Valentine's Peak southern track ??

[Smurphette]

Does anyone know if it's still possible to access the summit via the old track from the south off Peak Plain Rd?
Or to do it as a through walk from the northern end?
I've been to the start of the southern track and the initial open part looks fine, and the ridgeline end looks doable from the summit, but I imagine the in between forest part would be quite overgrown?
Anyone know if it's doable?
Is permission needed?

I've heard people talk about doing it that way back when that was the official route, and it looks much shorter on a map than the current track so it's got me curious

[north-north-west]

I was up on St Valentines just a few days ago (from the north) and tried following the old track past the summit. The first two or three hundred metres are followable albeit a little faint and overgrown, but by the time you try to sidle the knob to the south, it's buried beneath bauera and a stack of scrubbery.
The forest and transition sections will have issues with fallen timber as well as some scrub. Permission was needed in the past, as far as I know - see no reason why that would have changed. Have you been in there recently? I thought the road gates were locked by FT, though that could have changed.
It's a pity that track isn't maintained as a circuit over the top and back around the flats would be a wonderful walk.

[pazzar]

I believe you would need to get permission from Forico to access the track now. There was a gate on the road as of October 2020, and plenty of active logging happening, so it is unlikely to have changed. I have always wondered about this track too, but just assumed it was very overgrown.

[ryantmalone]

Just to add some new information about this - I was interested in getting access to Companion Hill recently so that I could photograph some different angles of St Valentines. Ended up touching base with Forico about how I would go about getting access, and after waiting a few weeks for them to get back to me, their response was that they do not grant permission for hikers to any of their land, including the old St Valentines Track and Companion Hill.

So... only way up seems to be the Kara Rd track.

[headwerkn]

Forico backtracked on a previous access agreement with Bill Wilkinson for Mt Tor a few years ago. Genuine OH&S concerns in active forestry area notwithstanding, they have zero interest in working with local bushwalkers or clubs, which is pretty poor from a community and PR perspective. Unfortunately it is private freehold land so there's not much to be done about it.