Walk 10 Googong Western Foreshores Trail [WFT]

Walk name: Googong Western Foreshores Trail
Description: Exploratory trip to Googong North.
Walk map: NSW topographic map 1:25000 Hoskinstown 8727-2S and also Tuggeranong 8727-3S
Start [Red star]: Foreshores carpark Googong north.
Grid ref: 049769
GPS: UTM Zone 55H 704974E, 6076859N
Elevation: 660m
Start location: 20km SE of Canberra City
Locality map from Geoscience Australia MapConnect 250K topo base:

Googong Foreshores WFT -
Satellite image from ACTMAPi:[ACTMAPi does not extend across the ACT border. No images of Googong area available on ACTMAPi, but of course are viewable in Google Earth.]
Waypoints and route:
Walklog1: This was a very satisfactory visit to the Googong Foreshores reserve south of Queanbeyan off the Old Cooma Road. 45 km & 45 minute drive from Evatt.
Googong Resevoir is the main water storage for the Canberra region [121GL capacity]. The resevoir and surrounding reserve is Commonwealth land entirely within New South Wales and managed by ACT. The Rangers Office on the access road has excellent brochures and maps detailing the full extent of the reserve and the various walking trails. Different activities [particularly angling] are described. For all practical purposes the reserve can be split into the northern sector near the dam and the southern sector around London Bridge homestead. The Western Foreshore Trail [WFT] (10km) connects the two sectors; this is a walking/biking trail only. No vehicular access. Vehicle access to the southern sector is via the London Bridge Road.
The Western Foreshore Trail runs through undulating country, open and exposed, but accordingly with magnificent vistas of the eastern shore and down the Queanbeyan River valley. The eastern shoreline is heavily timbered and only accesible as far as Bradleys Creek.
The magnificently named Hells Hole awaits discovery somewhere on or near that creek.Hells Hole is designated as a historic site on the NSW Geographic Names Board register [ref 23502]without any further information. There are about 10 places with the same name throughout NSW, none of which are designated as a cave. The ACT Rangers had no idea about where it was or why it was so named.
The day was bitterly cold with snow on the higher hilltops. Many kangaroos. Major construction is underway to rebuild the main spillway at the dam. There are several picnic and bbq sites in the northern sector with toilets, some overlooking the resevoir, others downstream from the dam. Electric bbqs were working.
This was only a slow and short walk. I felt particularly tired.
The value of the NSW SIX mapping website is amply demonstrated on this walk as the Western Foreshore Trail meanders from the Hoskinstown map into the Tuggeranong map and back again. Out and back along the WFT [20km] must be seen as a very good walk!!!
Day & date: Wednesday 07 OCT 09
Start time: 1030
Walking time: 2 hours
Weather: Cold, windy showers 10C
Sun: Rise 0530,transit 1151 , set 1811 .