2018 07 10 Mt Ainslie Labyrinth & Stone Circles
After finding out directions to the Ainslie Labyrinth and a need to plan another walk to Ainslie for Melba Shed I went out there and decided to locate the maze and also investigate further some stone circles I had seen near the Lower Mt Ainslie Quarry. This I did, finding the track to the Labyrinth and also locating 9 stone circles, 8 being close to the Quarry
Featured image is of Greg at Labyrinth Five Senses on Mt Ainslie
This was a unplanned walk but I decided to go out and try and find the illustrious Mt Ainslie Labyrinth as well as further check out some stone circles I had previously noticed on the War memorial side of the Mountain.
I drove to the usual parking spot on Kellaway St, Hackett. I walked across to the extension of Phillip Ave that takes one up past an old Waste Transfer Station and on to the junction of the West 132KVA Powerline Track and the Old Tip to Summit Track. I then proceeded up this formal management trail, stopping to check out a large cairn on the north side which didn’t seem to indicate anything. After some 400m from the junction I saw a small cairn on the south side and an obvious narrow footpad, and in around 40m I was next to the Labyrinth. Its a large circular affair maybe 15m in diameter (link says it 12m). Its made of small sticks and more recently improved with small stones following the sticks. It is in the form of a labyrinth or maze. I didn’t work out the beginning or end. In the middle seems to be the top of a wooden letterbox and a small basket. Just to the south there is also a large triangle shaped shelter.
I followed the path onwards just to see where it went. Interestingly in 90m it joined another path that comes down from “The Five Ways” to join the West 132KVA Track. I went down this track that I have used many times in the past and in another 90m I turned left and took this other north-south track south. I could have followed it until it would meet the Ainslie Link Trail, however halfway along I turned left and went up to meet the Canberra Centennial Trail just below the main Mt Ainslie ascent road. I followed the CCT south until it went up to the main road. I then checked out the start of an old very steep trail back down to the west, but instead continued to the main lookout. I then went down the main Kokoda Trail for 30m or so before turning east and sidling under the main lookout before reaching another old dirt trail. It starts from some steps just east of the main lookout and follows an electricity line steeply downhill. After some 250m I rejoined the main Kokoda Trail for 75m before deviating again left or east down another management trail for 250m before turning south to check out a new Emergency Aviation light powered by solar cells. At this point I saw a Stone Circle about 20m south, stopping to GPS it. I called it Stone Circle 1, although in reality they were just large stones.
I regained the main trail and continued down it for 270m before turning south west and going across through open woodland for 120m, then crossing another management trail, then continuing along the same line and then meeting and crossing a walking trail that joins the Kokoda Trail at the Brigade Hill memorial turn. I then headed into a very disturbed area which is just above and north west of the Mt Ainslie Lower or No2 Quarry. In this area there are several depressions and a large number of roos basking in the winter sun. Most of the larger roos just lay there and watched me as I wandered around photographing and GPS’ing. Here I found another 8 Stone or rock Circles varying from 15-20m in diameter to one maybe only 2m in diameter. They covered an area spanned by a wide semi-circle arc of distance around 75m. They can be seen from the track that comes down from Brigade Hill corner to the Lower Quarry. I looked around and even went down and around the Quarry looking for more of these Circles. In some cases I was standing 2-3 metres from large roos who were still lying on the ground. I presume they were quite used to us humans. They may have been there when I assume some of the local kids made the stone circles. Some of the area also exhibits bits of old iron sheets, pipes and some old broken concrete. It’s certainly not a pristine wilderness by any stretch of the imagination. Parts of the Mt Ainslie area were obviously used for military training in the far distant past. There are numerous signs around and also close to Campbell Park attesting to the possible presence of unexploded ordinance.
I then went back up the track to Brigade Hill corner, up the main track and turned off to the left or north west in 300m, taking an old trail down 900m to join the Ainslie Link Trail, which I followed north wards for 1Km, then taking the trail I had been on before climbing to the top. I then followed this around to the Labyrinth again and took more pictures before rejoining the Old Summit Trail and taking it down to the junction with the West 132KVA Powerline Trail. From here I took an old indistinct at times trail through open woodland back to the car. This last piece of land also had numerous roos lying around in a similar fashion to the area with the Stone Circles.
I had walked 8.6Km, having started 10.16AM and finished 1.00PM, i.e. about 2hr 44mins
Information
The Five Senses Labyrinth is located at GPS UTM: 55H 55 H 696692 6095643 or 35 deg. 15′ 47.° Lat.; 149 deg. 9′ 44.° Long.
The Rock Circles (well 8 of them) are located at (using circle 7 ad approx midpoint) GPS UTM: 55 H 696045 6094009 or 35 deg. 16′ 40.° Lat.; 149 deg. 9′ 20.° Long.
Mt Ainslie Lower (or No2) Quarry is located at GPS UTM: 55 H 696100 6093915 or 35 deg. 16′ 43.° Lat.; 149 deg. 9′ 22.° Long.
Map extracts, gps files, photos
Map of walk – Overview | Map of Labyrinth area | Map of Stones Circles | More pictures in Google Photos | Google Earth GPS file
Notes: GPS map view on map base using OSM cycle map &/or Ozraster Map with permission of © BKK Enterprises Pty Ltd, http://www.gpsoz.com.au | gps, gpx and GE files are located in Google Drive
