Bago State Forest NSW Australia

Days 15-16 Wednesday 14th - Thursday 15th October 2026

It was a very chilly morning as we once again made our way into Tumbarumba where we used the dump point and did a quick shop in IGA.

Then it was up the Batlow Road for about 12km before we turned off at Black Creek Road into the Bago State Forest. The park has an incredibly diverse forest, incorporating native alpine ash on the Bago Plateau, historic arboretum plantings dating back to the early 1900s, radiata pine plantations and the popular Blowering Dam foreshore.

Today we drove another 18km of mostly well graded road, with the last 5km being a little narrow, to Paddys River Dam campsite.

It is a peaceful and scenic spot.  The dam was originally constructed as a source of water for gold mining activities in the late 1800s.

There were plenty of camping spots to choose from and incredibly we were the only ones here…. Except for the wild brumbies, kangaroos, birds and platypus (to name a few). Not to mention the huge black snake Mark spotted along the track near our camp!

Unfortunately the area was heavily affected by the bush fires in 2020. The up side is that a new shelter has been built here along with a couple of toilets.

We walked to the Horse Yard camping area which offered some nice open grassy spots but also a few extra flies due to the horse dung…

We continued on following the pleasant track around the lake which is part of the Hume and Hovell trail, about 2km back to Buster.

We enjoyed the warm rays of the sunshine as the temperature is cooler up at this altitude (about 1200m).

Dinner was snags over the campfire tonight.

The next morning we were thankful for the diesel heater to keep us warm.

When we opened the blinds we spooked the brumbies that had come up to munch on the grass next to Buster. What a lovely unique experience.

Before breakfast we walked the H&H trail for about 1km heading towards Henry Angel campsite.

There is certainly lots to do here… fishing and kayaking are also allowed in the lake.

We ended up doing a couple more laps around the lake.

We finished up the day chatting to another camper, a local guy, and then enjoyed sitting around the fire keeping an eye on the wildlife.

On Friday (16th October) morning we ventured out of camp and drove into Palings campsite for a look.  The sad part of life…

We spotted a few deer along the way as well as plenty of roos.

Then stopped at Pilot Hill Arboretum which offered some interesting sculptures aswell as some information on the various pine species planted here in the 1920’s.

Our last stop in the Bago State Forest was at the Sugar Pine Forest that we had seen in 2010 (photo). Unfortunately the 2020 fire burnt it to the ground. A section had been replanted for the future and a picnic area with some sculptures is now here.

In 2010

46km Henry Angel to Paddys River Dam, 21km to Pilot Hill