Bushwalk Australia

A report on the popular Beeripmo walk, one hour west of Ballarat and 15 minutes north of Beaufort. We completed the overnighter this weekend, 3-4/3/17. There was more than half a tank of water at the campground, drop toilets were tidy and well maintained, fire places in good condition, and all tracks and intersections are clearly marked. This is a top quality, well-maintained walk for beginners to intermediate-skilled walkers looking for a weekend recharge. It's not an adventure, but I'm glad to have walked it.

Day one: Richards to Beeripmo camp (8 km) we walked through heathy dry forest with endless brachen. The walk begins with a stiff knee-lifting climb up granite boulders for half an hour or so, which is described as a "steady climb" in the park note. I'd call it a steep climb; a precaution for beginners to be prepared for. The most inspiring part of the landscape on day one were the granite boulders and inclusions and mossy southerly aspects. Keep an eye out for the massive granite serpent! The landscape around the forest/park is flat and agricultural, which doesn't light my fire but it's nice enough. There's another, more forgiving (one might call it steady), climb to summit Sugerloaf before reaching the walk-in Beeripmo Camp. There were at least 6 other small groups (pairs to family of four); it is a popular walk. If Beeripmo camp was full, we could have walked a little further on to Mugwamp Camp, which was easy to find, close to the track, and empty except one car camp when we passed it the following morning.

Unexpectedly, it was quite cold, windy and rainy overnight despite the day being hot (29 degrees). I believe the elevation is roughly 600 m at camp, so just goes to show that warm/wet weather gear is a must no matter what. I was glad to have pegged out my guy lines when the wind was howling through the tree tops during the night. A thick mist rolled in overnight that was quite beautiful though it silenced the morning bird chorus until a sluggish 9am!

Day two: Beeripmo camp back to Richards (~9 km) sees the landscape vary more with some nice examples of tall wet forest patches and tree fern gullies. The butterflies were freshly out en masse, and the yellow-tailed black cockatoos were screeching, too. Going is easy enough, the summit to Mt Mugwamp is gentle but persistent, then it's all downhill from there back to the car. There's two big trees down on Grevillia Track which required some climbing up and sliding down an steep incline of loose sandy soil. We didn't complete any side trips (e.g., summiting Mt Cole) which meant it only took us a leisurely 2.5 hours to circuit back to the car.

I'd probably try it in the opposite direction next time, heading up grevillia track first. The gradient is more gentle and then sugarloaf can be descended instead. Then, of course, one is left with the final task of descending the granite boulder valley track at the end of a 17km hike, which one's knees might not agree to!

This is one of my favourite go-to walks for people who are new to bushwalking.

That's exactly my feeling, too, Chris.

There's no views from the actual summit, although there's a nice old cairn. No track, but easily reached. The summit track leads to a high viewpoint with an extensive pastoral view.

Thanks sth for wintr for this timely report. We had been planning to do it tomorrow but with it being 33deg, have decided to hold off for cooler weather. Instead we're going to stay at Middle Creek (please God let it be a well behaved campground). We've only just begun walk-in camping and i don't want to put my partner through too extreme an ordeal. Being the long weekend, there's every chance the campground could be full anyway. It does sound like a top one to do.
Are there any creeks along the way? Was there a lot of shade along the way and at the campground?

Interestingly when we contacted parks Vic about dispersed (walk in) camping they sent us a list which included Mt Buangor and Langi Ghiran. However my partner spoke to a local ranger and disputed this and said Beeripmo is the only one. So who knows.

Hi bull dog boy,

I expect you've already gone tramping for the weekend! But, FWIW, there weren't any accessible creeks from Richards to Beeripmo Camp that I noticed but there was one or two on Grevillia walk on the way out. Mugwamp Camp had a shelter/toilet block or alike, so probably had a tank, which was only half an hour past Beeripmo. However, there were quite a few places to do water drops, an in fact there is a group taking advantage of the walk/track intersections. If you're worried about water, I'd do a water drop before heading off. The roads at the intersections seemed in good condition. Plenty of shade to be had on the way and at the campground - lots of trees the whole way and the camp ground is in forest, too.

Interesting about PV and the local ranger disagreeing. Sounds like the grey zone of State Parks (as compared to the black and white of National Parks and State Forests).

I hope Middle Creek was good this weekend, not too rowdy. Cheers.

Cheers SFW. Excuse my ignorance but by water drop, do you just mean driving up and leaving some water in the bushes before driving over to Richards campground?

Middle creek was fine except for 2 morons but have already covered that in trip report.

Great to visit another park for the first time.

There is a tank at the campsite. As long as you don't go on a really hot day you shouldn't need to do a waterdrop as the walking is short enough each day to not be carrying excessive weight in water. If you are able to treat a couple of litres at camp you'll be all set.

If you go when there's been some rain the first part, the "steady climb," shadows and crosses a creek with Raglan Falls the first point of interest. It is an insignificant creek, and no use for drinking, but it's a pleasant accompaniment to the first section.

Cheers Craig. Geez, i'm looking forward to doing it. Sooner rather than later.

Yep, bulldogboy, that'z what I meant by a water drop. I agree with Craig, though, that unless the day is super hot, you should be fine.

Just a brief update. We completed the walk on the weekend. My partner & i are in our mid 50's, moderately fit and moderately experienced walkers but new to overnights. We carried 15kg each and 3 ltrs of water each. 20 degrees each day. The walk from Richards to the campground took us about 5 hours; we had quite a few 5 minute stops and a 20 minute lunch stop at Sugar loaf where a couple of eagles put on a show for us.

The tank at the campground is about half full which was handy. There was about half a dozen couples there. Then just before dark a large group arrived. They were from a charity called 'first hike' whose volunteers take a group of young refugees camping. So there were 15 Somalian teenagers with 5 volunteers. All went well until i was woken about 3 in the morning by someone just outside our tent shining a torch. A few words in a foreign language. I then put 2 & 2 together. Seems one of the kids had gone to the toilet and somehow ended up about 150metres off course.

But the biggest surprise was about 7 the next morning. I was lying in my tent when i heard some low key music in the distance. It was the 'call to prayer'. I'm pretty sure that would be a first in those parts.

Somehow between the campground & mugwamp we stuffed up slightly which added a half hour. Large trees are still across last half of track. Hopefully these will be sawn up over winter.

All in all an interesting walk less than 2 hours from Melbourne. Lovely laid out campground. If you're new to overnighters or it's a warm day, i would advise to leave early.

Glad you had a good time, thanks for the update. It's definitely hard to find your way back to the far sites from the toilet at night once the fog comes in, we had our own misadventures up there, haha. The group sounds like a great idea but I think hiking a group of twenty into a popular spot with a limited number of pads on a weekend is a bit borderline on the politeness scale. Sounds like there was no harm done though.