Circuit walks in October

[AnnaW]

Hi all,

Found this forum looking for circuit walks in the Alpine National Park >> we're planning our first trip out there in October. Sounds like it might not be the best time of year, but we're hemmed in by a long drive (from Adelaide) and school holidays - the downside of being with a teacher!

Can anyone recommend a 3-4 day circuit that's do-able in mid-October? We've done a bit of walking in snow, but not enough to register as "experienced". Plenty of multi-days under our belt though and we're geared up, so we're up for a challenge.

OR are we kidding ourselves? We can just be patient and wait for summer if we have to...

Anna

[Earwig]

There are lots of good guidebooks. Glenn Van der Kniijff's Bushwalks in the Victorian Alps is a good one. Check out http://www.osp.com.au for details. And for the record, I don't have shares in the company or anything - it's just a good book.

As for walk suggestions - crosscut saw is good and easy to combine with other places such as the bluff or cobbler for a longer walk.

As for snow in october - who knows what sort of winter we will have but at most I would expect a few drifts on southern slopes.

[Earwig]

I forgot to add that many roads are closed over winter and not open until early november. Check DSE or parks Victoria websites for maps and dates to make sure you can get where you want to.

[north-north-west]

In October the Howitt Rd will still be closed at Kelly's Lane, and the Speculation Rd at Lake Cobbler. The Stirling Circuit Rd will also be closed, so there's no practical vehicle access close enough to the Crosscut. Unfortunately. I'd love to see that area under snow.
But you could drive up to Telegraph Box Junction on Stirling and walk in from there.

Brocks Rd will be open except for the section up to the Bluff Track, so you could get onto Low Saddle Rd and do the circuit over MacDonald to Clear and back down. That's two longer days or three if you prefer to take it easy. Or start at Mountain Creek and do Mt Bogong, camping at Cleve Cole and visiting Howman's Falls. Could even do the whole Bogong Circuit, it's usually a four or five day walk.
Both walks are in Glenn van der Kniijff's book. (Did I spell that correctly?) So is the Bungalow/Bon Accord circuit to the Razorback, with a side trip to Feathertop, although that may be a bit dicey if there's still heavy snow on Feathertop.
Or, for a longer walk into Bogong, start at the Mt Wills access track and hit the AAWT, going down to Big River Rd and then up Long Spur to Bossaiea Hill and Maddisons.
Or start from MacFarlane Saddle and head out over Spion Kopje, then down to Tali Karng. Return with a loop over Wellington. Really only two or three days, but it's nicely variable country.
Or, if you don't mind driving that far, get to the start of the 4WD track into the Playground (it'll probably still be closed in October), and try a cross country route over the Cobberas (with sidetrips to Middle, Cleft & Moscow if you like) and down into Cowombat Flat, going back out on the track with a short walk along Limestone Rd to get back to the car. Plenty of things to explore around the flat, so you can spend a night or two there.

There are plenty of other options, but those are about my favourites.
Best other option would be to drive up to Falls Creek and do the Bogong Circuit from there. Be a fairly solid four days, though. Ditto with a loop from Falls Creek to Cope Saddle, then via the AAWT past Jim, Cobungra Gap, Swindlers Spur. Return either via the Razorback and Diamantina Spur or over Mt Loch, going back up past Westons Hut. Lot of up and down in that, but it's a good introduction to the area.

[AnnaW]

Thanks guys; that's really helpful.

We had been set on doing Crosscut Saw-Viking from Howitt Plains until we realised the road would be closed. A return trip is already looking likely so we can give that one a whirl.

But until then, it sounds like there are loads of alternatives. I've ordered book you both recommended, so we'll take it from there. Mt Bogong from Mountain Creek is currently the frontrunner - especially after reading your trip report, NNW. Stunning photos!

[north-north-west]

It's a hard place to take bad photos. Lovely little mountain.

[peregrinator]

NNW, there's a lot of useful info in your reply. Can I ask which of your suggested routes would have the least bushfire damage? I haven't been to alpine areas for a few years because I find it too depressing to see lots of burnt bush. (The side benefit of this for me is that I've discovered numerous other places I'd previously ignored. E.g. Burrowa-Pine Mountain NP. And yes, I know there may be side benefits for the burnt bush as well!) I've looked at maps which show the fire extent, but I'm sure it would be more revealing to get first-hand reports from people who've actually walked through the affected areas.

[north-north-west]

There's very little in the Victorian Alps - in the whole of the Australian Alps, in fact - that hasn't been burnt over the last eight years or so. In the Cobberas the damage isn't particularly obvious, because there's not a lot of tree cover up there anyway. But the area north of Cowombat Flat - up near Forest Hill and on the southern end of the Pilot's ridge - is hellishly thick with regrowth.

Bogong itself didn't get hit too badly, although there's storm damage there, but most of the High Plains were. The Grey Hills are silver grey from distance because of all the tree skeletons.
MacFarlane Saddle, Spion Kopje and Tali Karng were also hit pretty badly - not so much the lakeside, but all of the higher areas. The upper part of Riggalls Spur is still closed because every time there's a little bit of wind another hundred dead trees fall down - mostly across the track.

The MacDonald - Clear circuit doesn't have a lot of fire damage that I recall. Maybe it's just that I'm always so happy to be up there that I don't notice it. The King Billies, Magdala, Lovick, Eadley Stoney and The Bluff are more or less OK. The Razorback is another one covered in silver grey, although Swindler's, Jim and the drop to Cobungra Gap aren't too bad.

Now that the drought's broken the recovery has gone ahead with a vengeance. I've been amazed at the amount of regrowth in some of the worst burnt areas. Where there are gum suckers it's much harder walking, but many trees survived despite looking dead for years, and now there's so much epicormic growth you'd be hard put to realise there's been a fire in some places. The country along Barry Way & the Suggan Buggan Rd, for instance, looks almost normal again.
Still looks pretty bad up on the Dargo, but.

[Earwig]

Baw Baw Plateau hasn't bern burnt in quite a while and was missed in the fires of the last ten or so years. I have to admit though that I have never skied or walked there. It is on my to do list.

[peregrinator]

Thanks NNW and Earwig. The Cobberas seems like the place I should try first, then some of the other suggestions.

I had seen that the Baw Baw plateau wasn't fire affected at http://nremap-sc.nre.vic.gov.au/MapShare.v2/imf.jsp?site=forestexplorer, so walked there in February 2010. The AAWT was overgrown about 20 minutes north of Phillack Saddle, but I read somewhere later that track clearing work has been done in that location.

Mustering Flat was pretty and there wasn't a lot of evidence that other walkers had been through. I also went down the Zig Zag Track to Poverty Point on the Thompson River, where the trees on the east side were badly burnt in 2009. Again, I read somewhere that the footbridge whch was closed then has now been reopened.

AnnaW, Mt Bogong from Mountain Creek (etc.) is a beautiful place to be, but I haven't walked there since 2001.

[north-north-west]

I was back over the Baw Baw in autumn, and there's been a fair bit of trackwork done. While the section north of Pillock Saddle is always harder going than elsewhere, it's better now than I've ever seen it. Which means that the area I call 'Wall of Scrub Ridge' actually has a visible foottrack through it.
Not that that will last - things grow very quickly up there.

It's a good place to start snow camping, especially up near Camp Saddle and Pillock. Can get some very deep drifts there which last well into spring.