Bushwalk Australia

Hi newbie here.

Just wondering if anyone has done the walk to The Bluff as described in Glenn van der Knijff's "Bushwalks in the Victorian Alps" (walk 18) recently?

This would be the one day walk that starts/ends at The Bluff carpark, Refridgerator Gap and is a 13km circuit, approx.

Mainly I am wondering about the state of the tracks, and whether any are particularly overgrown.

I found a description of a different walk route to The Bluff: http://www.bushwalkingblog.com.au/beaco ... -park-vic/

but it does share some of the same tracks up and mentions one being badly overgrown, but it's not clear which track.

Thanks.

I did it some time ago but Walk 18 shouldn't pose any problems. The first two k's - from the carpark to the Bluff - is steep but easy to follow. The path leads through the final cliffs without any difficulty, although you'll be thinking "What the ..." at the time. Once on the Bluff it is alpine meadow pretty much all the way to the hut and then it's a walk along a vehicle track to return to the start. The description you link to includes lower elevation areas, which could be overgrown. They seem to be referring to either Eight Mile Spur (Howqua River to Refrigerator Gap) or the untracked spur with a track on it that people use to get from Bluff Hut to Ritchie's Hut on the Howqua River, neither of which are in Walk 18 but could be used for a 2 or 3 day Bluff hike. Or maybe they just got lost.

Here's the tale of my Bluff hike http://ian-folly.blogspot.com/2011/05/over-bluff.html

The track you are aiming to do is very easy to follow. The track up from eight mile is easy to follow as well with care taken in some spots. Of course if you just blaze away not paying attention you'll get lost anywhere.

I'd echo the comments already posted. It's a pretty well defined track. Last time I did it was about 18 months ago and the weather wasn't great, but its still easy to follow.

The only real shelter on the walk is at Bluff Hut, from memory water was easily available in a few spots once you start to return on the firetrack.

I did a post on my blog which may give you a bit of an idea what the go is http://goinferalonedayatatime.blogspot. ... -21st.html

It's possible to get a 2WD vehicle to the car park under The Bluff. If doing a loop, it seems better to walk up the road to the hut and then to The Bluff, a physical and mental high, followed by the steep descent on a foot track, not a road. Get the boring road over and behind you as quickly as possible. If the weather looks bad it may be wise to find another peak, as The Bluff - indeed most peaks near here - are exposed.

Thanks for the feedback. As it turns out I have already done the walk (which was great) so I didn't get to read this until afterwards. Not sure why the posts I made took a whole week to be moderated. Bizarre. Anyways I was going to rant a bit about that but I now see my posts can be made without delay so I'll say no more. We did the walk as per GVDK's book, and it was absolutely fantastic.
Mt Eadley Stoney is particularly photogenic.

No real problems getting to Refridgerator Gap in 2wd either, just a bit rough in places but not so bad.

I just got a copy of that book. It has not been proof read at all. It is full of spelling and grammatical errors as well as being ten years out of date. However it is still an informative book.

paidal_chalne_vala wrote:I just got a copy of that book. It has not been proof read at all. It is full of spelling and grammatical errors as well as being ten years out of date. However it is still an informative book.

Sounds like an opportunity for you to write an up to date version with no gramatical errors PCV.

neilmny wrote:

paidal_chalne_vala wrote:I just got a copy of that book. It has not been proof read at all. It is full of spelling and grammatical errors as well as being ten years out of date. However it is still an informative book.

Sounds like an opportunity for you to write an up to date version with no [pedant]grammatical[/pedant] errors PCV.

I am sure proper English usage is not only the realm of just pedants and former English teachers. The book is useful, but it is riddled with year 9 level errors of grammar, syntax , spelling , as well as punctuation mistakes .It also has the odd mangling of idiomatic usage of sayings etc. I could have proof read it for him !!