400. 10,000 Steps Walk-Woowookarung Regional Park 7.5km

U3A Hike No 400 



Hike Report by Kath Cape


🥾 Thirteen hikers gathered for this walk in Woowookarung Regional Park, led by Andrew, to test the newly created 10,000 steps walk. This was also the 400th hike for the U3A Hiking Group. What an achievement!

📍 We commenced our hike from the car park for the Woowookarung sensory trail, on the opposite side of Katy Ryans Road from the sensory trail. We followed the newly created path until it met Dozed Track, which climbed gently south. After about 1.5 kms we veered off onto Bailey’s Track, leading us to the start of the beautiful Grass tree nature trail, with its abundant display of grass trees. Along the trail we were also pleased to see some common heath plants in bloom – red, white, and pink varieties.

☕ After a morning tea stop, we continued up to the Lookout – always lovely, even on a cloudy day—and from there started our descent to the site of the former Canadian Rifle Range. We had a poke about some of the surviving ranges and buildings, now favoured by graffiti artists!

🔍 On previous visits to the area, some of us had noticed some diggings we thought might have been made by horse puddling machines during the Goldfields era. However, Andrew had done some further research and informed us that in fact they were trenches, dug during the First World War by soldiers using the Rifle Range as a training base. That cast a bit of a sombre mood over us as we gazed at them, thinking of the carnage that happened in trenches during that era, somehow even more sobering in the current times when war and destruction is raging in the Middle East.

🍰 Leaving the Rifle Range, we joined the end of the sensory trail and headed back to the car park. Many of us stopped for what was more of a second morning tea rather than a lunch stop, as it was only mid-morning. The wonderful Teena produced some of her delicious brownies – a lovely end to a lovely morning.

📱 And the walk has been aptly named as it was indeed just on the 10,000 steps, according to my app anyway!


Photos by Andrew Parker



















LINKS

INTERACTIVE MAP

START POINT

GPX FILE

A HIKE IN THIS AREA IN 2022

PODCAST: CANADIAN RIFLE RANGE





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