Major Mitchell Plateau and Mount William

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Major Mitchell Plateau and Mount William

Postby Earwig » Wed 23 Sep, 2015 3:03 pm

I have a 1984 edition of Tyrone Thomas’ 120 Walks In Victoria. Some of the walks are recognisable as hikes that would appear in guides today. One of them, Walk 113, Bomjinna – Major Mitchell Plateau, wouldn’t, however, as the walk has quietly disappeared through fire and flood and regrowth. Tyrone’s directions are simple: “First use a good foot track from the picnic area westwards. The pad leads up a valley in forest, then through the cliffs near Mount William right to the Mount William turntable”. Sounds simple enough. But as I said, fire and flood have removed the trail, which is now partly rehabilitated, partly overgrown and partly ‘around here somewhere’.

The first stretch is still recognisable as possibly an old four-wheel drive track, although flood damaged despite some rehab work. At some point we left that track and headed south (I think) to climb a ridge from where we had a wonderful view of the cliffs ahead. From there the track disappeared but we headed in the general direction of that way for a bit and then uphill and across and maybe slightly downhill and over to the right until we hit the line of cliffs, where we followed the person in front because we thought they knew where we were going. A check of a GPS app reassured us that once upon a time the track was around where we were walking, assuming the track was accurately mapped (unlikely) and anyway, the person at the front does know where they are going – I’m sure of it. Well, we soon arrived at the turntable, so they must have.

From the turntable it’s a 27 km slog along the bitumen to the summit of Mount William. Okay, 27 km might be an exaggeration distance-wise – it was probably about two – but it’s pretty accurate slog-wise. Bitumen! Argh! Lunch at the summit was very welcome.

Next was across the tops on the usual track, dropping off Mt William and climbing onto the Major Mitchell Plateau. This has to be one of Victoria’s best walks, with fantastic views east and west. As we walked, hikers heading the other way passed on rumours of another hiking party up ahead “There must be at least ten of them,” one person said, while another said “At least a dozen.” It was going to be busy in the one camping area at First Wannon Creek. We briefly considered stopping the night after dropping to Boundary Gap but the absence of water and a couple of dead ‘roos put an end to the considerations and we pushed on to First Wannon, climbing onto the southern section of the plateau. The climb, at the end of a long day, was tiring and my poor muscles started to cramp.

The camp was crowded-ish with a group of ten, or twelve, or however many, from Geelong, who kindly and without any fuss made room for us. Dinner and then an early night under stars with a special guest appearance of the space station flashing overhead ended a good day out.

Next day was cool; tents were packed up damp and we set off again. Despite the cool windy conditions it was superb day wandering across the plateau before finally descending east to where the cars were parked near Mafeking.

The Major Mitchell Plateau is one of Victoria’s best walks, very popular so there are bound to be a number of hiking parties sharing it on any given weekend. One of the highlights was Will acting like a ten-year-old, leaping around on the rocks at the top of one of the climbs and saying rather excitedly how “Wow” it all was. He was right, it is very “Wow”.

G2 - Climbing Mt William.JPG

G3 - on the way up Mt William.JPG

G7 - descent to the gap.JPG
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Re: Major Mitchell Plateau and Mount William

Postby rsser » Sun 22 Nov, 2015 4:04 pm

+1. It is a great walk.

Bit hard if it's been dry though and you haven't BYO water.

I did the Thomas route way back when.
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Re: Major Mitchell Plateau and Mount William

Postby Eremophila » Sun 15 May, 2016 1:35 pm

We headed up the Bomjinna track yesterday, which is marked on the current (2008) edition of the Southern Grampians Outdoor Recreation Guide. This shows Bomjinna Campground as the starting point, a campground with toilets. Well - there are the remains of a very old clearing and fire ring, that's about it. The whole trail and the campground had not one scrap of litter, that's how little-used it is. There was enough room to safely park one or two vehicles on the roadside, if you had a 4WD you could probably park in the old "campground" clearing.

We stupidly didn't even take our gaiters, as most Grampians trails seem to be pretty well-used. We got fairly scratched up along the way but nothing unbearable. There weren't too many trees across the track. We were able to follow the track pretty easily although it hasn't seen much traffic in a long while.

What a lovely walk! We didn't make it the whole way as we had taken along a friend who's new to bushwalking and our pace was much slower than normal. She would have made the distance but it would have been a late return to the car.

