Overnight Hike within 3hrs of Melb and 1hr of M1 or A440

Victoria specific bushwalking discussion.
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Victoria specific bushwalking discussion. Please avoid publishing details of access to sensitive areas with no tracks.

Re: Overnight Hike within 3hrs of Melb and 1hr of M1 or A440

Postby paidal_chalne_vala » Wed 28 Apr, 2021 10:11 am

Friends of Baw Baw are doing a working bee up there soon on May 15th (?) attending to the drainage on the walking tracks. In winter the Mt.Erica hike is more demanding. It is becomes very cold , snowy , icy and visibility is often quite poor. The track up to the campsite is harder to make out in the snow. Quality snow shoes such as MSR lightning ascent snow shoes make a big difference. The track is not really ideal for skinning up on BC XC skis. XC Skiing down it would be tricky unless you are really good at skiing . :-0.
NBW hut is easy to find once you have located it in green season. It is a public hut. The Scout Hut is also easier to locate once you have been there in green season. The Scout hut is locked to the public. Mushroom rocks gets snow in winter. Jann's hut a.k.a Stagg's hut is also easy to find once someone has shown its location to you. That gets snow too.
Mt. St. Gwinear is an easier way to get up onto the plateau in winter on BC XC skis or snow shoes and do some snow camping . Take a snow shovel if you go in late August so you can dig your tent in ,out of the wind if necessary.
I have snow shoed and XC skied up there. I enjoy BC XC skiing up there in late winter/ early spring.
The car park for MSG is not that far away from the summit of MSG so if the weather at the rock shelter turns feral you can bail out quite quickly. Be careful of creek crossings in September. The snow bridges are melting then and taking a tumble into the icy water is not fun!.
If you start really early you can go from MSG car park to Baw Baw village and back in a day on skis or snow shoes following the pole line. If you camp at East Tyers campsite a.k.a O Shea's Mill the night before then you can get a proper early start on that trip .You must carry snow chains and a snow shovel.
Navigation ability in a white out is a necessary skill.
Last edited by paidal_chalne_vala on Thu 29 Apr, 2021 6:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Overnight Hike within 3hrs of Melb and 1hr of M1 or A440

Postby indented » Thu 29 Apr, 2021 7:54 am

Thanks PCV, any word on aavilability of water around MSG or Phillack? It looks like there should be a few streams and soaks up there but I'm not sure whether they would have water in them.
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Re: Overnight Hike within 3hrs of Melb and 1hr of M1 or A440

Postby paidal_chalne_vala » Thu 29 Apr, 2021 6:56 pm

There is usually water flowing under
the wooden foot bridge on the snow plain after you leave the MSG summit and follow the pole line towards the Rock shelter. You should collect and cart water to your camp site from that water point IMHO. There is no water at St. Phillack Saddle. It is a flat spot where putting up a tent would be good if it is not windy . The water in the creek near Tullicooty Glen usually flows all year round. Being a BC XC skier means going off track in white season is easier than in Green season. The Sub Alpine scrub is dense and head high in
some places so accessing these water courses could be more interesting in green season.In white season the scrub is often buried and flattened out . For example the descent to Tullicooty Glen from the Rock Shelter is a straight forward descent on skis in white season but the
route in green season is a scrub bash :-0 .
Get a good map of the area. I am not sure how much track clearing was achieved earlier this month when BTAC went out there to clear the route from St. Phillack Saddle to Stronarch's camp. It snowed 25- 30 cms up there so it would have held the volunteer track clearers back a bit.
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Re: Overnight Hike within 3hrs of Melb and 1hr of M1 or A440

Postby paidal_chalne_vala » Thu 23 Dec, 2021 6:06 pm

I just came back from hiking from Baw Baw village to the Mt. Whitelaw hut ruins site and back. I camped overnight at the Mt. Whitelaw hut ruins. There were a number of good tent sites near the hut ruins and the creek to the immediate east of the hut ruins was flowing . The foot pad down there to the water was overgrown and muddy .
I used a pump up water filter just to be careful. Plus the stream was not flowing quickly so filling containers required some extra kit. The wild flowers were showing off. The track out there past St. Phillack saddle has a few scrubby sections (don't wear shorts !! )and fallen logs but overall it is easy to follow the route and it is nothing like scrub bashing through the Northern Prom.
I can recommend this walk as a quick Green season get away from Melbourne in the Beautiful Baw Baw N.P..
Allow 4 hours one way.
I still plan to drive around to Stronach's camp and walk the 10 kms or so up to Mt. Whitelaw either before or after this route is cleared out to Phillack Saddle by BTAC. It is in their " to do " list .


The Tanjil track which links St. Phillack Saddle to the Pleasant Mt. Baw Baw village has some quick descending drops where if you were on BC XC skis it would be interesting to control your speed . There are trees and large rocks hemming in the pole line route the whole way and even if all the scrub was buried deeply under snow , there are few run out sites or places where turning to control one's speed could be simple. The same can be said about Mt. St. Phillack. The AAWT route out to the Mt. Whitelaw Hut ruins also matches this description.
I remember side stepping on XC skis down Mt. St. Phillack in 2019 when the Baw Baws had a bumper snow season.
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