8 Mile flat.8 Mile spur.The Bluff.Ritchie's hut

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8 Mile flat.8 Mile spur.The Bluff.Ritchie's hut

Postby paidal_chalne_vala » Tue 24 May, 2016 7:26 pm

Hi
I did this trekking loop over the May 21-22 2016 weekend.

Bluff Hike report. May 21st,May 22nd , 2016.
Distance approximately 32 kms
Grade hard.
Ascent on one day : 1500 M elevation gain.
The route:
Day One
Eight mile flat / eight mile spur track/ short road walk from Refrigerator gap to the Bluff walking track/Bluff summit to the Bluff hut.
Day two
Bluff hut to Ritchie’s hut via 16 mile Jeep track
Ritchie’s hut to 8 Mile Flat via the High Track.
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I got back from the Alpine N.P today.
I managed to get my little Jap mobile car up to the small space on the side of the road opposite the 8 Mile Flat gate. I parked the car there because I know how steep the road down to the campsite is and that you have drive across a small creek .Brocks Road is in bad shape for a small and low slung 2 WD after tunnel bend . It has rained quite a bit up there recently and the rough and uneven bed rock on the road is showing through .
I camped at 8 Mile Flat on Friday evening. I like that campsite quite a lot but noisy bogans with 4 WD trucks, booze and noisy small children ruined the vibe.
The next day I was up at 5.30 am . I packed up in the dark and had breakfast . I was off by about 7.30 am. I went up the high track towards Ritchie’s hut to where the 8 mile spur track starts. The track is VERY STEEP and just goes straight up. It has been cut and cleared recently and there are orange markers nailed to trees albeit infrequently. At around 1000 M it levelled out for a spell but that just meant it was going to become twice as steep in order to climb up to 1400 M. + along the rocky ridge ( according to my SV map ).
It did just that .
The views of Mt Buller and Mt Stirling were excellent and then the Bluff appeared once one had walked over the hump near the top of the spur.
Dropping down to meet the road at Refrigerator gap the track passed through a couple of clearings where I had to scout out for the continuation of the track.
From there it was short walk to the Lunch point at the start of the Bluff walking track.


That hike up the steep mountain from the Howqua River was insane, torturous, and challenging. Most of all The Last section up the escarpment of the Bluff(1725 M ) was hairy and scary . I was at the edge of my limits if not a bee's pro creational device past them .
The steep rocks were wet and slippery , and I had to use my hands and feet like a crab crawling and the last section was at about 70 or 80 Degrees in steepness. With a heavy pack it made it a bit risky .My heart was pounding and I was already a bit rogered anyway. At least it was sunny but not at all hot.
When I reached the top I was very rogered and my heart was doubly pounding. I enjoyed the extensive views in the clear weather and more the feeling of being safe on reasonably flat terrain. I left at about 0730 am and reached the Bluff hut at about 4 pm.
The Bluff hut was empty but the camp site in front of it was already taken over by monster 4 WD tonka toy bogan families with commercial music radios and booze with small screaming kids. I wasn’t having much luck with finding peace and quiet once I left the places on the hiking route that only trekkers could or would reach . I didn’t see anyone on the hiker only sections on day one. In Fact it was a bit spooky out there alone.
There was water tricking along the summit path area behind Mt Eadley Stoney and I used my water filter pump to top up my camel back bladder .
Camping up there was not an option. It is too exposed. The water Tank at the Bluff hut was full.
That trek up the Bluff ‘s escarpment was insane and all in all it was quite a long day. I did well getting up early and allowing for delays or a snail like ascent.
The next day was easier but I still had to find my way on my own with the map and compass.
I followed the left hand goat track that comes out near the bend of the Bluff track where it turns the corner and heads for Lovick’s hut past the Bluff hut .
It was very steep , very rocky , mossy and very slippery. After a short way I said NO I am not in the mood for this and went back up and just took the easy no ‘need to think about balance and footing after a big day before’ kind of option along the road.
Once the Bluff Track meets the Bluff Link road there is the unnamed 14 mile spur track, as shown on the SV map. It looks like it would have shaved some KMs off the route back to the starting point. It is Just across the road, blocked by a large log. Somebody has recently cleared some of the logs on the track with a chain saw, so I gave this a go but once I got to the clearing about 700 M down , at a grassy saddle where somebody has had a campfire , I lost the track and despite scouting around for a bench cut track , I couldn’t find it.
I don’t think the person who removed all the pink tape marking the trail did the right thing. I cannot agree with such actions. Somebody put that there for a reason. Removing it all was wrong. Not everyone is a master navigator, even with the SV map and compass!!. I don’t mind a bit of scrub bashing as long as I can see some indication that I am going the right way. I don’t know if Timbertop GGS students still use that track. If the tape marking the trail was for contractors or Parks staff to start work on making it a more regular walking track the way the 8 Mile spur track is , then removing purposefully placed trail markers is wrong. If anybody did that at the Northern Prom then that would be equally wrong.
If that person does not like seeing trail markers of any kind then just scrub bash off trail completely and don’t take the law into your own hands.


