bernieq wrote:I'll own up to recently trying to get up the Franklin Valley from Lake Dixon & on to the Cheyne. It was very hard going. By the time we reached the up-point to Hippogriff it was too late so we camped and, in the morning, decided we'd run out of contingency time so headed back. The route back was marginally better but still stupidly tough (imo).
Best route up is to go directly to the Chimaera, through the rainforest below the summit area, then north to the saddle (scruffy, slightly scrubby forest) and up to the Hippogriff from there. The valley is fine to a point as long as you keep away from the lake edges, but gets progressivly harder upstream past the best crossing point (about 1km from the lake).
Or drop down to Hermione from the Hugel plateau if you're just doing the Cheyne; that's beautiful country and mostly easy walking. Geat this time of year when the fagus is going off.