Bluff - King Billies - Mt Clear - Mt McDonald circuit?

[Drew]

I'm just looking at the map and thinking about a 4 day walk for Cup Weekend. I'm thinking that a good circuit taking in The Bluff, King Billies, Mt Clear and Mt McDonald should be possible.

Maybe something like this:
Day 1: 8 Mile Gap - The Nobs = 16km (via Upper Jamieson Hut and Mt McDonald)
Day 2: The Nobs - Chesters Yard = 13km
Day 3: Chesters Yard - Bluff Hut = 14km (via King Billies and Mt Lovick)
Day 4: Bluff Hut - 8 Mile Gap = 10km (via the Bluff and then Bluff Link Rd. Or could maybe do via Rocky Ridge and off track on last section to avoid Bluff Link Road?)

I read on another topic on the forum that there are some soaks and spots to camp near The Nobs. Otherwise I know there's good camping and water in the saddle north of Mt Clear (but that makes a much longer day from 8 Mile Gap - could start from Upper Jamieson Hut instead, making for a longer last day instead).

Given that the roads will be open to 4WDs again by Cup Weekend I'm a bit put off by the road walking between AAWT and Bluff Hut, and by camping at Bluff Hut with 4WDers. But I guess not much can be done to avoid that.

Happy to hear any suggestions for better ways to make this walk work, different starting/ending points, different spots to camp etc.

Cheers

[madmacca]

In my experience, the positioning of the horse yards and fencing at Bluff Hut makes it unattractive for car campers. While the 4WDers will stop in and look, they tend to camp at Lovick's rather than Bluff.

[Travis22]

Id say, you'll get more groups of 4wders camping at and around Lovicks you will still get at least one group at Bluff, the first group to stop to 'claim' the hut for the night.

Travis.

[Lophophaps]

I'm just looking at the map and thinking about a 4 day walk for Cup Weekend. I'm thinking that a good circuit taking in The Bluff, King Billies, Mt Clear and Mt McDonald should be possible.

Maybe something like this:
Day 1: 8 Mile Gap - The Nobs = 16km (via Upper Jamieson Hut and Mt McDonald)
Day 2: The Nobs - Chesters Yard = 13km
Day 3: Chesters Yard - Bluff Hut = 14km (via King Billies and Mt Lovick)
Day 4: Bluff Hut - 8 Mile Gap = 10km (via the Bluff and then Bluff Link Rd. Or could maybe do via Rocky Ridge and off track on last section to avoid Bluff Link Road?)

Day one seems about right. Days two and three are quite short. You could camp on the Bluff and descend the north face. Rocky Ridge to Eight Mile Flat is possible but you need a car there. If doing this, take everytone to UJ Hut, then drive back to Eight Mile Flat and cadge a lift - should be lots of traffic.

Another option is to part at Eight Mile flat and walk up the Howqua to Howitt Spur and Mac Springs. With 1000 metres of climbing over 20+ kilometres it's a hard day requiring an early start. Days two and three are on the Crosscut and to Magdala, then day three to The Bluff. Day four is downhill to Eight Mile Flat.

I read on another topic on the forum that there are some soaks and spots to camp near The Nobs. Otherwise I know there's good camping and water in the saddle north of Mt Clear (but that makes a much longer day from 8 Mile Gap - could start from Upper Jamieson Hut instead, making for a longer last day instead).

Going Eight Mile Gap - UJH - Big Mac - Chesters is a long hard day. You may even live.

[madmacca]

one option would be to push on on day 2 to Mt Magdala/Hellfire Creek.

Taking the sidle around the north face of Magdala one way, and going back over the top would minimize the amount of backtracking.

[Drew]

Thanks for the replies.

one option would be to push on on day 2 to Mt Magdala/Hellfire Creek.

Another option is to part at Eight Mile flat and walk up the Howqua to Howitt Spur and Mac Springs. With 1000 metres of climbing over 20+ kilometres it's a hard day requiring an early start. Days two and three are on the Crosscut and to Magdala, then day three to The Bluff. Day four is downhill to Eight Mile Flat.

I've been to Magdala, Hellfire Creek, Howitt quite a few times so the area I'm most wanting to get to is the section between Upper Jamieson Hut and the King Billies.

Day one seems about right. Days two and three are quite short. You could camp on the Bluff and descend the north face. Rocky Ridge to Eight Mile Flat is possible but you need a car there. If doing this, take everytone to UJ Hut, then drive back to Eight Mile Flat and cadge a lift - should be lots of traffic.