Fabulous views, I find it strange this track isn't used more. We'll definitely be going back to complete the walk.
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Re: Major Mitchell Plateau and Mount William

Postby north-north-west » Sun 15 May, 2016 6:21 pm

As far as I know, the track officially no longer exists and hasn't since the last major fire - which is a pity as it's the best route up to Duwil. Glad to know it can still be followed.
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Re: Major Mitchell Plateau and Mount William

Postby Snowzone » Mon 16 May, 2016 1:43 pm

north-north-west wrote:As far as I know, the track officially no longer exists and hasn't since the last major fire - which is a pity as it's the best route up to Duwil. Glad to know it can still be followed.

This track is no longer a walk or track only a route that some of us still use. It has a few spots which are hard to follow below the final breach in the cliff line before coming out at Mount William car park. I live in hope that one day it may become a used track again to meet up with the Grampians Peaks Trail.
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Re: Major Mitchell Plateau and Mount William

Postby paidal_chalne_vala » Wed 25 May, 2016 11:26 am

We went from the Mt William car park to First Wannon crossing campsite and back as a day walk. The cliffy bit climbing up to the Major Mitchell Plateau would have been tougher had we taken full overnight packs. We had ropes ready for pack haul , just in case.
It was very foggy at first but the conditions cleared up on the way back so we were able to take in some superb views. This was over the ANZAC day long weekend.
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Re: Major Mitchell Plateau and Mount William

Postby Drew » Thu 09 Jun, 2016 10:01 am

I'm going to do the Major Mitchell Plateau Circuit this weekend. I'm planning to do it anti-clockwise rather than the normal clockwise route. The reason is to get the boring road bash done first (and an added bonus is that there are no bookings at First Wannon on Sunday night, where as Saturday is busy).

Any reason not to do it in this direction? I imagine the scrambly bits will be a little bit trickier on the descent, but shouldn't be too bad? I've done the walk once before but it was a few years back.

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Re: Major Mitchell Plateau and Mount William

Postby paidal_chalne_vala » Thu 09 Jun, 2016 10:26 am

With a car shuttle/ shuffle you can skip walking along the valley floor on the boring fire trail. Finding water up there on the plateau will still be iffy. Like I said we did n't slog it up from the Sheep Hills car park and we did not proceed past the 1t Wannon crossing hikers' campsite. It was a fact finding mission.
It is very slow going even with day packs. The track is rocky and uneven with some ups and downs for sure. We saw that you can camp on the Helipad if you are desperate. It is just before the first Wannon crossing campsite going clockwise . It is quite exposed but not that far from the pit loo at the proper hike in campsite.
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Re: Major Mitchell Plateau and Mount William

Postby Drew » Thu 09 Jun, 2016 10:33 am

We're just taking one car so no car shuffle. Could probably hitch but we'd rather a 3 day walk than 2 day. And I don't think the fire trail walk will be too bad as long as it's on the first day, not on the last day after all the interesting bits.

60mm of rain on Mt William in the last week, so water will be fine.
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Re: Major Mitchell Plateau and Mount William

Postby Snowzone » Thu 09 Jun, 2016 11:53 am

Hi Drew,

yes water should definitely not be an issue at the moment. Its not looking too bad weather wise either, a bit windy maybe Sunday/Monday and will be on the chilly side overnight up on the plateau.
I don't think it makes too much difference which direction you go in for this circuit, as you said get the road bash out of the way on day 1. Its a little scrambly getting off the plateau but I've been up and down with full packs and don't find it a drama. Just remember to turn around occasionally to check the views from all directions. Have a good walk.
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Re: Major Mitchell Plateau and Mount William

Postby Drew » Thu 09 Jun, 2016 12:32 pm

yes water should definitely not be an issue at the moment. Its not looking too bad weather wise either, a bit windy maybe Sunday/Monday and will be on the chilly side overnight up on the plateau.
I don't think it makes too much difference which direction you go in for this circuit, as you said get the road bash out of the way on day 1. Its a little scrambly getting off the plateau but I've been up and down with full packs and don't find it a drama. Just remember to turn around occasionally to check the views from all directions. Have a good walk.


Cheers Snowzone. I'll chuck in some rope for pack hauling on the descent if needed. And I'll definitely enjoy the views - didn't see a thing last time I was up there!

Which weather forecast are you looking at? The nearest one I've found is Stawell and it says very little wind on Sunday and not much more Monday. Will be a cold night though I'm sure!
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