The fact that fewer people were able get out bushwalking during the Covid pandemic has meant some tracks are now less well defined … and that may be putting some hikers at risk.
The trail accessibility issue has been further exacerbated in some instances by damage caused by floods and fire.
The problem has really been brought into sharp focus following the recent six-day ordeal of two experienced bushwalkers in the NSW Blue Mountains.
Klaus Umland, 81, and Alfred Zamadzki, 69, were eventually located by search parties near Mobbs Swamp at the Megalong Valley. However, they say they were not lost as such … but had simply been unable to negotiate ‘overgrown’ tracks.
Some bushwalking tracks aren't easy to navigate. PIC: Andrew Burns / Pexels
“There used to be some really good tracks in here,” Mr Umland said when they returned. “They all are, I would say, overgrown.”
The head of NPWS, Atticus Fleming, told ABC Radio Sydney said the service was working hard to repair tracks after the 2019 bushfires and subsequent floods caused extensive damage … but he said the area the men were hiking in was not a priority.
“We’ve never built the trail, it’s not a constructed or maintained trail and it’s in a declared wilderness area so those trails are different,” Mr Fleming said. “Our priority with the infrastructure is looking after those sites that get a million people a year as opposed to the stuff that we haven’t built in the first place that might get a few hundred more experienced people.”
About one in five of the 625 trails listed on the NPWS website is closed for repairs or upgrades.
National Parks Association chief executive Gary Dunnett told the ABC there should be more focus on maintenance.
“We’ve got some concerns that there’s been a very strong emphasis on announcements of new construction for walking tracks,” he said. “And what we’re keen to see is that our current stock of really high quality tracks is maintained as a priority.”
Bushwalking NSW President David Bell said the Covid lockdowns preventing most people from accessing national parks also contributed to tracks becoming overgrown.
“The answer to all this is to get more people back into our parks and using the tracks and trails,” he told the ABC.
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A bush walk is a “bushwalk” not a “walk in the park”
If its too difficult for you stay in the camp and do some knitting or something else..!
How long are we going to hear the Covid excuse for poorly maintained National Parks etc. The Parks were being run down and neglected long before Covid
I have found well before covid, that a lot of track’s in NP’s were badley marked, and even myself got lost with track’s going in all direction’s with no signage.
NP cannot be blamed for not policing wilderness areas – what a rediculous notion.
Why do people still go into wilderness areas without learning how to use a GPS.? Those 2 guys could have easily carried a GPS each for backup. High Sensitivity GPS will work even in escarpment and dense forest provided it is turned on before going in and basic versions are not costly.