Canberra - Queanbeyan to Bendethera via Captains Flat

This is a tracklog from Canberra (GPS tracklog actually starts at Queanbeyan Maccas from memory) to Bendethera, via Middle Mountain Firetrail, Minuma Range Firetrail, and Dampier Mountain Firetrail. It involves steep ascents and descents, on trails that can be quite slippery when wet, and involves several river crossings, that can vary greatly in depth. This is not a trail recommended for soft-roaders. Allow at least 3 hours from Canberra to Campsite.

Bendethera is a phenomenally beautiful, and very secluded valley hidden away deep in the mountains, with masses of wildlife, especially wombats, that will wander right through your campsite in many places.
The valley is several Kms long, so affords a great range of places to camp, many close to streams and creeks, but despite this you should bring your own water.
There are some campsites with prepared fireplaces (no supplied firewood), and some with toilet facilities, but the vast majority of this area is vast expanses of grassy flats giving you masses of room to spread out and find some quiet area away from others. But, that said, this is a very popular area, so despite it's size, on long weekends there will likely be a number of other campers using the area.

There are some historic remnants of early habitation of this valley, with information signs on some of them, including a gravesite of a child, and the story of another of the settler's children that broke his leg a distance up river and had to have it set by his family, and the child left there in an improvised shelter for two weeks while it healed enough for him to be able to be gotten back home. This was a tough place to grow up back then.

This tracklog will take you across the river to one of the smaller grassy flats on the Eastern side of the valley, where I believe the original track used to be, and a small section of it is still available to explore but the rest has been quickly reclaimed by the bush, to the extent you'd never know it existed now, but makes for a beautiful walk or short drive through a lush ferny valley.

There are other tracklogs on this site for this area, but as I could not find one from the Canberra Queanbeyan area, I thought I'd add this one as well.

Enjoy the area, and leave it as beautiful when you leave, as it was when you arrived.