This trip had been planned for those who couldn't make it to the Pineapple Point seat opening on 1 September to visit the site. Waking to Flagstaff covered in cloud didn't bode well for good views at Pineapple Point but that didn't seem to deter the 10 people that turned up to explore some of the lesser used trails on their way to Pineapple Point. The track starts at Nicols Falls carpark and follows an old 4x4 wheel drive track to the sheer walled canyon popular with night walkers for the glow worms. Before reaching the canyon, the track to Nicols Falls branches off on the left and climbs steadily in a series of zig zags before cutting into the gully and crossing the creek below the falls.
The canyon and falls are quite impressive, especially if you make the effort to scramble over the moss covered boulders for a closer look. Back onto the track which climbs steeply out of the canyon and then proceeds up onto the Moon Track. Care needs to be taken as the Moon Track crosses the mountain bike trails often and it is easy to take the mountain bike trail which winds it's way back and forth, traveling a large distance with relatively small height gain while the Moon Track heads more or less straight up the ridge. Eventually we emerged from the bush into the eerie fog and a brief break to refuel with snacks and a drink.
From here our journey became a little tricky as we negotiated our way to the start of an unnamed track that was more of a 'vague route' through the bush as it sidles around the the top of the gully and heads towards the Pineapple Track. This was the part of the trip that I was looking forward to as it is a track that I have not been on. The unnamed track is a little muddy in places although easy enough to follow for those who have confidence in their foot placement. The track is narrow, has plenty of tree roots and rocks to climb over with some steep drops off to the side but also very pretty with ferns covering the ground and twisted fushia overhead. We passed what must be the largest cabbage tree in the valley and it sure is one of the biggest and healthiest I have seen with a massive trunk reaching above the forest canopy. From the cabbage tree, it wasn't far to the Pineapple Track and back to the newly opened seat for lunch, sadly with no view as we were still in the fog.
From the seat on Pineapple Point it is a 300m descent down the Pineapple Track to Booth Road. As we descended down the hill, we dropped below the fog and were able to see some of the city as it emerged from the fog. We have been on this part of track a number of times over the past few months and it was good to be able to walk in pairs on the wide track and chat. Once at Booth Road we had about a kilometre of easy road walking back to the cars.
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