Track at Geehi
It was cool and cloudy when we left Jindabyne Lake this morning, but as we drove farther west it became progressively nicer, until it was a beautiful warm day by the time we stopped at 11 am. The road, called the Alpine Highway, is very narrow and steep. The highway sign actually says “not recommended for trucks or caravans” but we had little trouble driving it. However there are many blind curves rated at 15 to 25 km/h, so we travelled quite slowly. I pulled over several times at pullouts to let faster traffic pass us by. We also passed many cyclists. Two large packs of over 25 cyclists each were accompanied by following cars with hazard lights flashing, which certainly was a lot safer for them on this narrow mountain road.
This campsite is large and has room for many camps spread out over a couple of kilometers along the Swampy Plain River. There are also a number of sites farther downstream along the river but you need a four wheel drive vehicle to get to them as you have to ford the river.
Despite its name the Swampy Plain River is a beautiful clear fast flowing stream about 30 m wide. We hiked along it for about 10 km round trip today, starting just after we got here. We went upstream for a few hundred meters from our campsite to where the highway bridges the river and crossed over there, then followed the four wheel drive north. There are a number of stone buildings along the river that were put in place in the 1940’s for fishing cabins. Now they are for public day use shelter. We went into two of them: Keeble’s Hut where we ate lunch seated on a large split log bench, and Old Geehi Hut where the furniture is newer and made out of regular lumber.
Enid fording Swampy Plain River
To get to the second hut we had to ford the river. It was a good crossing, mostly smooth stones and they were not at all slippery. We took off our boots and walked across barefoot, as the water was just over our knees in places. Both coming and going we met vehicles also fording the river, and on the return trip we also met a man and woman cyclist who had travelled down in ten days from Sydney, and were on their way to Melbourne. The woman recognised Enid’s accent immediately as Canadian and we discussed the weather here and in Canada at this time of year.
We also forded the river at a second spot on the return walk. This ford was shallower, but faster. After getting back to our motorhome we put on our swimming suits and washed off in the clear cool water of the river. It was very refreshing.