Stage 1 - Warburton to Mt McKinty - 177.5km - 7 days
Stage 2 - Mt McKinty to Hotham Village - 108km - 5 days
Stage 3 - Hotham Village to Thredbo - 221.5km - 9 days
Stage 4 - Thredbo to Whitses Hut - 115km - 4 days
Stage 5 - Witses Hut to Namidgi Visitors Centre - 98km - 3 days
The Upper Yarra Trail is not well maintained or signposted and being situated in a logging region there were many new roads that weren't on the map making navigation difficult. In some areas log trucks roared by and at times I found myself surrounded by clear felled waste land. Next time I will start at Walhalla despite the difficulty posed by a lack of public transport.
The final section of the Upper Yarra Trail from Block 10 Road was also quite interesting, passing through the very upper reaches of the Thomson River. The link track to the AAWT was quite an adventure as it was almost completely overgrown . Since it is a former 4WD track I was able to follow the car width gap through the trees to finally spew out of the bush and onto the AAWT. It was nice to be finally up walking in snowgums as I followed the AAWT north to Stronachs Camp.
It was along this section that I met Jonathon and friends (sorry I forgot your names) who I walked with for the last hour of the day. An entertaining group, the had had quite an adventure on their 2 day traverse of the Baw Baws. I learnt a new technique for getting over (well under actually) fallen trees and must thank them for making a phone call home for me as I couldn't get reception on the mobile.
At the Upper Thomson Road I went looking for an intersection that Siseman noted as being "not obvious". Unfortunately I looked a little too hard and found a track that I spent 2 hours trashing my way down and back again. The not obvious intersection that I should have been looking for was only a little way along and was quite irrelevant in the end because the track to be followed is the obvious bit of the intersection.
I passed the Thomson River and the wonderful little campsite that sits at the base of Mt Easton. The tracks down to the Jodan River were extremely steep 4WD tracks and not enjoyable to walk along. When I finally reached Blue Jacket I was hoping to camp at a campsite marked on the map but this had been completely covered in blackberries. The campsite at Red Jacket was open, hard, bare ground, but better than the blackberries. The Jordan River is right next to the site and deep enough for a dip.
I wasn't able to locate the walking track along Victor Spur so I followed the 4WD track. It was 4WD tracks all day which can get a little boring. Where the AAWT meets the Black River, however, things got more interesting. Black River was a beautiful spot and following the river downstream along the track or wading in the river (I tried both) was great walking.
After a day with a lot more ups than downs I reached Mt Skene where I was able to get a phone call out and then descended to Rumpff Saddle to pick up the first of my food drops. From here I entered the land of little water. I didn't look too hard for water as my intended camp site where Middle Ridge Range leaves the track has a small dam which Siseman lists as a water source. The samll dam was a brown mud soup, not exactly up to my standard for drinking. So I pressed on hoping to be able to descend into a gully to get water. After a terrible descent into one gully I finally gave up and collected water from a puddle. It was the cleanest puddle I could find and in the end I never got sick.
After a night of heavy rain and thunder I had to set out in the rain and climb up to The Knobs. The fog came in heavily and I had to rely on map and compass as I climbed (a not so) Mt Clear. I had now entered cattle grazing country which proved a pain when trying to find clean water.
King Billy's No.1 and 2 proved to be two of my favourite peaks for the entire walk. The weather was fairly clear and from the peaks I could see the route AAWT stretching out over the peaks in the distance. I camped in quite an exposed but spectacular area on the cliff tops near Mt Magdala, overlooking the Howqua River.
Mt Madala and Mt Howitt were completely fogged in so apart from walking uphill and then downhill there was no real sensation of climbing a mountain. This all changed, however, as I got to the start of the Crosscut Saw. In the matter of a few minute the fog cleared, the sun shone, and I could see for miles. The entire Howitt to Viking ridgeline opened in front of my eyes. It was one of those times when I was completely overawed by the majesty of the mountains.
And so I traversed these famous mountains, Mt Buggery, Mt Speculation, and Mt Despair. The walking was some of the hardest I've done with high exposure and little rock scrambles along the way. Up on the summit of the Viking I could feel that the heavens wanted to snow but just could quite get it out. The sections after Mt Despair and The Viking were particularly difficult, traversing the side of a steep ridges through thick scrub. I missed the turnoff from the ridge after the Viking and spent a fair bit of time crashing around in the bush trying to work out where I going. Lost a sock too.
