Took a little overnight stroll along the Bogong High Plains between Cope and Young’s hut - an easy 24km with a 16kg pack.
On the way in to Falls I drove the Tawonga Gap Track up to Mt Porepunkah into Havilah off Happy Valley - requires low 4x4, but a beautiful little offroad epic with lovely views - highly recommended!
Falls Creek as busy as I’ve ever seen it in summer - bikers, hikers, mountain bikers, road cyclists, runners, paddlers, fishermen, bush campers...
I encountered more people on the trail in 2 days than I normally would in a full year’s hiking!
Past Mount Jim it’s normally reasonably quiet...
Late rains means more flowers into late December than usual, but with the usual contingent of flies.
2 additional impressions - more of us should ski Mt McKay, and they should just shoot the bloody horses on the Plains before they do more damage- which is already considerable.
I celebrated the joys of a new lightweight pack (70L Exped Thunder -1.8 kg) by rollerblading 10km between Ovens and Porepunkah on the tarred cycle track once I’d done hiking.
Just look at those skiable lines off Mt McKay - side-country at its best!
Lovely horse, but it and it’s mob of 10 (including a young foal) on Young’s ridge beyond Mt Jim are as misplaced as the rabbits in my herb garden!
Horses are not a good combination with delicate sphagnum bogs - a season or two of horse activity irreversibly destroys a fragile ecosystem thousands of years in the making..
On the way through the Kiewa valley the mist over Falls (fog over Rockey Valley Reservoir) looked deceptively like snow... wishful thinking. Good to see people taking to the skies!
Late meadow flowers in all their glory.
Storm clouds threatening over the skeletons of dead snow gums - a fragile environment!
The flies shared my appreciation of the new Exped backpack!
On the way in to Falls I drove the Tawonga Gap Track up to Mt Porepunkah into Havilah off Happy Valley - requires low 4x4, but a beautiful little offroad epic with lovely views - highly recommended!
Falls Creek as busy as I’ve ever seen it in summer - bikers, hikers, mountain bikers, road cyclists, runners, paddlers, fishermen, bush campers...
I encountered more people on the trail in 2 days than I normally would in a full year’s hiking!
Past Mount Jim it’s normally reasonably quiet...
Late rains means more flowers into late December than usual, but with the usual contingent of flies.
2 additional impressions - more of us should ski Mt McKay, and they should just shoot the bloody horses on the Plains before they do more damage- which is already considerable.
I celebrated the joys of a new lightweight pack (70L Exped Thunder -1.8 kg) by rollerblading 10km between Ovens and Porepunkah on the tarred cycle track once I’d done hiking.
Just look at those skiable lines off Mt McKay - side-country at its best!
Lovely horse, but it and it’s mob of 10 (including a young foal) on Young’s ridge beyond Mt Jim are as misplaced as the rabbits in my herb garden!
Horses are not a good combination with delicate sphagnum bogs - a season or two of horse activity irreversibly destroys a fragile ecosystem thousands of years in the making..
On the way through the Kiewa valley the mist over Falls (fog over Rockey Valley Reservoir) looked deceptively like snow... wishful thinking. Good to see people taking to the skies!
Late meadow flowers in all their glory.
Storm clouds threatening over the skeletons of dead snow gums - a fragile environment!
The flies shared my appreciation of the new Exped backpack!