Maybe if we have two cars then a car shuffle would be a good option - start walking at UJH and finish at 8 Mile Gap. Is this okay for 2WD? I've only driven as far as 8 Mile Flat before.
Camping on the Bluff sounds good. I've only been up there once and it was wet, cold, windy and not much visibility so it's a little hard to imagine but I guess in good weather it would be great. Is there much flat ground up there and any sheltered spots? I guess if the weather wasn't looking suitable for camping on top then we'd just camp at Bluff Hut. Good to know that Lovick's is the preferred 4WD spot. I'm fine with the short days - don't mind a sleep-in and lazy day or two with plenty of time to faff about.

[Lophophaps]

Starting at UJH makes it shorter. One way to hasten the start is to get in as far as possible on the Friday. I don't recall any camp sites on the road near UJH. You probably want to camp off the road as 4WDs may be coming through. The road should be okay for 2WD to UJH. Perhaps ask Parks Vic a week or so before. There's flat spots on The Bluff, and there may be water in the notch east of The Bluff, The Blowhole. I'm intending to be there a day or two before you and will camp on The Bluff close to the summit. I hope. Sleeping in is good, very relaxing.

[Drew]

Thanks Lophophaps. Driving up on the Friday night would probably be the plan. Even if we only get as far as Sheepyard Flat then we could get an early enough start on day 1.

[north-north-west]

Just be aware that the north face track up MacDonald is badly overgrown in the lower section, if that is your planned route.
There is also good camping on and near the saddle east of High Cone.

[Drew]

Just be aware that the north face track up MacDonald is badly overgrown in the lower section, if that is your planned route.
There is also good camping on and near the saddle east of High Cone.

Thanks NNW. That was/is my planned route. Roughly how much do you mean by "the lower section"? A few hundred metres or a few hours? Or both?

Good to know about the High Cone saddle spot too.

Cheers

[north-north-west]

I mean basically until you get above where the old 4WD track ended - something like 2 or 3 km from Low Saddle Rd.

This shows the route. The blue dot is the saddle before the climb up. Once you get away from that it starts to ease off. Once you reach the first of the rocks it gets better.

[north-north-west]

edit: That was supposed to be a PM.

[neilmny]

Couldn't get it to load on Basecamp or Mapsource NNW.
I'm getting an "unkown error".
Looking at it with notepad the structure and header looks different to my other GPX files that work.
It also has the word Magellan in it so maybe the Garmin software is spitting the dummy on that

[Drew]

Thanks NNW. I might wait and see which friends will come along on this walk before deciding on a route - some are more tolerant of scrub bashing than others!

[damoprz]

Hi guys,
I was hoping to do this loop in three days some time soon, driving out to sheep-yard flat to camp on a Friday night. With a basic plan of:
Day 1: Refrigerator Gap -> Mt McDonald: Carry a lot of water & Camp on the east slope.
Day 2: Mt Mcdonald -> Chesters yard: Camp near Chesters yard
Day 3: Chesters Yard -> Refrigerator gap

Any suggestions? Is it a better loop to do clockwise?

I'm not really worried by some bush bashing + bad track, the days are long at the moment. The main thing I want to be sure about is water.
Has anyone been up this way lately, what is water looking like? Are the soaks/pools around the Nobs + Mt Clear ok? Is there any problems with water between Chesters Yard and Refrigerator gap?

Thanks

[Lophophaps]

You have a fairly demanding walk.

It's a longish road bash from Ref. Saddle to UJH. If you have two cars a car shuffle may be in order. There are campsites on the Howqua to Eight Mile Creek, and at Ref. Saddle. If you camp at these - especially Ref. Saddle - it will save time on the first day, which you may well need.

Carrying water for 36 hours up McDonald is not easy. Chesters has reasonably certain water, the rest should be working. Is your intention to keep to the ridge: Chesters - Lovicks - Bluff - Ref. Saddle?

[damoprz]

Yeah it will be a hard walk, but we are fit enough and the days are long enough. My main worry is the water. I am thinking of reversing the direction, if we did the route clockwise this would decrease the climb with water to camp on Mt-Macdonald, making life easier.

I will try to get a 2nd car. Are there any better places for a 2WD to park & minimize road walking? I've heard you can get up the south-ridge of the Bluff but I don't know how far along Brocks road a 2WD can get at the moment.

