Barry Ranges water

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Barry Ranges water

Postby Lophophaps » Mon 03 Aug, 2015 2:49 pm

I'm attempting to obtain an accurate picture of the locations of water tanks on the Barries, between the Hotham Road and Speculation. This is for a trip in spring when there will be a better chance of water from winter. There are several threads here and they indicate as follows:
Water at the Hotham Road at StBernard?
Ridge west of The Twins at 036019, south of the road.
SW of The Twins, reportedly 145015. Grid ref is suss.
South Selwyn the road NE of the summit at 907995.
Cross-road at Selwyn track, East Buffalo Road and East Riley Rd a few metres along the Selwyn track, 847965.
Barry Saddle – tank still there?
Is there any reliable water near the summit of The Viking? These seems to be a possibility south and east of the summit.
Water at Viking Saddle may be a ways down.
Spec has good reliable water.

I'm unaware of any other water, and advice would be valued.

Apart from that, there are a myriad of logging and other roads, which may be confusing at junctions. Is this so?
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Re: Barry Ranges water

Postby north-north-west » Mon 03 Aug, 2015 6:13 pm

I think I logged a water tank between Twins and Wongungurra on myGPS. Will dig out the co-ords if so. But if you stay on the watershed on that bit of ridgeline it's hard to miss.

Best water I've ever found up on the Viking is small rockpools, although there are unreliable soaks on the western flanks and out towards Viking Sth, as well a couple of spots on the southern side of the rocks on the way up.

edit:
-37.028549° 147.041168° - Wongungurra tank. This is approx 100 metres map distance from the road. Directly due sth. Fairly new tank.

-37.109380° 146.763314° - Barry Saddle Tank
-37.089036° 146.824997° - listed as East Barry Tank
-37.071409° 146.831881° - Selwyn Tank (but this one is a doddle to find)

You'll have to do the conversions yourself. Sorry about that.
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Re: Barry Ranges water

Postby walkon » Mon 03 Aug, 2015 9:17 pm

Seriously with all the water tanks on the hotham-spec leg you'd have to be doing something really wrong to run out of water. Even if you had to bypass the twins there should be water flowing in the areas marked in chappys book at that time of year.

Barry Saddle water tank was full when I went through, it was tannin stained though nothing wrong with it.
Tank on top of sth Selwyn you cant miss summit not big.
Catherine saddle has water just down the track to the side against the bank near the first big bend, it will have water right into summer.
Viking saddle, water shouldn't be far down at all in spring, I didn't have to go far down this summer just gone to find water.
I think the east barry water tank if its the one on top of the hill is stuffed, the one a k or two down near the road has replaced this.

I just used maps for this section, mainly chapmans book and had no issues at the road intersections. There were a few missing markers but if you are meant to turn left you do if the topo matches or head up a ridgeline if you are meant to. I didn't use the gps for this section except to see how far I was from the nights camp with no wrong turns.
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Re: Barry Ranges water

Postby madmacca » Mon 03 Aug, 2015 10:11 pm

I used Chapman as my guide for this.

There is a firefighting tank at Mt St Bernard - not sure about drinking water.
The Twins Track at 053029.
I can't personally vouch for the tank at 036019, but others have reported it ok.
Selwyn Tank is a doddle.
The Barry Mountains water tank at 844953 leaks (and may have been removed by now).
AFAIK, the Barry Saddle tank is still OK (although the tannin from the leaves means it serves up something looking closer to iced tea than water). :D .
Water should be OK in spring at Viking Saddle (summer you may have to descend further).
Water also at Catherine Saddle.
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Re: Barry Ranges water

Postby Uncle Rumple » Fri 07 Aug, 2015 11:34 am

Here is where we found water on this section of the AAWT, in Jan 2014:

• NE of Mt Speculation 68771, 91708 - a trickle coming out the side of the hill
• Tank at Barry Saddle 78987, 93014 - water was brown but tasted ok
• Barry Mountain Water Tank (but it was dry when we saw it) 84445, 95233
• New Tank near East Buffalo Rd, 84873, 96709 (installed Nov 2013),
• Down Canyon Rd (north of Sth Selwyn), 90207, 99630, but don't bother with this as the new tank is nearby
• New Tank on Sth Selwyn 90749, 99497 (installed Nov 2013)
• SE of Selwyn Ck Rd/Twins Tk Jn 95919, 00255 - a puddle/trickle from memory

We didn't need to look for any on The Viking so cannot comment on water there.
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Re: Barry Ranges water

Postby Lophophaps » Tue 11 Aug, 2015 4:43 pm

The following is a summary of the above advice and form parks Victoria. The PV advice is so cited.
The Twins Track at 053029, unconfirmed.
SW of The Twins, reportedly 145015. Grid ref is suss.
PV Twins 037019
South Selwyn the road NE of the summit at 907995
PV Near summit Mt Selwyn 907995
Selwyn Tank is a doddle.
Cross-road at Selwyn track, East Buffalo Road and East Riley Rd a few metres along the Selwyn track, 847965.
PV 100 metres from junction of the East Riley vehicle track and Selwyn track on the Selwyn track 848966
The Barry Mountains water tank at 844953 leaks (and may have been removed by now).
PV Barry Saddle 791929
PV The water tank at Barry' Saddle is full of mosquito larvae but drinkable if boiled. To be replaced
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Re: Barry Ranges water

Postby Shirlbaz » Fri 11 Sep, 2015 2:44 pm

Thanks everyone for your help in finding water north of Catherine Saddle. Much appreciated.
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Re: Barry Ranges water

Postby wilray » Sun 19 Mar, 2017 1:46 pm

Has anyone walked mt speculation to Hotham very recently to let me know track conditions and water availability the country in other areas seem to be drying up earlier this year so I am concerned about water on this section more this year. I would appreciate any info thanks Willy
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Re: Barry Ranges water

Postby Stroller » Thu 23 Mar, 2017 7:03 pm

No water between my speculation and Barry Saddle unless it's rained in the last few days.

Water tanks at Barry Saddle, east Riley road, south selwyn,

700metres down the road from the crossing at my selwyn road, and there may be water at Murrays hut site but I couldn't see any track because of roadworkers making a mess. However it's been rain g in the area inthe last fee days. Finally the the stream along the twin keeps track as describedgrboik is available 1kmbefore the campsite just prior to mt St. Bernard.
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