Mt Hobhouse access

[Tortoise]

Just wondering if anybody can shed light on the 'razor wire' rumour around Clark Dam for access to Mt Hobhouse. Pms welcome. Thanks very much for any info.

[stepbystep]

Our group went in from the forestry roads to the east and up to the saddle between Hobhouse and the 1178m peak SE. Offtrack once the logging stops, bit scrubby/rough but not too bad with plenty of pleasant open country. Allow 8 hrs from where the closest gate was. We did it in ~6 from memory.

So didn't go near the dam.

[Tortoise]

Thanks, SBS. I'd heard of people coming in from that direction, but I still can't quite figure out where you'd go in from. E.g. where did you cross the Derwent? And was it just a preferred option, or was the route from the dam not a goer. At the moment someone else is leading the walk, and is planning the latter - unless I come up with a better option.
Ta

[stepbystep]

Thanks, SBS. I'd heard of people coming in from that direction, but I still can't quite figure out where you'd go in from. E.g. where did you cross the Derwent? And was it just a preferred option, or was the route from the dam not a goer. At the moment someone else is leading the walk, and is planning the latter - unless I come up with a better option.
Ta

If you go across the dam without arranging access from the Hydro it's basically trespassing, I know parties do it.
I liked the way we went because it was legal and crossed some really interesting country once off the road. We had to walk a road for 40 odd mins I think ... take a look on GE and backtrack from the forestry road that gets closest...don't think I GPS'd it sorry.

[Tortoise]

Thanks heaps for that.

[Tortoise]

oh, one more question - do you remember if it was 2wD-able to where you parked?

[Azza]

Its pretty straightforward.
Have a look on theList and Google Earth.

If you back track from the Dam, you'll see a forestry road that crosses the Derwent.
it only continues a few hundred metres until a locked gate.
From there you can see various branches off the road, follow the ones that gets you closest to Hobhouse.
The road itself actually continues another 300m+ further than where its shown on the map.

From there its initially a bit scrubby, but you eventually get through it.

This shows the road in question. A bike would make short work of it.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-42.283 ... !1e3?hl=en

[north-north-west]

Seems to be one of the files I lost when the system shat itself. But this shows the road. The red dot is the clearing where the vehicle track ends - the track gets a bit rough before that and splits off in all sorts of directions so you need to be alert as to which way you go. From there it's scruffy tangled forest with mainly bauera and ferns as an understory until you get up. Aim for the saddle just to the SE of the high point.
And don't go up from that side until the snow's properly gone. I tried when there was still plenty of soggy snow around and it was just too much hard work.

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[Tortoise]

Thanks Azza and NNW. I'm a bit slow, but I worked it out in the end. Good point about the snow. Looks like we're going with plan C this time, and will hopefully take it on with bikes later in the year. Much appreciated, folks.

[LeftRightShoot]

Seems to be one of the files I lost when the system shat itself. But this shows the road. The red dot is the clearing where the vehicle track ends - the track gets a bit rough before that and splits off in all sorts of directions so you need to be alert as to which way you go. From there it's scruffy tangled forest with mainly bauera and ferns as an understory until you get up. Aim for the saddle just to the SE of the high point.
And don't go up from that side until the snow's properly gone. I tried when there was still plenty of soggy snow around and it was just too much hard work.

Did you aim for the (seemingly)open area just next to the work "HOBHOUSE" in that pic? was wondering if that was nice open area, or nasty.

Cheers

[north-north-west]

Once you"re up on the high ground next to the rocky spine it's pretty easy going, basically open terraces with very light alpine scrub and scattered snowgums. The flat valley almost directly east of the summit is very open, and there are good leads from there up to the rocks, so it's best to aim for that bit first. Do not make the mistake of thinking that looping over Majors Lookout will make a pleasant addition to the day unless you have plenty of time to spare. It does, but it makes for a very long day.

eta: OK, I think the valley I mentioned is the open area you meant. Yes. Easy going. A little damp underfoot but much easier walking than trying to follow the ridges and hillsides.

Last edited by north-north-west on Tue 23 Jun, 2020 3:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Azza]

I seem to remember it being fairly easy going through the forest, not super scrubby.
We climbed diagonally up along the side of the ridge towards the obvious creek gully.
From there I remember pineapple grass leading up to flat open ground before back into the scrub for last bit to the top.
Its a little hard to gauge from the satellite view, but it's pretty easy going once you hit the lighter coloured area closer to HobHouse.
Worth taking a bike for the forestry road to save time.

[north-north-west]

I have since found the GPX file. Let me make it plain that I stuffed up the nav in this pretty thoroughly except for the high ridge and the outward bit after hitting the flats. This starts from the edge of the coupe. The flats are obvious in the image and your first target on the ground. Aim for the eastern corner.