I was planning on keeping to the ridge, Bluff is one of the things I am looking forward to.

[Lophophaps]

I've not been up or down the south ridge of The Bluff for decades. It was scrubby at the bottom and then eased off into pleasant sub-alpine and alpine forest. Going anti-clockwise will make carrying water easier. You can drop south before McD on a road (don't have a map with me now) for a shortish distance and get water. Maybe camp near there or a little way up McD. You should be able to get 2WD into the road near UJH, and Ref. Saddle is fine for 2WD. There's a car park below The Bluff.

[damoprz]

Great, thanks!
I think we'll start at refrigerator gap and walk up the bluff and go clockwise then. I am hesitant to add the south-ridge of the bluff to an already long walk if unsure of how long it will take.

[Hishy P]

How long does it take to drive to The Bluff car park from the turn off from the Mt Buller - Mansfield road?

[jono]

I can testify that the track from Low Saddle Rd up to Mt McDonald is extremely overgrown. I've done the walk a few times before but last weekend I retreated at the final saddle before the climb up Mt McDonald because it had taken too long to get there and I wasn't sure I'd complete the circuit to the Bluff in daylight. I left in dark but had to wait for the sun to rise to better navigate. There are some clearings where is there is only bracken but for most of it the vegetation is dense and well above head height. There are ribbon markers every 10 m or so but even these are hard to find. I think it may be a waste of time trying to find the ribbons. You are probably better off walking a bearing.

[damoprz]

How long does it take to drive to The Bluff car park from the turn off from the Mt Buller - Mansfield road?

From memory we took about 45 min to get to Sheepyard-Flat from Mansfield. If you are in a 2wd it probably take another 45 min to get to the Bluff Carpark, a little quicker in a 4WD. I wasn't driving, so not 100% on this and I will check with friends. The road to Refrigerator Gap is really good at the moment, you would have to be very precious not to get a 2WD there, unless there was fallen trees.

There are some clearings where is there is only bracken but for most of it the vegetation is dense and well above head height. There are ribbon markers every 10 m or so but even these are hard to find. I think it may be a waste of time trying to find the ribbons. You are probably better off walking a bearing.

Yeah, the walking is fine but a bit scrambly as you climb down Mt Mac. As you get lower it gets a little dense, though it was still reasonably quick going. We did it in mid-November and I didn't see any ribbons, though I was not looking. We were on and off the track a bit, especially in the gullies, but navigation was easy.

Very nice loop, fairly easy walk in 2-nights 3-days, we had time to kill both evenings before camp and were back at the car around 3pm on Monday. If the track up Jamieson Spur was still clear this would improve the loop a lot, but the road-walk back up to refrigerator gap wasn't that bad.

[peregrinator]

How long does it take to drive to The Bluff car park from the turn off from the Mt Buller - Mansfield road?

Precisely 01:23 (in a 2WD) a few weeks ago.

[Drew]

Damoprz what route did you end up taking? I'm considering going up this weekend for 3 days. Forecast looks a little warm though, especially for the sections of road walking.

[damoprz]

I was in a meeting late Friday afternoon, which meant late to Sheep-yard flat and late to wake, we decided not to do Jamieson Spur.

Day 1: Walked up to Bluff Hut. Then on to Lovicks Hutt where we had lunch and a nap to get out of the sun. Finished the 4WD track and walked over the Billies, stopping for water at Chester's Yard. There were mosquitos around so we chose to continue on a little and camped in a clearing a km or two after.

Day 2: Walked over Mt Clear, over square top, though we skirted High Cone as we were getting hungry and wanted to make it to the top of the Nobs for Lunch. The flies were bad so we ate quickly and walked to the point where the AAWT leaves Nobs Track. My friends napped while I walked down the track ~1.5 km, filled up about 16 L of water and returned. We hiked up Mt Mac to a Saddle around 1500 m and found a good looking little space to camp. You could camp higher up if you are not fussy about sites.

Day 3: The rest of Mt Mac, and descending the North side (slow!). Early (and long) lunch and a swim in the river down the bottom. Finally to the car-park via Refrigerator Gap Track. I think we finished a little after 4pm.

With the heat I would be trying to time the road walking for either morning or evening.

[Drew]

Thanks damoprz. I didn't end up going, but good to have the info anyway. You started from the Bluff Carpark then (the one just up the road from Refrigerator Gap)?

[damoprz]

Yeah just from the Bluff carpark.