Paling Spur- Youngs Top 13/14/15 December

 

Ascending Swindlers Spur

Was getting an itch to get out again since my last outing on the Crinoline circuit & 2024 coming to an end i wanted to tick this route off the list, thanks to forum members on a bushwalk site this route come up in discussion and after a little research i packed my gear and fat bike for a short roll to the car end of hike.

Headed northbound from Melbourne Friday afternoon for the longish drive to the Harrietville area arriving at Smoko campgrounds by 6ish found a spot right by the river just perfect the sound of the water and being out of town was calming, ate dinner and relaxed the evening away. 

Was back on the road by 7ish the next morning drove my way over Hotham and parked my car at the Brandy Creek mine trail between Dinner Plain and Hotham Village, two young French guys had their portable table setup roadside enjoying breakfast in the morning sun after a quick greeting I doned the pack started walking down the firetrail where It meets the Cobungra River clear sunny skies and balmy for early morning, looking left upstream was my  route wading waist high tussocks no track to speak of , i thought to myself this will be snake city and sure enough as i started to walk a black snake scooted passed my feet , kept me on my toes for the 1 km walk where i crossed the river and found the base of Paliing Spur, a great camp spot is here also for future reference.

Tussocks on the Cobungra River runs parallel to right of photo.

After a quick break i started the walk up Paling Spur a faint pad is visible at the base and remains clear all the way up  the first 2 kms are quite steep but levels off after this until reaching the open plains of Young Top, i broke a sweat out it was warming up i think around high teens clear skies. 

I had a 20 min break up the top under a large old tree enjoying the shade , the next 3 kms of walking is along the open plains of trackless wilderness ,i lathered on some sunscreen and headed in a northward direction i followed a some false pads which are actually from wild horses and deer i soon realised my error as i started heading downhill thru trees and thickish scrub into a valley and on the far distance i could see Youngs Hut , i stopped and had a good look at the map , backtracked and headed left untill i got back on top of the broad open ridge.

I walked in a North West general direction for most of the way , the clear open plains were guarded by sometimes thick scrub and trees to walk thru or around, its was very beautiful also with views all around, felt very remote & wild at the same time.

Was early afternoon and some cloud cover was a welcome relief from the sun beating down on me.

I finally got to a narrow valley which swung down to the west  and aimed for Youngs Hut, was my first visit here and on first impressions i found it a little eerily creep with some kind of animal skulls hanging on the front porch and very snakey with pools of water around the front door i did see a black snake slither off just a few meters away, i collected water and rehydrated myself also and headed up the pole line to meet up with the AAWT trail.

Youngs Hut

Was 3 pm by this stage and too early to call it a day and camp up high i slowly made my way down into the valley to Dibbins Hut, along the way i come across a party of five walking the Falls to Hotham traverse and once i go down into the valley some more peeps were set up , i kept on walking a few hundred meters close to the hut a one person has set up behind the hut out of sight i found my prime real estate to setup and have the valley views all to myself was well and truly exhausted, relaxed the afternoon with tea and snacks followed by some dinner of a veggie stir fry with tuna.

Open plains traversing Youngs Top

Slept ok waking up once at 2 am for a toilet but managed to doze off , was up at daybreak and packed and ready to walk by 6 am as i wanted to beat the heat of the day and be back at the car earlish afternoon.

I slogged it up Swindlers Spur passed Derrick Hut 2 hours in and i was feeling the heat already with a temp around 23 degrees at 8:30 am. 

I picked up the Huts trail which led me back down into the valley passed Spargos Hut i held a descent pace with minimal stops just for water and a chew on some trail nuts.

The day before i had locked my bike up in the scrub with a plan to bypass half of the Cobungra Ditch trail to Brandy Creek, it saved my 3 kms approx of walking, i picked up an access track which headed straight back up to the Great Alpine Rd where my bike was and rolled back down 3 kms to the car happy Days!  Was hot and bothered and was only 12:20pm was great to be in my car with the air conditioner full bast , i stopped at the General at Hotham Village for a cold drink before making the long drive back to Melbourne.

Was a great walk one i would do again soonish but maybe in 2 nights allowing one to stay at the base of Paling Spur would be real nice. I think i am on hiatus until Autumn as its too warm!