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[LeftRightShoot]

Thanks for the clarification. I was going to cut straight through the guts of your route. Bad idea? Looks a bit messy in the gully but shaves off those K's

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Maybe

[L_Cham_67]

I've done a similar route to where the purple line goes in the above screenshot. From the higher reaches of the creek I managed to follow fairly open leads up to that open area on the satellite imagery, which is shin high vegetation. When I get home from work I can check out my actual route and a few more details.
I remember the vegetation near the end of the forestry spur road being a mess with lots of fallen trees and hanging/tangled branches making for slow going in places.

[LeftRightShoot]

Thank you

[north-north-west]

That purple line is the way to go. The mess near the logging coupe is a pain but it doesn't last all that long. The creek can be followed for a while and is quite nice.

[L_Cham_67]

My approximate route is the red line I've added to the satellite shot. According to what I wrote about it, there is quite a lot of bauera before dropping down to Coxs Creek, but that's to be expected really. From memory I didn't descend earlier because I thought it was going to be impenetrable. My original plan was similar to the green line that utilises more of the ridge, but I spotted the relatively open leads on the other side of the creek. It worked out okay as I reckon it would have been a bigger loss in altitude had I crossed the creek downstream near where the purple line goes. The creek was flowing, despite being quite high up and the middle of January, so it could be quite a reliable water source.

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[LeftRightShoot]

Hi All,

I did this walk on the weekend. I rode my bike to the end of the road (57 mins in, 25 out) and the walk itself was just over 6:30, so about 8 hours all up which is comparable to going in the other way I guess.

Pros of this way are:

- Breaking up the walk with some riding
- The amazing view that pops out at you as you breach the final saddle
- Basically no climbing or rock scrambling at all

Cons are:

- That nightmare bit. The first 1.4km or so are quite frustrating although some (camouflaged) tape is useful for the first few hundred meters.

The open area on the sat image is calf high scrub and although a bit spongy underfoot, its still quite fast. The last ascent is a dream but there are some cliflines in the final ascent which can be avoided by staying to the left. Easy shutes take to to the summit and you barely have to place foot on rock.

Although counter-intuative, Ive heard reports that following the creek wasnt "too bad". Perhaps the nightmare section can be reduced by continuing to follow the tape to the creek?

Cheers

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My route

[north-north-west]

Are you sure the tape is for a walking route? When I did this there was plenty of tape from the end of the road more or less on the line you have, but it was old FT coupe marking and not exactly a reliable guide for walkers. Another line of it headed out east and south of the road end.
The creek line is a bit better as far as I recall, although I didn't follow it all the way to the open ground.

[LeftRightShoot]

Re: tapes, you could be right. White tape on every 3rd or 4th tree. Seemed quite excessive (and the wrong colour to use)

[Lostsoul]

Are you sure the tape is for a walking route? When I did this there was plenty of tape from the end of the road more or less on the line you have, but it was old FT coupe marking and not exactly a reliable guide for walkers. Another line of it headed out east and south of the road end.
The creek line is a bit better as far as I recall, although I didn't follow it all the way to the open ground.

I did this walk today,the tape is definitely a walking route and leads to the creek where there is a large tree fallen over it that can be used to cross,on the other side there is a few old orange tapes.
I followed Coxs creek all the way up to the open saddle,was mostly good walking on the west side of the creek,encountered a small patch of baura and cutting grass further up near where it opens out into the pineapple grass.

[headwerkn]

Probably also worth noting that access over the dam for the 'official'/old bulldozer track route (mentioned in The Abels) is currently unavailable due to works being carried out on the dram itself. Hydro aren't giving out the key for the gate for vehicle access, and hoping over it would be considered trespass. No idea what the timeframe is for this situation (info comes secondhand from Bill himself and a mate who was trying to get access).

Just up from the final bend where the road starts to parallel the canal, there's a walkway over the canal, then just downstream an 'island' in river which can be used to get across, subject to outflows of course. Once across you can backtrack up towards the dam and rejoin the vehicle track. Although at this point, following Coxs Creek or just taking the as beforementioned forestry coup route might be preferrable The 'Abels' way is quite straightforward and enjoyable though.

[Summited Enough]

Probably also worth noting that access over the dam for the 'official'/old bulldozer track route (mentioned in The Abels) is currently unavailable due to works being carried out on the dram itself. Hydro aren't giving out the key for the gate for vehicle access, and hoping over it would be considered trespass. No idea what the timeframe is for this situation (info comes secondhand from Bill himself and a mate who was trying to get access).

Just up from the final bend where the road starts to parallel the canal, there's a walkway over the canal, then just downstream an 'island' in river which can be used to get across, subject to outflows of course. Once across you can backtrack up towards the dam and rejoin the vehicle track. Although at this point, following Coxs Creek or just taking the as beforementioned forestry coup route might be preferrable The 'Abels' way is quite straightforward and enjoyable though.

We went over the dam last month (October) to access Hobhouse. There are road works leading to the dam and the road at the time was closed on weekdays only.