Your correspondent in the field has just come back from bushwalking in The Buller/ Howitt map area.
Ms. Carola & I walked up The Eagle Peaks(1445 M.) from 8 Mile gap on Monday afternoon, after the long drive from Melbourne.( 14/12/20).It was very scenic indeed. However that was HOT and steep slippery work what with starting at 1320 . The hottest time of the day. :-0.
The March flies were horrendous :-(.
I should have worn long pants. My legs really copped it from those insects, bushes and all that pollen.
Bushwalking Vic. need to clear that track.
Day 2. 15th Dec. 2020. We started walking at 0705 up, up , up , up , up the evil NOBS TRACK, having parked the Tee mobile at the very bottom of the nearly vertical 2 km grind up to meet the AAWT. We hit the AAWT and headed up , up , up towards the summit of Mt. McDonald.
We got about 885 m. short of the true summit of Mt. McDonald( according to the GPS) before we said " Far canal !, F**k it, it is too hot and we might run out of water on the return trip " (when walking back down to the car in the Clear Creek/ Upper Jamieson valley) .
We sat down in the shade at approximately 11 am and ate lunch , enjoyed the grand stand views of Mt . Buller, The Bluff, The Eagle Peaks and Mt . Clear and then headed back. The descent down the Nobs 4 WD track was hideously steep and slippery. It was not fun :-(
. I think it may have traumatized Ms. C. who thought car camping and day hikes with day packs was going to be relaxing.
We did not see anyone else all day on 15/12/20.
I will probably give it another go in Late October next year when the heat and insects are not so vexing.
The route out of the overgrown scrub and into the scree, snow gums,
rocks and so on is not 100 % obvious and somewhat slow going but it is marked with AAWT yellow arrows here and there and with cairns once you start crossing the rather narrow and rocky summit ridge.
The scrub and fallen logs on that section of the AAWT from the NOBS track to near the [1620 M.] Mt. McDonald summit needs some track work.
The views from Mt. McDonald's summit ridge were excellent. We stopped at the 1580 M. ASL mark. Ms. Carola and I now may plan to walk up Mt. McDonald from either Low Saddle or Mt . Skene in early Nov. 2021 when the conditions are not as hot and insect infested.
So just as @Ramshead had a moment when Mt. McDonald told him " NO summit glory , Not today sunshine" we too were somewhat reticent to make the final push in that heat.
The wild flowers were showing off I must admit.
The plunge into the water hole back at our Upper Jamieson River campsite was heavenly but the biting and stinging insects were intense :-0.
The Rooftops map maker has given up with bothering to even try to show where the Northern spur track of Mt. McDonald is located on the latest map of the area.[ Ditto for Spatial Vision].
He has given up on the Northern spur of Mt. McDonald. The Timbertop school girls told me last month while out on Mt. Thorn that there is no ' track' from the Upper Jamieson hut and the 'route' is tape marked in a few places but a particularly nasty kind of dense prickle bush has taken over the terrain since the logging ended 20+ years ago and the bushfires caused dense regrowth. They said
the thorns get
stuck
in
your
flesh.
:-0
and that it was
HIDEOUS.
So the AAWT from Low Saddle or from the Nobs track are the only SANE ways up there. It is a wild and remote place that requires fitness, some navigational ability and enthusiasm to visit , nothing like Tidal River at the Prom or Halls Gap at The Grampians.
. If there are big elevation gains and decreases then I would rather go XC skiing in Dec./ Jan/ Feb. in Japan than bushwalk in the Vic. Alps in the summer heat and insects.
The summer heat , the insects and the pollen are all a nuisance !!!.
Day 3. We packed up early and went for a boots on river crossing to visit the Upper Jamieson Hut. DEWLP have installed a new pit loo there. We could hear Deer hunters shooting and wished we were wearing high viz. orange garments.
The sign for the Lickhole track from The Upper Jamieson hut to the Howqua Hills area is as dilapidated as the track condition itself is now reportedly in. Again The Timbertop school girls told me that the track is leech infested and a total bush bash.:-0
The notes on the Rooftop's map says that route has many fallen trees and thickets of stinging nettles. That cannot be fun either.
After our morning walk we drove back to Mansfield via 8 Mile Gap and Sheep yard flat and had some café therapy before returning to the evil empire.