The Crinoline (Mt Ligar) Circuit 2-3-4 November

Took a longish drive Saturday morning to Licola and beyond to Breakfast Creek to begin this circuit clockwise , after the decent rains a couple weeks ago and someone else I know who had competed this circuit late September confirmed the creek at Long Hill was running strongly so was confident I won't be running dry and having to return the next day. 

The drive into Licola thru its winding hills is quite picturesque.

The Crinoline ( Mt Ligar)

Started walking a a little after 9am ,  was slow progress up the many steep inclines and the warming sunshine started to have a zapping feeling on me, after 2 km and elevation gain was starting to see some views into the valley and Mt Sugarloaf to the south,  the approach to Mt Ligar is littered with large stepping boulders almost like someone had man handled them in place for hikers, care was taken rock hopping and stopping to snap some photos along the way of course. 

Reaching the lower part of the summit and looking up between me and the top are rock benches or bands i followed a faint pad which led to no where, retraced back and found a spot to climb up , used some rope to haul my pack up as I wasn't confident to haul the extra weight up on my back as I had visions in my head of me falling backwards and tumbling down the valley never to be seen again a certain death sure! or living to tell the tale on an episode of "I Shouldn't Be Alive"

was around 12:30pm so decided to have lunch on top with magnificent views all around including Long Hill Falls escarpment which had no water flowing over , was a little concerned about wether there be water at the creek. Coming down the other side was a little tricky with its slippy scree slope and rock benches to climb down I used the rope again to lower my pack down in one spot, an arrow created with rocks sets you up to a hard right down a slippy scree chute, rookie error I thought I would make it easier by using my rope to hold my pack in front of me while bumsliding down , only made it harder the weight of the pack wanting to drag me faster down managed to slam the handbrake on with my feet to slow me down and come to stop, ripped my shorts to shreds in the process! 

Followed the ridge line to Long Hill  littered with boulders and rocks the going was slow but enjoyable was mid afternoon and really thirsty as I walked into the camp site, the blaring hot sun all day really took it out of me and all my water , so made a VLine  200 meters down to the creek and sure enough there was water running!

Met another fella down there also replenishing himself of glorious water.

After a quick chit chat he was off and I spent sometime relaxing refreshing myself and whilst refilling my bottles.

Made my way back up and 3 tents had been set up , after a quick hello  Leader of YHA bushwalking club David introduced me to Dean and Sean after some chit chat turns out he knows my good mate Spira small world!..

We all got a long really well sharing a fire at night with good conversations over dinner.

David invited me to walk with them for the next 2 days so thats what I did , as usually walk solo was nice to have some company rather than talking to myself and my mind wondering all over the place.

The wind picked up that night and remained strong all night, the roaring sound of the trees wrestling and wind made a for a crappy nights sleep.

We broke camp 8:30am, the wind was still blowing with light showers for the morning as we followed the ridge line northward before swinging east , rain  clearing up for a lunch break at the Rock Shelter

Spectacular views to the north I could see Mt Cobbler and Square Top which is on the AAWT poking thru the ridge tops.

We pushed on with a plan to camp at Mt Tamboritha wind permitting, reaching the fire track I found it quite tedious 4kms of uphill grind glad I had Sean to boost morale! , reminds a little of Spec Rd not a fan of walking fire tracks but necessary sometimes.

By 4ish the wind slowly stopped and was not a breath of wind for the remainder of the afternoon and night, after setting up camp we headed down a km to collect water from a pond.

Arriving back at camp on the summit of Tamboritha the fella I met at Long Hill "Daniel" walked in, he too was welcomed to hang out with us, was a beautiful night with magic sunset topped off with another camp fire.

We all headed off at 7:30am for the long descent down to Breakfast Creek , definitely a knee burner I opted to wear a knee brace as they are a little dodgy , down at the cars after midday a snack and drink at Licola township before we all parted ways and headed back to Melbourne, a great 3 days of walking some parts a  challenge oh and the company wasn't bad either!

Long Hill Camp

View from Rockshelter

Double Arse Fridays 30th-31st August

 As I type this laying in bed feeling exhausted I reflect on some memories of  number 25 Gillingham St, Preston, a home inhabited by Spira Jaquie and "Boy Boy "aka Lewi. A leafy inner north suburb of Melbourne,  central to most hip cool cafes from Sydney Rd to Northcote & the Fitzroy's.

