Walls of Jerusalem National Park

Having heard great things about ‘The Walls’, we decided to head up last January.  In order to get an early start we set up camp at Mole Creek Caravan Park the night before walking. This is a lovely park with a very helpful owner. As caravan parks go, however, a neighbouring campsite was creating a bit of noise during the evening, so we decided to pack up and find a quieter place to spend the night.  This ended up being on the side of the road just before the start of the walk into the park.  On the way home we spotted this beauty not far from where we’d set up the tent!

We woke early and started walking much earlier in the day than we normally manage.  We decided to make ourselves a cuppa at the Trappers Hut, at which point we realised we didn’t have a gas bottle.  As I was packing a day pack to head back to the car a group of three or four walkers came down the hill. Luckily they were on their way out, and had gas they were wondering what to do with as they couldn’t take them on the plane back home.  What a relief!  We ended up with three partly used canisters, from memory.

I don’t recall a great deal about the walk in.  It was ok, but it paled in to insignificance with the magnificent views from within the Walls themselves.

We set up camp at Wild Dog Creek, which is a designated site with tent platforms and a drop toilet.  We came across a guide site, which had a very convenient seat and bench – a sign indicated that this wasn’t to be used on the day we were there, so that’s where we set up.  After a short rest we then headed off to explore with a day pack.

As there is one dedicated track in and out of the park, we decided to create a circuit for ourselves and climbed up King Davids Peak.  This was quite a feat, and we were rewarded with excellent views!  Andrew is slightly apprehensive about heights, and with some rock-hopping towards the top it was a particularly rewarding climb.  We stopped up the top to apply some first aid to his gauged leg, before heading along the West Wall.

We then came to the end of the Wall to Damascus Gate.  We took a bit of time looking around for the track down off the mountain, before realising that we had to go down through the gate; and then down the boulder field. Very impressive.   After making our way down we headed back along the boarded path to the camp site to call it a day.

We had a good night, and then set off the next day with day packs.  We walked back in to the Park via the standard boarded track, walked through Dixon’s Kingdom, and climbed Mt Jerusalem.  This was a relatively easy climb with lovely pools towards the top to keep it interesting.

Once we descended we decided to walk around the bottom of The Temple, rather than climbing it.  The landscape around the base of this peak was really interesting and quite beautiful.  We made our way to the Pools of Bethesda, and then back to camp.  Here we found that the tourist guides had taken over our tent site.  They mentioned that they’ve been asking for the sign to be updated for some time!  Being late in the day we had less choice of sites, and managed to find a nice patch of ground to pitch the tent.  This evening was less enjoyable than the last, with children running up and down the duckboards not far from our site.

Rather than walk out the same way we’d walked in, we decided to take the Junction Lake Track.  Due to a slight navigation error we spent quite some time walking beside the track, through swamp.  But we did eventually make it.

Summary

I would highly recommend a walk up to The Walls, we certainly plan to make another visit.  Next time we would might camp at Dixon’s Kingdom, as it is likely to have less people.  It’s a great spot to set up camp and then spend time exploring with a day pack.