One climb to the summit, then descent to the car.
COMPLETE WALK
ABOUT
Recommendations require a documented car-accessible start and a complete loop or out-and-back route. Approach paths count toward all metrics. One-way geometry is retraced to the car, with total distance and elevation calculated over both directions. A reverse start is considered only when it also has verified car access.
Tall Trees in Blackbutt Reserve is assessed from its mapped full circuit and connected parking. Its calculated terrain profile is separate from Wildwalks’ published 2.8 km / 90 m figures. OpenStreetMap loops can follow a different mapped connector from a published variant.
Official NPWS routes must agree with published complete-walk distance and a documented driving destination. OSM routes use connected named walking geometry, public parking, nearby permitted vehicle roads and legal foot access. Access restrictions and disconnected geometry are excluded; parking availability and closures remain subject to current signs.
Geometry is resampled at approximately 30 m intervals. Downloaded Mapzen/Tilezen 30 m terrain elevations use bilinear interpolation, with no smoothing for the shape check or displayed profile. A three-point weighted window [1, 2, 1] reduces terrain noise only for slope and total-ascent estimates. Segment angle is atan(vertical change / horizontal distance), expressed in degrees.
The summit divides the complete route into a climbing phase and a descending phase; it need not be halfway. Before the summit, the largest drop below any earlier high must stay within the dip allowance. After the summit, the largest rise above any earlier low must stay within the independently adjustable re-climb threshold. Both default to 3 m. The net climb and descent must exceed the dip allowance. This checks entire excursions, so a large reversal cannot pass as a series of small steps. Shape is assessed on unsmoothed DEM heights: smoothing cannot hide a larger reversal. Flats and small fluctuations are allowed. Minimum climb is the net height gained from parking to the summit. Percentiles are weighted by horizontal distance over downhill segments only. A P90 of 8° means 90% of descending distance has an estimated angle of 8° or less; the remaining 10% can be steeper.
We test the mapped direction and its reverse. Both phases must pass the single-climb test. Sections with no ascent or no descent cannot pass an elevation match. Out and back retraces the same geometry from a verified car-accessible endpoint; it does not invent a connecting path. Closed walks use their mapped loop instead.
These are broad terrain estimates, not measurements of the actual walking surface. The smoothing scale is roughly 60 m. Stairs, cliffs, switchbacks and vegetation can make the real descent very different. A percentile also hides some steep segments: inspect the displayed maximum estimated angle and the profile. Source geometry alone does not establish public access or current opening status.
Tall Trees complete route notes · City of Newcastle parking · Visit Newcastle loop description
NSW NPWS Track Section dataset · NSW DCCEEW, Creative Commons Attribution.Public TrackSection map layer.OpenStreetMap Australia country extract · © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0. National geometry is assessed with administrative boundaries; the existing NSW dataset and its official NPWS evidence are retained.Mapzen/Tilezen Terrain Tiles. Raw elevation grids cover the downloaded national geometry. Australia terrain data © Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2017; SRTM courtesy USGS. Heights are DEM estimates rather than GPS altitude. Browsing uses cached profiles.