Ngunnawal country
Johns Peak was opened as a new official walk in Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve in 2021. It’s a great option if you’re looking for a longer day walk to do at Tidbinbilla, and can be combined with the Camels Back so you can bag two ACT peaks in one day.
Johns Peak is 14km return, and rated hard with an estimated walk time of 7 hours. It starts from Mountain Creek car park, and the majority of the walk is a steep slog up a fire trail. As far as fire trails go, this one is quite pleasant, surrounded by tall eucalypts and with glimpses back towards not so distant Canberra at times.
We walked in winter and the area was full of lyrebirds, so that in itself is a reason to brave cold and head out there. We were treated to one bird doing its full array of mimicry, with cockatoo shrieks, whistles and trills and a quite distinct kookaburra laugh. (The Lyrebird Walk starts from the same place, and is a good short walk.) We’ve also seen king parrots and many other birds on this track.
The turn off to Johns Peak is marked, and turns you back along a smaller fire trail initially, which becomes a track as you reach a ridge where you get the first views west towards the Brindabellas. There’s a sheltered grassy area that would make a good place for lunch, particularly if the weather is inclement.
The track to the summit is exposed, and clambers over rocks interspersed with hardy alpine shrubs. There are a few snowgums near the summit, though because this is at the lower end of the altitude range they have thinner trunks and less colour than the snowgums up in the high country.
The summit has wonderful views and is worth lingering over a cuppa if you pack a Thermos. We built Jono the snowman to keep watch, and then headed on our way to Camels Back.
Once back at the turn off for Johns Peak, it’s a little more uphill on the fire trail before reaching the sign indicating you’re at Camels Back. There’s a bit of rock scrambling to the summit itself, and the best views are about half way up. The summit itself has limited views, but plenty of trees for shelter. We left Cam the snowman here to send goodwill to hikers that followed us.
As my mum would say, “what goes up , must come down.” Return via the firetrail, listening for lyrebirds as you go.
Advice for families: Because of the exposed ridges, this walk is not recommended for young children. If you’re up for the uphill slog but unsure about the exposed sections, you still get some good views from the start of the ridge along Johns Peak, so could go as far as you feel comfortable and turn back before the rocky summit section of the track.
Next time: I’m keen to head on along the ridge from the end of the official Johns Peak trail to Tidbinbilla Peak.
For more info on this walk and other walks at Tidbinbilla, head to http://Tidbinbilla.act.gov.au
What are your favourite walks around the ACT?