One of my fondest memories was sitting by the front porch sipping on coffee and watching the world go by , the porch has a waist high wall with some pot plants on top , making for perfect eye spy on who is walking pass and fellow neighbours , our eyes can see out but from the front can never see if someone is sitting behind the wall, also Jaq's quirky art props and sometimes a mannequin of some scary witch or 3 eyed mutated human sitting by the front window or sometimes in the yard, would scare the shit out of me on occasions when visiting... the star and unique feature of this 1950's?? home was the outside dunny perfect for the download I had been holding on to especially after last nights Vindaloo curry, was never a worry of stinking the house out especially when I don't live there or flushing after each log that fell into the void, and the cosy bungalow I stayed in a few times whilst house sitting was also a great addition.

The time had come for move out date for Spira & Jaq  after purchasing a home 5 mins up the road and getting away from greedy landlords, I made way early morning around 9ish just in time for a coffee and a debrief of the plan of the day for moving 100's of art work pieces to be carefully transported in my van in a dedicated art room in the new home which Spira built racks/shelves specifically to fit.

Arriving at the new digs was given a tour, the grand front entrance of beautiful polished marble with speckled white green goldish concrete steps which lead up to the front door with the classic wog white pillars makes for a warm welcome.

For the next three hours we made 3 trips back and fourth was making good progress considering was a delicate operation as the art frames are fragile, we all decided was time for a much needed break and lunch so we piled into the car and headed for Preston Market, a multi cultural culinary choice of food stalls with its colourful people of all walks of life , and also a busker belting out some tunes on a saxophone makes for good vibes.  Jaq and I opted to eat pizza while Spira made a v/line for some borek and sweets which after stuffing my face also got stuck into it, such a great place to sit and people watch. 

Sometimes the view is blocked with daylight starting to turn to dark like a once in a hundred year solar eclipse and the light winter breeze gets stronger the serviettes start flying off the tables , market stalls umbrellas start shaking , the middle aged mens bald comb overs fly up exposing their shiny bald peak shining bright like a light bulb they scurry to the nearest bathroom and with our eyes lured to a persons wide rear end ... I mean big juicy fat arse! its with surprise our eyes are confused and looking at their front arse too as if the person was exposed to Chenobyle and being born with two arses front and back and has overtime become obese , but was not one but two of the similar kind , wearing their tight compression sport pants , I don't think the pants have seen any sport but just being suffocated in their flabs of wobbly lard which begs for more sugary soft drinks and KFC zinger burgers... holy Dooley we also couldn't help but crack a few passing fat jokes around our little round table whilst admiring double bum people such as the classic "how do you find fat women wet spot?"  roll them around in flour!" or " your mum so fat she puts her lipstick on with a paint roller!"   or when a double arsed person gets on the scales the scales say "One at a time please!"   Its also their legs are inverted the curve from the thighs and calves bends in a inward direction  how is this possible?? Was discussion about how they wipe their arse or add an "S" on the end of arse, Jaq reckons they use bum floss and Spira went into the detail of their body anatomy and how things stop working leading them to a premature death.

Soon the sun reappears that strong breeze settles the flying comb over middle aged men reappear from the bathrooms rearranging their slick heads, and we are also off walking back to the car still having a giggle, another front bum reappears in front of us sitting down eating his way to a heart attack  with the extra hanging flab touching the cold concrete, I think the market needs a dedicated lypo suction stall or a paramedic on stand by.

Anyway enough fat shaming sorry to offend anyone reading this, back at Gillingham we were back into it loading various boxes of books art and kitchen stuff into back of the van making a few more trips for the afternoon, the afternoon went quick and with Spira happy with the days progress was around 6ish we called it a day and went for a couple of relaxing beers on Sydney Rd Brunswick, followed by some dinner , after a little explore scouting out some food a bright lit up Nepalese restaurant lured us across the road to suss out the menu, Spira said lets try it!. The atmosphere is like stepping into an airports cafe lounge/ bar restaurant type places with plastic seating tables zero atmosphere, I don't think we were expecting much from the food. 

After been greeted by and handed our laminated menu by our waitress we opted to share some beef momo's in a subtle spicy soup followed by some lamb skewers and a vegetable thali platter , was a bit of confusion on what the lamb skewers were as the menu had an option Jhol skewer or gee hole gee spot...

Food come out was bloody amazing fresh fragrant spicy salty sour notes, we tucked into our Jhol beef and polished the platter and the momo soupy liquid it come in was very delicious! for any one interested reading the place is called Momo Central. 