On the day I wanted to reach Mt Hotham it was cold. I found out later that it had snowed at higher elevations (I had camped at a lowly 1126m) during the previous night. I was on a mission and could only think of food, shower, and bed. When I finally came out onto the bitumen road that leads 10km to Hotham Village it was raining and I wasn't in the mood for walking. I finally got a car to stop and enjoyed the comfort of modern transport into the village where I revelled in restaurant food, a shower, and a bed. It was lovely.
After the luxery of my night at Hotham I walked on over the Bogong High Plains seeing my first mob of brumbies along the way. At Wallaces Hut, my parents drove up from Mt Beauty to camp the night with me and to bring up some items I needed including a new pair of socks to replace the ones I lost during the descent of the Viking. It was nice to have a bit of company for a night.
This was the only area of the AAWT that I had walked previously. It was like walking in my neighbourhood. My pack was lightened and I raced through to Cleave Cole Hut and walked out to the summit of Mt Bogong. I have been here quite a few times before but I made the side trip to collect the first of the three summits that I wanted to climb on this walk - the highest point in each of the states/territories that I walked through.
I had a food drop at Cleave Cole Hut and had intended to have a rest day here. However, I was feeling really fresh and decided to press on without the rest day. When I reached the summit of Mt Wills and discovered the new hut here I decided to cut the day short, have a restful afternoon, and enjoy the view from this wonderful mountain. As I sat up on the bouldered summit I could make out the Kosciuszko Range in the far distance. A wedge tailed eagle cruised around looking for lunch. As the sun set I sat up on the summit eating chocolate pudding. I wrote in my diary, "it doesn't get much better than this."
As I climbed the next day up out of the steep Gill Creek valley I came across three NRE workers, out doing some track clearing. I had read in the Mt Wills log book that this track was supposed to be terribly overgrown, it wasn't, and I had these three men to thank for the great job they were doing.
I descended in the heat towards Taylors Crossing and all I could think about was plunging into the Mitta Mitta River. I saw a dingo as I got close to the river. It turned and dashed off as soon as it saw me. Taylors Crossing was a great spot to camp. Camped right next to the river I was in and out constantly until the temperature started to drop later in the evening.
The area around the Mitta Mitta River is a mess of English Broom, a weed that is spreading very quickly through the state. I got a bit lost as I followed the Mitta downstream and ended up climbing a spur to get onto a road that was much easier to follow.
At Morass Creek I came across a herd of feral goats. About one month later this area was to be closed for feral goat and pig shooting - I don't think anyone has informed the goats. Crossing Morass Creek was one of the more difficult river crossings. Every type of prickly plant was there prickling away and it was difficult to get to the creek to cross it. From Morass Creek it was pretty much uphill all the way to Johnnies Top where Parks have installed a water tank, which I happily camped right next to.
Descending to Buenba Creek I lost the track a couple of times and had to rely on my own sense of direction and map reading to find the way. At the last steep descent to Buenba Creek I lost the track again and ended up pushing my way through some of the thickest bush I've ever had to push through to make up my own way upstream. It was extremely frustrating until I reached the clear area where there was huge amounts of brumby evidence (sh*t). Further upstream there are blackberries and again I lost the track, adding more scratches to my scratched legs.
On the climb up to Mt Hope Road I had no trouble with navigation. For some reason I have little trouble with uphill navigation. I finally reached Buckwong Creek and set up camp on what Siseman describes as an area offering "idyllic camping." It was nice when I was there, however, in wet conditions I think the area would be quite a swamp.
From Buckwong Creek to Stoney Creek at Cowombat Flat Track I walked 19km taking 11 hours. This section is mostly untracked and while there are frequest track markers they proved difficult to follow in the thick bush. I wanted to stay as much as possible with the track markers so I spent a lot of time searching around, backtracking, losing and then finding the way. It was slow going. As I got closer to Dead Horse Creek I gave up on the difficult to locate track markers, took a compass bearing and bush bashed my way to the creek. Dead Horse Creek and Stoney Creek were both beautiful, cascading through steep sided valleys.
From Cowombat Flat Track the terrain was relatively flat and all on 4WD tracks. I decided to see just how far I could walk in a day. After 12 hours on the track I managed to walk 45km and was only 13 km short of Thredbo Village. I think it was the thought of a bed, food, rest day, and the views of the Main Range that got closer and closer that pushed me on. I did the required photo with a foot on each side of the Murray River at Cowombat Flat and managed to get phone reception up on Cowombat Ridge.
