Mt Buffalo Leviathan 3 day hike Jan 5-7

[stevage]

Just returned from a 3 day hike in Mt Buffalo. Partner's fitness isn't great, so the original plan was: hike in from Leviathan to Rocky Creek Campsite, spend two nights (with possible daywalks), walk out.

Day 1: the forecast was for a pretty hot sunny day, so we planned to start hiking pretty late. But with an extra slow start leaving Melbourne, we didn't actually hit the ground till after 5PM. It was pretty great! Really beautiful country from the get-go. A brief shower meant I got to try out my new gear, the Gossamer Gear umbrella. It worked a treat - much more convenient than dropping pack to put a jacket on, and repeating the process 20 minutes later.

We did a side trip to Mac's Point, and saw lovely views through the trees.

Sadly in our hasty planning, we hadn't really noticed that the elevation of the hike-in campsite (there are only 2 such in the whole NP) is much lower. Soon the gorgeous alpine scenery we both love began to be replaced by subalpine woodland, which, while not without charm, just wasn't really what we were here for.

The campsite itself is TINY and very slopey. By the time we arrived (~9pm) there were 4 other tents set up. Everyone was sitting around and very friendly, but there was almost no available space for a fifth tent. We would have been almost touching one of the other tents - again, not exactly the experience we seek when we go hiking in the alps. Fortunately, one of the other hikers mentioned another possible site 50m down the track, next to the bridge, so we pitched there.

It was, if I'm being fair, a perfectly decent site, next to a running creek, with beautiful tall trees around, but having started the day crossing alpine meadows, it was a disappointment to end up down here on this management track.

Day 2: We couldn't face spending a second night here. We didn't have reception to check availability at Mt Mcleod (nor, realistically, could we have made it there), so we decided to wild camp up on the plateau somewhere. I suspected this probably isn't allowed, but didn't recall actually seeing any prohibition anywhere. (We have both subsequently spent some time trying to answer this question, and it's far from clear. The clearest hint seems to be in the 2016 Greater Alpine Management Plan, but whether a "strategy" of not allowing dispersed camping is the same thing as it not being allowed is not something I'm qualified to answer.)

So we hiked up through Mollison's Gallery, aiming to get to Biscuit and Cheese Rocks in time for our lunch of...biscuit and cheese. The day was pretty sunny, so I got to try out the umbrella for the main purpose of buying it - as a parasol. It was great! I really loved not having to wear a hat, and getting much better ventilation. A really pleasant experience.

The Biscuit and Cheese rocks were an excellent shady spot for lunch. Then we made our way up to Eagle Rock via what looked like some very new staircase infrastructure. The views were amazing! Lots of large Black Rock Skinks up there.

We ended up camping a little further along on one of the plains. It was incredibly beautiful and peaceful, with so many bird calls...and a few mozzies.

Day 3: We got up very early (if for no other reason than we didn't want to set a bad example for any other hikers coming past). The short walk to the turnoff to Og, Gog and Magog was utterly gorgeous. Trigger plants, pepper berries, tall gums, fantails and honeyeaters of several types, and lots of other birds I can't identify - there was just something really magical about it. The views from the Ogs were great as well. One of our maps showed a supposed circuit to the summit and back, but we couldn't find any sign of the supposed shortcut back. And we were pretty unclear what "Jessies Lookout" was meant to be or how to access it.

We took the direct route out, making a fairly short day of under 7km. A few light showers meant the umbrella proved its worth again, and we were back at the car before 12. It turns out we dodged some pretty serious weather - the car got absolutely pummelled on the drive back home.

Strangely, apart from the hikers at the first campsite, we didn't see a single person the entire time. No daywalkers, no hikers, no mountain bikers, nothing. And that during a weekend in high summer, with pretty decent weather.

I absolutely adored the scenery. It's a bit of a shame Mt Buffalo doesn't work better as a multi day hiking destination, and that the Rocky Creek site is so crap. The trails are all incredibly well maintained, with perfect signage at every junction. Still, I definitely have to come back and do some more daywalks or even cycling - it's just amazing.

Water report: All the major streams were running well, and even most of the minor ones that I didn't expect to get water from (because we were crossing them fairly close to their marked source on the maps) had decent trickles. I think there was only one that we crossed that looked like might have normally had a trickle that was dry.

[paidal_chalne_vala]

I have walked all of that area. I had Rocky Creek camp site to myself when I went there.I liked the camping area.
You can join it to the Mt. McLeod
overnight camping area and make it into two nights of pack carry walking . The camp site at Mt. McLeod is
very nice on the snow grass plain with snow gums etc..
I have also walked up THE BIG WALK and camped at Lake Catani in November one year.
That is a good work out and also quite scenic too.
Of course after a HUGE dump of snow you can snow camp at Lake Catani and XC ski everywhere.

Mt. Buffalo is beautiful .

[stevage]

I have walked all of that area. I had Rocky Creek camp site to myself when I went there.I liked the camping area.

Yeah, it would be a pretty different experience with no one else. But even with 4 tents it felt pretty cramped, and 5 would have been unpleasant IMHO.