Was a great end to a busy day and soon turned in for the night after a picking up the trailer at the local service station as the big stuff like couches tables etc... was to be moved the next day.

Saturday morning come around after a reasonable sleep, coffee and eggs on toast we we back into it, I got promoted to driving for the day so was good opportunity to show off my reverse parking with a trailer skills, after the 4th load trip back and fourth I was reversing into the driveway in one single go yeehaaa!!  As the day got on Louies mates come and gave us some help  to carry some heavy duty tables and shelving into and various other items, I think by around 4 pm we were finished and could finally relax , Jaq cooked up some sausages with some yummy bread for a late lunch and some beers.

Followed by some couch time chilling out on the couch for a couple of hours before taking the trailer back and heading back to Gillingham to pick up my car and watching Spira and Jaq collect the last two items Eddie and Kittsy the cats.  Was a great couple of days arse watching and people watching and with that come an end of an era, the final curtain , one door closed and another opened for Spira & Jaq start of a new chapter at the new home to make more memories all the best! 

The End.

Mt Bogong winter ascent 2nd August

After just spending last weekend snowshoeing & camping during a snowmageddon event around St Gwinear which was epic, a blue bird weekend was forecasted for the following week around the back country high plains so i took the long drive up to the Bogong area on a chilly Friday morning.

Plan was to take the easy hike up Eskdale Spur and camp somewhere above the tree line , was tossing up between the Staircase Spur but was not in the mood for a relentless grind!

Made good time from Melbourne arriving the trailhead around 9:30 am, was another few cars parked here also no doubt some back country skiers getting in fresh turns. 

 After faffing about sorting out my gear I was walking up the trail a little after 10 , sun was shining and was soon taking off layers , made it to Michelle Hut which sits at around 1500 meters above sea level, met a a bloke Dan who was on his last day of a four day hike and was heading back to his car at Mountain Creek , after 10 minutes of chit chat we were both on our way.

Made my way up above the tree line and the Granite Spur junction and awesome views of the North facing slopes of Mt Bogong,  was also a great spot to camp so i decided would set my tent up here and slog it up to the summit ridge, was looking a little icy so opted for crampons and was soon on my way , sun shining I lathered up on some sunscreen.

Could see in the distance a back country skier skinning his way back up one of gully's  as i slowly made my way up and taking many photos.

Got to the ridge line but too lazy to walk the last 500 meters across to the summit cairn, could also see in far distance Mt Feathertop poking out above , after spending about 15 minutes taking a few snaps made my way back down to my tent to relax the last few hours of what was left of the afternoon sipping on tea and building a wind break around the mighty Macpac Minaret, come across two skiers skinning their way up to the ridge, also the fella I saw in the gully earlier walking back down , he stopped  for a chit chat telling me how awesome the skiing was , he was in a hurry to get back down as he had a beer waiting for him.

Two skiers I passed coming down

                                                                          Sunset

Had a fairly good sleep despite the wind picking up in the morning i broke camp by 8am and a had a nice 4 km walk out back to the car,  on my way back to Melbourne stopped at the cafe in Tawonga for brunch of coffee and home made sausage rolls went down a treat!  till next time.

Mt Speculation -koonika via Muesli Spur. (Views into the Wonnangatta)

 

Clouds roll over the Crosscut into the Wonnangatta

Having visited the area earlier in the year on a hot January weekend and cutting the trip short as it was too bloody hot for walking, thought early June now is the perfect time to return to the Howitt area and tackle Mt Spec and Muesli Spurs this time.

Lacking motivation to drive up Friday night I sucked it up and left Melbourne around 5:30am to arrive at the trailhead, was a foggy morning in some parts nearing Mansfield thicker I switched to high beams to be seen!

After a coffee and breakfast in Mansfield I made way way to the Buller Mt Stirling gates, declared snow season opening weekend the gates were manned with resort officials, expecting to pay a resort entry fee surprisingly only asking me where I am going they waved me thru free of charge, fair enough as there is no snow and the circuit rd gates don't shut for the season for a another 3 days.

Made the slow windy 1 hour drive to the Muesli Spur trailhead no one else here but lonesome self.

Was soon off walking a little after 10am making my way up the spur was pleasant and soon was stripping of layers as I was on all fours scrambling up some rocky steep sections , found a headlamp along the way also and soon after the track is blocked by fallen tree and scrub with no way around but over, the tree branches were slippy and wet so caution was taken.

