars MAX with small tents and even this would be tight. You cannot drive to the beach as the route is blocked by posts but it is only a short walk to the entrance to the river. Beware BIG creepy crawlies.

I have a trip report Here and GPS tracks and waypoints Here

We stored GPS points obtained from the Orford bay map SC54-16 (Raster 250k CDs) onto our Garmin GPS76 and these proved to very close to what we recorded on the trip. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who is nervous about getting there cars scratched either as my car resembled a Zebra with horizontal stripes by the end.

Email me at grungle229@optusnet.com.au if you would like more info.

Regards
David

Friar,

Went out to Usher Pt and Sadd Pt many years ago but sound like it hasn't changed much. Track into Usher took us about 4 hours to cover 80k's. Very narrow and winding in parts, washouts etc. I remember every inch of that track because I was SEVERELY hungover that day...not an enjoyable drive but everyone else had plenty of fun at my expense, LOL. Tracking north from Usher along the headlands to the cliffs is fairly straightforward with great veiws but beyond here the track to Sadd Pt was VERY overgrown.

A word of warning, it can be VERY windy out there so make sure you're accommodations are up to it. At Usher Pt there is a kind of natural cave just behind the beach between 2 small dunes with a canopy of vegetation. Good place to camp out of the wind if it's not already taken. Be aware though that there's a small creek/soak just beyond the far end and crocs do go in there. We found some big tracks from the creek down across the beach the morning after we'd spent the night sleeping on the ground there.

:o) MelissaPetrol 4.5L GU Patrol &
Camprite TL8 offroad camper