Ms. Carola & I walked up The Eagle Peaks(1445 M.) from 8 Mile gap on Monday afternoon, after the long drive from Melbourne.( 14/12/20).It was very scenic indeed. However that was HOT and steep slippery work what with starting at 1320 . The hottest time of the day. :-0.
The March flies were horrendous :-(.
I should have worn long pants. My legs really copped it from those insects, bushes and all that pollen.
Bushwalking Vic. need to clear that track.
Day 2. 15th Dec. 2020. We started walking at 0705 up, up , up , up , up the evil NOBS TRACK, having parked the Tee mobile at the very bottom of the nearly vertical 2 km grind up to meet the AAWT. We hit the AAWT and headed up , up , up towards the summit of Mt. McDonald.
We got about 885 m. short of the true summit of Mt. McDonald( according to the GPS) before we said " Far canal !, F**k it, it is too hot and we might run out of water on the return trip " (when walking back down to the car in the Clear Creek/ Upper Jamieson valley) .
We sat down in the shade at approximately 11 am and ate lunch , enjoyed the grand stand views of Mt . Buller, The Bluff, The Eagle Peaks and Mt . Clear and then headed back. The descent down the Nobs 4 WD track was hideously steep and slippery. It was not fun :-(
. I think it may have traumatized Ms. C. who thought car camping and day hikes with day packs was going to be relaxing.
We did not see anyone else all day on 15/12/20.
I will probably give it another go in Late October next year when the heat and insects are not so vexing.
The route out of the overgrown scrub and into the scree, snow gums,
rocks and so on is not 100 % obvious and somewhat slow going but it is marked with AAWT yellow arrows here and there and with cairns once you start crossing the rather narrow and rocky summit ridge.
The scrub and fallen logs on that section of the AAWT from the NOBS track to near the [1620 M.] Mt. McDonald summit needs some track work.
The views from Mt. McDonald's summit ridge were excellent. We stopped at the 1580 M. ASL mark. Ms. Carola and I now may plan to walk up Mt. McDonald from either Low Saddle or Mt . Skene in early Nov. 2021 when the conditions are not as hot and insect infested.
So just as @Ramshead had a moment when Mt. McDonald told him " NO summit glory , Not today sunshine" we too were somewhat reticent to make the final push in that heat.
The wild flowers were showing off I must admit.
The plunge into the water hole back at our Upper Jamieson River campsite was heavenly but the biting and stinging insects were intense :-0.
The Rooftops map maker has given up with bothering to even try to show where the Northern spur track of Mt. McDonald is located on the latest map of the area.[ Ditto for Spatial Vision].
He has given up on the Northern spur of Mt. McDonald. The Timbertop school girls told me last month while out on Mt. Thorn that there is no ' track' from the Upper Jamieson hut and the 'route' is tape marked in a few places but a particularly nasty kind of dense prickle bush has taken over the terrain since the logging ended 20+ years ago and the bushfires caused dense regrowth. They said
the thorns get
stuck
in
your
flesh.
:-0
and that it was
HIDEOUS.
So the AAWT from Low Saddle or from the Nobs track are the only SANE ways up there. It is a wild and remote place that requires fitness, some navigational ability and enthusiasm to visit , nothing like Tidal River at the Prom or Halls Gap at The Grampians.
. If there are big elevation gains and decreases then I would rather go XC skiing in Dec./ Jan/ Feb. in Japan than bushwalk in the Vic. Alps in the summer heat and insects.
The summer heat , the insects and the pollen are all a nuisance !!!.
Day 3. We packed up early and went for a boots on river crossing to visit the Upper Jamieson Hut. DEWLP have installed a new pit loo there. We could hear Deer hunters shooting and wished we were wearing high viz. orange garments.
The sign for the Lickhole track from The Upper Jamieson hut to the Howqua Hills area is as dilapidated as the track condition itself is now reportedly in. Again The Timbertop school girls told me that the track is leech infested and a total bush bash.:-0
The notes on the Rooftop's map says that route has many fallen trees and thickets of stinging nettles. That cannot be fun either.
After our morning walk we drove back to Mansfield via 8 Mile Gap and Sheep yard flat and had some café therapy before returning to the evil empire.
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