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!