Wog Wog to The Castle

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Wog Wog to The Castle

Postby bigkev » Sat 24 Jan, 2015 5:41 pm

Seeing that Melbourne is basically grid locked with traffic trying to escape the city this long weekend I thought that I would spend the weekend tidying up a few loose ends, in between watching the cricket and tennis. The first loose end is to post a synopsis of a journal I wrote up of a walk I did from Wog Wog to The Castle in the Budawang's last November.

This was my first overnight walk in The Budawangs, I walked from Wog Wog to Bibbenluke Camp the first day, the second day involved a day trip to The Castle and back, and the third day a walk back to Wog Wog. The tracks in the Budawangs can be anything from a very lightly cairned route through the scrub to an easy ramble along duck boards and they can change in a very short distance. The highlight of the walk for me was Monalith Valley and the climb of The Castle. The climb up The Castle certainly got my attention, I reckon its more scary than Mt Anne, although being a fairly hefty bloke I wasn't trusting the fixed ropes and was scrambling up the rock un-aided.

I was going to head back to Bibbenluke Camp via the saddle between Mt Cole and Mt Owen but after finding my way up onto Mt Owen from Monalith Valley I wasn't confident that I would get through before dark. I thought it was best to backtrack via Monalith Valley at least that way I wouldn't spend a night huddled in a cave. Mt Owen is now on the extensive to do list.

Its probably of limited use to anyone now but there was water at Wog Wog Creek, Canowie Brook, Burrumbeet Brook, Bibbenluke Camp, Monalith Valley, and the cliffs under Mt Nibelung.

If you want to read a day by day account with lots of photos here's the link to my crazy guy journal http://hiking.topicwise.com/doc/TheBudawangs

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Canowie Brook

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Descending into Monalith Valley.

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Pigeon House

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The tail of The Castle, with Mt Cole and Mt Owen in the distance.

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The climbing route was down near that tree, hmmm....
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Re: Wog Wog to The Castle

Postby Zone-5 » Thu 21 May, 2015 3:29 am

Holy-Moly! What a treat!
... moved to another forum @ 10/10/2015
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Re: Wog Wog to The Castle

Postby odnuas » Fri 29 May, 2015 8:22 pm

Great report Big Kev. I read your website report as well. One of my favourite walks. Good call on the Mt Owen / Mt Cole saddle. I've done that only once and I can tell you its pretty tough for the less agile (such as me!).
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Re: Wog Wog to The Castle

Postby Lizzy » Sat 30 May, 2015 7:05 am

Yes- excellent report. Will have to add this walk to the list!
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Re: Wog Wog to The Castle

Postby ofuros » Sat 30 May, 2015 8:05 am

Oooo the area looks challenging....I like the look of it !
Mountain views are good for my soul...& getting to them is good for my waistline !
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Re: Wog Wog to The Castle

Postby bigkev » Sat 30 May, 2015 5:49 pm

Hi All,

Thanks for taking the time to check out the report. I was really impressed with the walking there, if it was a bit closer to home I'd be visiting more often.

Out of curiosity Odnuas how long did it take to get all the way over the saddle, I'm guessing I made it about half way, I got to a plateau full of sandstone domes and spires.

Lizzy if you're anything like me the bucket list is only getting longer, if only I could win tatts and concentrate on travel instead of having work get in the way!

Cheers
Kevin
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Re: Wog Wog to The Castle

Postby odnuas » Mon 01 Jun, 2015 7:03 pm

Kev

I don't have a great memory but I remember it taking quite a while. We were going the opposite way to you. I remember quite a few false leads and a lot of scrambling down big rocks. From memory we even used the rope we had 2-3 times. There was also a really crap bit at the start where we missed the turn up a sheer rock face on Mt Owen and instead headed down a gully between Cole and Owen until we realised our error. That was not a pleasant walk back up!
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