Muesli spur and King Hut access by AWD

[paidal_chalne_vala]

Hi
Has anyone been up the Muesli spur hiking track recently?
Is it easy to find where it starts?
What is the road condition like from the Mt. Stirling circuit road down to King Hut?. Could you drive down there in a recent model AWD Subaru ?
Any recent information would be very handy. I am heading out that way soon.

[stansi]

No
Yes
OK
Yes

[paidal_chalne_vala]

The SV map of the Mt. Stirling area shows a shortcut / foot track coming off the Circuit road just near where the Clear Hills 4 wd track leaves the Circuit road. I am curious about this. It cuts off some distance to the next foot track which starts at Peter's corner and goes straight down to King Hut. I hope the river crossing there is not too hard core. It will be C O L D .
Can anyone shine any light on these matters?

[neilmny]

PCV there is a report on here somewhere that metions the old 4WD track (closed) from King Hut up to Circuit Road. I can't remember if it mentions the additional cut off bit.
The river will be cold but there should be somewhere to cross. At worst you might be able to contour East around to Speculation Road and cross the bridge. It's less than a Km from King Hut.

EDITS
Some mention here viewtopic.php?f=46&t=24988&p=318839&hilit=king+hut#p318839 They didn't cut the corner.
My mapping from several sources does not show a track. They all show about 215 metres over about 800 metres ascent/descent.... 26%.
About 200 metres ascent/descent from Clear Hills Tk to near Pete's Corner. Probably why the road doesn't cut the corner.
None of my data shows the track that is visible on the SV Map. It might have been part of McCormick's track.

[Drazah]

I was up this way over Easter, museli spur track was marked by a small sign at the top (speculation rd I think) but I didn't see if it was signed at the bottom of the track, it should be reasonably easy to locate from kings hut though.
From kings hut I crossed the river and walked up an old 4wd track that wasn't in use any more (definetly wouldn't get an and suberu down there) towards Mt Stirling and took the short cut track in stead of going all the way to peters corner to meet up with the road. I originally missed this track but found it in the end. It was pretty overgrown but easy to follow. It might be pretty hard to locate from circuit rd as there is no sign. I used a navigation tool on my iPhone which helped me with that particular track.
Hope this helps

[Drazah]

Just checked my map and the shortcut track is shown on the Buller - howitt sv maps second edition.

[paidal_chalne_vala]

Thanks. That is the map I have. That short cut is not shown on the Rooftops map of the area. I will take both.

[neilmny]

Well done Drazah, you wouldn't have a GPX of the track would you?
I do quite some mapping on OSM and it would be a good one to add for we bushwalkers.
Hope you don't mind me asking.
Is it as steep as my info makes it seem?
Neil.

[paidal_chalne_vala]

We will park on the Circuit road near the Craig's hut foot track and walk down to King hut for Lunch and then head for Lake Cobbler hut via Muesli spur on day one. Day two will be Dadongadale Falls , Mt. Coobler summit and back down to King Hut to camp the night.Day 3 will be the hike back up to the car and a quick pack off visit to Craig's hut. We might get some snow, we don't know what the weather will be like. We will just be ready for anything.

[Drazah]

Hey Neil,
I got my mapping from this site http://www.hut2hut.oscars100.com.au/ . You can download the course from there. Only part of the coarse is relevant to this thread.
The short cut track wasn't overly steep no where near as steep as museli spur.

[neilmny]

Thanks for the quick reply Drazah.

I just had a look and the GPX for the Hut 2 Hut loop goes to Pete's Corner but the notes mention the single track short cut before reaching it which is interesting.
A member of my family is planning to do the Hut 2 Hut next year. He's done the Oxfam 4 times so how much harder can this be.... .....nah joking .
I might just wander up there and map it out in person. There's a couple of other tracks I've been wanting to place up in the area as well. I could do with a wander in the bush.

thanks again for the tip. Neil

[Drazah]

Just checked the site and it does look as though it goes to peters corner, but when you down load the track to the Avenza app it does take you up the shortcut track. There is also a lot of pink ribbon markers around (I assume left over from the hut 2 hut race) which might also help to locate this track. I can't remember specifically if there was any but most of the areas that were a bit more difficult to navigate had pink marking tape.

[paidal_chalne_vala]

Some people hate pink marker tape in the bush but I like a bit of it. I must be soft. How was the track on Muesli spur? If it is like the track from Rocky Valley creek to Spion Kopje Fire trail then it will be just wrong.

[Drazah]

I generally don't like marking tape as I think it dulls down the experience of navigating for yourself, but I have to admit that there has been many times when I have been glad to see it when I have been unsure if I'm on track or not.
Museli spur is pretty rugged and very steep in places. It also gets a bit faint in places but it's generally easy to follow.

[paidal_chalne_vala]

Hi
It looks like Friday and Sat. will be wet. It will be wet and boggy. So I am concerned about the river crossing on foot near King Hut. Where exactly on the 2nd Edition SV Buller - Howitt map is the bridge over the King River on the Speculation Road ? .It seems to be up stream before you get near King hut.
My second question to the panel is this: Could you get a recent model AWD Subaru down the Speculation road from the Circuit Road and as far as the Bridge or the hut at King River?
Any solid advice ASAP will be most appreciated.

[Drazah]

Hi PCV,
The river crossing at king hut was only ankle to shin deep when i did it and I managed with a bit of difficulty to get accross without getting my feet wet. There was a bridge crossing the river maybe 500m or so towards muesli spur, I can't give you any details on it though as I don't have the map in front of me, also can't help with the access with your car either sorry

[paidal_chalne_vala]

Hi
We just got back from Lake Cobbler/Mt. Cobbler. We piked out of slogging it up Muesli spur and went up the Spec. road / The Staircase instead . We had good weather. We will return for the Cup Day weekend to tackle Muesli spur and Mt. Spec. starting from King Hut.A trip report will follow soon in the trip report section.

[paidal_chalne_vala]

The Road access from TBJ to King Basin Rd./ Speculation road junction was 2 WD friendly. Access to King Hut along the last 1 km from the King River bridge is 4 WD/ High clearance AWD only. Take a chainsaw. We saw some very large freshly fallen trees that had been cut and winched out of the road by some of the many 4 WD enthusiasts in the area.

[paidal_chalne_vala]

https://get.google.com/albumarchive/113 ... brckJSpswE

[neilmny]

Nice pictures PCV.