{"id":1980,"date":"2026-04-26T23:04:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T23:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aerowalsh.com\/mountaindevil\/?p=1980"},"modified":"2026-04-28T09:38:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T09:38:32","slug":"yes-day-v4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mountaindevil.aerowalsh.com\/?p=1980","title":{"rendered":"Yes Day (v4)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Another year, another book chart, another Yes Day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge of this year’s Yes Day was to avoid anything that required going the long way down the mountains given Vic Pass is shut. So Portland was out of the question, as was Oberon, Kanimbla, Hartley and Jenolan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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CR: There was a sunrise\/sunset lookout theme to this year’s Yes Day. Both displeased Declan. A 6am alarm didn’t give Dec enough time to savour his oats so they came with us for a breakfast in Wobby at the lookout.
DW: I don’t love sunrises. They are pretty, sure, but lots of things are and don’t require you to wake up quite so early.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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CR: We cheated a bit and got to Govetts Leap when the sky was bright. The plan was to get there when everything was pitch black and watch the colours of the sky change. That would have required an early morning on par with when we have to catch the train to Sydney for work… So we had to redefine sunrise as the literal rising of the sun above the mountains.
DW: I hid in the car. I did flag to Caitlin that sunrise and sunset as defined by the BoM probably aren’t aligned with her understanding, but as it is Yes day, what is a boy to do. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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CR: After three minutes Declan asked, “when does sunrise end?”. He returned to the car to play on his phone. I hung out for another ten or fifteen minutes, taking a family photo for a cute Indonesian family, chatting to a group of rouge females dressed exclusively in Oldies, and learning about how a man from Penrith taught himself photography during Covid.
DW: It’s a good question. There is a point when sunrise has obviously not started and a point when it has obviously ended, but a large grey zone of amiguity in the middle. I was looking for a quantitative definition so I could properly scope my involvement. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Wobby: I’m bringin sexy back (yeah). Those other cars don’t know how to act (yeah). <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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CR: More expresso, less depresso. Dek is tiring already of me taking photos. He’s unconsciously giving me the finger.
DW: Hehe. This one was actually conscious and I wanted to see if you would realise. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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CR: After coffee, we head down the mountains via Clarence and Bell, turning off onto this dirt road before Lithgow. The major reason this road exists is access to the national park and a sand quarry.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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CR: Given it was a long weekend the sand quarry was on holidays, so the only vehicles on the track were recreational 4WDs and motorbikes. And Wobby.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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CR: Our destination was the Lost City hiking trail. With such a mysterious name, I was surprised that we hadn’t done this hike before. It’s just a little bit too out of the way for a regular weekend. A perfect Yes Day candidate. 
DW: This is indeed a good Yes Day activity. A Yes Day activity is about saying Yes to your local area as much as anything else.
CR: And drive.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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CR: We are standing here at lookout at the start of the walk. To the right of Declan’s head you can see the track re-emerging on the next hill over. The walk takes you to that point, but via the valley. So the terminus looks close in this photo but there’s a fair amount of up and down to reach it. Once at the other side there’s another car park there to facilitate a car shuffle, or you just walk back the way you came, as we did.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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CR: The national park is called the Gardens of Stone. Whoever named this area deserves a Booker Prize.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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CR: Down the bottom of the valley.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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CR: The track was very easy to follow and looked as though it had been freshly redone in the last year. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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CR: It was surprisingly busy. There were so many people out and about. I was wondering if it’s a local haunt for Lithgowians but everyone we (I) chatted to were from out of town. We met an older couple from Canberra holidaying in Rydal (what there is to do in Rydal I still don’t know – they probably didn’t know either hence spent hours in the car driving here), a mother and daughter from Sydney who are spending the long weekend in Wentworth Falls, and a spergy couple our age who had a full hiking pack and were spending ‘a few days’ off track. There was even an infuriatingly loud and large group of wealthy South Africans who had produced too many children, so presumably this walk has some social media presence.
DW: I left Caitlin in charge of chats and typically walked around the corner where no-one could see me and waited for her to catch up.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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CR: After berating me for taking too many photos all morning, as I was panting up the Grade 4 optional section of the hike with my hands on my hips Declan instructed me to take a photo of him.
DW: This is as I have an excellent sense of framing and knew Caitlin would want this photo.
CR: That’s a lie, you just wanted a photo because you thought you were being cool.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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