So again I said “stuff it” I will just take the 16 mile Jeep track down to the Bottom. That was not very nice on my knees. Hiking poles were very useful on that steep descent.
There were a couple of streams crossing the track near the bottom and I got more water there.
I saw two Ford Ranger vehicles coming up the road just before the turn off to Ritchie’s hut. I just laughed. I said to one motorist who had street tyres on his 4 x 4 , “ that road is diabolical”. You’d need a winch ,all terrain mud tyres ,a Locking differential and very high clearance to get up that track.

The track from 16 mile jeep track to Ritchie’s hut was very pleasant.
I had a quick lunch at Ritchie's hut on the Howqua river .There were signs that somebody was staying there , what with a smoking heap of ashes outside and a camping chair near what was the fire.
I had to scout around for where the track continued. Looking at the SV map it shows that the route crosses the creek that flows into the Howqua river . You have to cross 14 mile creek which was flowing quite well. You walk along until the track bifurcates into the high and the low tracks. I motored along the High track which was quite scenic and easy to walk on.
If I was a fungi specialist I would have been well pleased and very excited by all the fungi on display including a patch of magic mushrooms. I was an old trippy hippie as a youth so I know what they look like. :)


I made it back to the Starting point at 8 mile flat at about 3.30 pm.
I camped at Sheepyard flat on Sunday night under the full moon and had a nice log fire without any 4 WD campers with their radios, boozy bogan repartee and small children disturbing the peace and quiet that should be part of a trip to the High country. That was the case with a lack of serenity on Friday night at 8 Mile flat and on Sat. night at the Bluff hut. To their credit the Tonka Toy mobs did crash out at a reasonable hour.
( I had purchased firewood in Mansfield on the way in and I had brought the camping chair, firelighters and the axe)
It is easy walking along that River trail . I must have walked /climbed up/ down about 32 kms in two days.
The weather was clear and dry on Sat. and Sunday which made for a better and safer solo adventure .It did rain on the third night and on the Monday morning I could tell by how cold and cloudy it was in the Howqua valley that it was snowing up on high.
paidal_chalne_vala
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Lagarostrobos franklinii
 
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Re: 8 Mile flat.8 Mile spur.The Bluff.Ritchie's hut

Postby paidal_chalne_vala » Thu 09 Jun, 2016 11:28 am

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater

Some pic.s of the solo trek are now on facebook.
paidal_chalne_vala
Lagarostrobos franklinii
Lagarostrobos franklinii
 
Posts: 2439
Joined: Sun 22 Jan, 2012 10:30 pm
ASSOCIATED ORGANISATIONS: VNPA.BTAC.Friends of Baw Baw.
Region: Victoria
Gender: Male


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