Ettrema revisited - Ettrema Tops Trail
With my walking companion Indya, in late November, we revisited Ettrema Wilderness Area. The area has been partially reopened after the 2019-20 fires. Starting at a small parking area along Greta Road in the locality of Sassafras, we walked along the Ettrema Tops Trail towards Pauls Pass and Jones Creek Walking Trails. These are normally multi-day treks - we walked as far as we could for a return trip in a single day.
The Ettrema Tops Trail had been burnt and was easy going. The diversity of growth in the burnt areas was a surprise to see - this area in normally unattractive prickly undergrowth and can be difficult to penetrate, even along overgrown fire trails. None of the orchids evident a month earlier were still flowering, although the bush was a mass of color: fan flowers, daisies, lobelias, purple flags, spur velleia, small stellas and fringe lilies.
Update: mid February
A recent walk in this area revealed scatters of Flannel Flowers - both the normal white variety and the rare, once in a life time, Pink Flannel Flowers.
If you are thinking of walking Ettrema, but only have a day, perhaps also consider the shorter walk along the Parma Creek into the locality of Hell Hole.
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