Mt Rogers is located in Belconnen, and at about 700 metres, doesn’t get much of a look in when comparing to Mts Ainslie, Majura or Taylor. But for me, Mt Rogers is a little gem.
We access Mt Rogers off Jacob Place, which is off Spalding Street in Flynn. However, there are plenty of access points all around the reserve.
From a few dirt steps, the area opens up to a grassy flat and we’re already rewarded with views towards the Belconnen Town Centre and Black Mountain Tower.
The views stay steady as we stick to the path around something akin to the base of the mountain.
This path is wide, somehwat well maintained, and flat. We see a number of people walking around it with prams, which gives you an idea of its quality and relative smoothness (that said, I don’t check if the prams have those huge 4WD wheels on them).
As we walk, we spot plenty of little paths heading up the mountain – it really is a choose your own adventure kind of walk. Zooming into the Google Map shows what I’m talking about, with the paths criss-crossing all over the reserve.
On this day, we choose one of the more obvious paths which is covered with a layer of fairly stable gravel. It’s only a short climb to the top, but it gets my heart pumping. On another day, we choose a shorter but much steeper path.
The views at the top aren’t brilliant, but there are plenty of large rocks on which to sit and get a better view.
We take a different path going down which is much steeper but doesn’t have any gravel on it. We’re rewarded with some lovely views to the west, and the path pops us out near the base where we started.
WALK SNAPSHOT
Time required: It’s really up to you – it could be easy to spend hours exploring the criss-crossing tracks, but a quick walk up to the trig and down can take less than 20 minutes
Height: We get to about 700 metres – I’d estimate it’s a 50 metre climb at most
Distance: Again, choose for yourself. A quick up/down is probably 1.5km return, but I’m sure the walk could be extended to 5km+
Views: Very good, especially without having to go all the way to the top – I think the Belco Town Centre looks particularly lovely from Mt Rogers
Flora and fauna excitement level: It’s bushy, but there aren’t a lot of animals or particularly glorious flowers
Effort expended: Low; this is a quick heart starter, but nothing more
Quality of track: Medium-high – the ‘base’ is rather good, but it varies along the different paths
Value for effort: Extremely high
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Date: Often, but most recently Saturday 30 November
Where: We enter off Jacob Place in Flynn, but there are many entrances
Cost: Free
Worthwhile factor: Highly worthwhile. This is a quick heartstarter walk which can be modified for how much time or energy you have available. What’s not to like?
Want more? Have a closer look at the Google Map above.
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It really is a gem. Have walked, jogged, dog exercised and bike ridden over Mt Rogers for many years. The view never fails to lift the spirit. Nice write up.
Thanks very much – it was a pleasure to write about (particularly to get a response like yours!).
Your blogs are so helpful! Since moving to Canberra we have explored a few walks and places and always find you give great info and extra info that I haven’t found elsewhere!