Some 2 hours later I popped out of the bush onto Speculation Rd, a rough rocky 4wd track and quite tedious to walk on I turned right heading east.  The plan was to fit in a side trip to Mt Koonika a cairn marks the start point up on Spec Rd, low on water and none on the way via this route I decided I would return via Koonika the next day so I could collect water further up at a water source.

A couple collecting firewood further up the road didn't see me coming up , with arm load of tinder in her hands  she screamed and jumped out of her skin throwing all the timber in the air , her bf thought it was helerious after small chit chat I was on my way, arrived at Camp Creek and loaded up on water for tonight and tomorrow and made my way up the steep slope to Mt Speculation.

Got up on Mt Spec around 3ish great views all around to surrounding peaks and into the Wonnangatta Valley, top place to spend the night after settling in faffing around with my tent I thought I had the place myself , 3 walkers come up from the other side around 5 pm they walked from Upper Howqua up Helicopter Spur a solid days walk I gave them kudos and chatted before dinner.

Cooked up a vegetable stir fry with tuna and settled in for the night the temperature dropped to around 5 degree and dropping into the evening.

Had an ok sleep I set the alarm for 6am as I wanted to check sunset out, so I rolled out of the tent for natures television show of sunrise and clouds hovering over the valley and moving over like a waterfall on the Crosscutsaw and Mt Buggery , was sublime.

Was packed up after a coffee and muesli bar and walking by 8 , headed up the true summit of Mt Spec and started the walk on the ridge that leads to Mt Koonika I picked up a very faint pad the walking was straight forward in some parts the track would disappear but just kept on the middle of the spur , arrived at the summit cairn of Mt Koonika no views as the cloud and fog rolled in , I dropped down a km on the other side and rejoined Mt Spec Rd and made my way to Muesli Spur. The ridge walk to Koonika took approx 1 and a half and 4kms was beautiful walking thru this section.

Heading towards Mt Koonika

My tent on Mt Speculation

Sunset 

Headed down Muesli Spur by this stage light rain started to fall , I stowed the poles and bum slid down the steep rocky parts was down at the car a little after 1pm, change of fresh clothes and headed off and stopped down the bottom in Mirimbah for a bucket of hot chips and almond latte , surprisingly the coffee was good 👍🏼.  A great overnighter with special views covered approx 24kms of mostly moderate walking.

Looking down from Koonika

Muesli spur scramble

One of the bum slide sections

Mt Erica Via NBW HUT

 

Took the shortish drive across to Baw Baw National Park , aim was to locate NBW Hut, started walking up from Erica car park around 10ish beautiful crisp sunny morning, forgotten how nice it is in the Baw Baws. Found my turn to the right past Mushroom Rocks and headed off the trail in search of this "No Bloodyy Women' Hut! aka NBW
come prepared with the coordinate marked on the GPS aswell as compass and paper map incase of any iPhone mishaps. There is a very faint pad on route as well as yellow flag tape along the way so was quite straight forward but still required good concentration as I did go awol at one point faced with a wall of thick impassable scrub, retraced my steps back and found the correct route sort of. Crossed a dryish creek and a few meters later arrived at Rum Creek very beautiful creek I collected water and forged on another 50 meters and got to the hut.

Had a snack and read a few comments on the log book some dated back to 2015 pretty cool!  and also spooky vibe, I too signed the log book took a few photos and decided I would continue off track north west up to Mt Erica to rejoin the AAWT.

200 meters onwards from the hut I come out to a clearing of low scrub would be great spot to camp but would require some scrub mowing, marked a way point on the gps as a point of return, started heading upwards navigating over and around some big rocks, at around the 1300 meter contour line it started to climb steeper and a little more rough thicker scrub, popped out on Mt Erica just in time for lunch. 

After a bite I continued on the track proper to Talbot ruins and a visit to Talbot trig... was getting on 2 pm wasn't too interested walking further or camping at the ruins as was too early so slowly headed back down to Mushroom Rocks, was met with another two walkers coming the other way , was hoping Mushroom Rocks wasn't heaving with campers but pleasantly surprised had the place to myself, wandered around the rocks for awhile before setting up tent and relaxing for the arvo.

Was a cold clear night with a frosty start to the morning I headed back down and back to Melbourne, overall covered approx 13 kms, since there is no circuit walks on the Baw Baw Plateau I reckon this one is great if you don't mind some off piste walking.