I spent the night camped at Cascades Hut with three Queensland hikers who were doing some exploring around the untracked areas of the National Park. I was glad not to be carrying their 30kg packs and certainly couldn't walk all day if I did.
The half day of walking to Thredbo brought me to within cooee of the highest mountain in Australia. The stay in Thredbo was a delight. The highlight probably being eating dinner in the pub as a fierce storm passed through. I sat by the window of the pub and smiled at the rain and lightening.
With expectations of hard walking in the Kosciuszko area I was surprised to find the walking fairly easy. This combined with good weather, water everywhere, simple as pie navigation, and stronger legs meant that I covered distances far faster than I had planned.
The walk from Thredbo to the top of the chairlift was the last serious long climb of the AAWT. I decided on a direct approach to the top of the chairlift and walked straight up the ski run. Ski runs are steep and it was hard going. From the top of the chairlift major foot traffic tracks lead to the highest point in Australia. I had taken my second of the three states highest peaks. Kosciuszko is definitely not the most spectacular part of this this area, just the highest. The mountains to the west drop away steeply and glacial lakes hang high up on the mountain sides. Despite the ski resorts, chairlifts, number of visitors, and accessability this is still a spectacular place.
I decided to follow the Siseman recommendation to traverse the Main Range rather than follow the road through Charlotte's Pass. I enjoyed the peaks and lakes, but didn't enjoy walking through the bogs as I tried to descend from the Rolling Ground down to White Rivers Hut. From reading the logbook at Whites River it seems that everyone has trouble finding the faint foot track here.
There are so many huts in Kosciuszko National Park that I ended up sleeping in the tent only once more (on the last night out). The huts are extremely well perseved and a credit to the Kosciuszko Huts Association and walking/ski clubs that maintain them. Over the next few days I stayed at or passed by seven huts.
I didn't find the walking overly spectacular in this area. For days I walked through the rolling plains north of the Main Range which are full of history and quite high in elevation but I felt like I was walking through low land farming areas. Frost hollows have created huge grassed areas along the river valleys with only the tops of hills having trees. The real highlight was the huts, usually built during the times when these areas were leased for grazing, and the people that I met, from fellow walkers to mountain bikers and horse riders.
So close to Canberra now and wanting to finish the walk I decided to continue on with the pace I had been walking at and to skip going to Blue Waterholes.
My last night in NSW I spent at Oldfields Hut, one of the most spectacularly sited huts of the whole walk. Looking out over a grassy clearing, Bimberi Peak (the highest in ACT) towers above and shines at sunset.
The morning I set out to cross into ACT and climb Bimberi Peak was clear as it had been for most of the past 2 weeks. I climbed up to Murrays Gap, dropped my pack and began the climb up Bimberi. About half way up it started raining. By the time I reached the top it was raining heavily and I couldn't see 20m. My final peak of the 3 states highest was the only one I experienced bad weather on. I guess 1 out of 3 ain't so bad. As I descended the rain stopped. Two hours later the sun was shining and I was walking in shorts and tshirt.
I really enjoyed the last section in Namidgi National Park. Finally there was some change from the grassy rolling plains of Kosciuszko with thick forest and huge house sized boulders hiding in the bush. I walked through the Cottor River catchment where camping is by permit only and reached the Orroral Valley which is cleared along the river and home to hundreds kangaroos. I was going to stay in a hut which was marked on the map but it is no longer there. My last night out camping, as it should have been.
On the final day I was up and away by 6:30am - very eager to reach the finish. I was zooming along until I got near Mt Tennent where I came across John, a walker who is section walking the AAWT. I had followed some of his progress in the hut logbooks over the past week. Taking 25 days to walk from Thredbo to the Namidgi Visitor Centre he was walking in exactly the opposite fashion to me. Travelling heavy and slow but also really taking his time to enjoy the whole experience of being where he was, sometimes he would set off for the day, reach a nice place one hour later and set up camp, spending the rest of the day exploring the area. John and I walked the final few kilometres together.
Reaching the finish was a little strange. I still felt really fresh, like I could turn around and walk right on back again. I had really got into the rhythm of life on the trail and am now looking to new adventures where I can push myself a little further. It wasn't until I returned home the next day that I really felt pride and joy at what I had achieved, at outflow of joy that I hadn't expected. It was no great adventure like the brave explorers of the past, but for me, along with experiencing some of the wonderful scenery of this great southern land, it was a test of endurance, navigation, planning, and some solitude that I passed.