Scrambling up The Rock above Moores Valley Road along old quarry tracks.
With a few hours of daylight left, I decided on a short bush bash and thought scrambling up The Rock would make a short adventure. The Rock is a hill that runs alongside Moores Valley Road, just beyond the suburban houses where the road begins to climb towards the rural part of Moores Valley. I parked near the last suburban house and walked a short distance up the hill, where a gap in the trees suggested the start of a track.
I began walking in my Birkenstocks, intending to return to the car if the area looked worth exploring. However, I soon got a bit carried away and realised I could easily spend an hour up there seeing whether anything interesting remained and I was a little too far from the car to get some tramping boots on and return.
The Rock gets its name from the fact that this hill was quarried from the 1930s through to the 1970s. With the vegetation stripped away and the rock exposed, it must once have looked like one large rock face. Today, however, it is covered in bush, including tree ferns, mānuka, and possibly kānuka. Just below The Rock is Rock Pool, which was named for its proximity to the hill.
The old tracks and terraces from the quarrying period are still visible. Some of the tracks even look maintained, as I noticed steps in places. The main track up the hill intersected with several smaller tracks, and I could have followed any of them, but I stayed on the main route. It eventually came out on the private section of Gawler Grove, where a small road leads up to Gawler Reservoir.
I then turned back and explored most of the smaller tracks in the area. Although I did not find anything of obvious historical interest, the walks themselves were pleasant.
After that, I returned to the car and headed off to my next destination, with only about two hours of daylight left.
I chose not to explore the area further because I was wearing unsuitable footwear. I had also already pushed further up and along this hill as recorded in Bush Bash 32 a couple of years ago, when I trekked up Dynamite Creek and Gawler Reservoir Track.
