Great hike for experienced walkers, could be quite hard for beginners.
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This hike, in many ways, was the most epic of all my hikes. The vast bulk of it (2/3 or 10km) was off trail or following the sketchiest of tracks the may or may not have been a trail (One of the trails was actually called ‘ill-defined foot track) .Someone had, very helpfully, tied ribbon to trees periodically,for stretches of the ‘track,’ on and off. Although this wouldn’t have been enough to navigate by on its own! I hate to admit it, but without my GPS I would almost certainly been/got lost.
The amount of times I thought I was following a designated track, but not, are too many to recall. And the amount of times I knew I was not following a track at all but just forging my own way alongside the creek were probably even more numerous.
I was grateful for this Creek which the track ‘followed’ (I know that really it’s obviously vice-versa) and so I largely stuck to that for many kilometres. But with gorge rock-faces often one one side, I was forced to cross the creek many times; maybe 30-50 times!! It was very shallow, and thankfully there were usually logs or rocks I could rock-hop across. I only got one foot wet a little bit on one occasion.
There were many times I felt incredibly grateful for all that went right for me during this hike: the weather was ideal; I was not seriously injured; I did not encounter any snakes; my experience and equipment were up to the task; I knew I had energy equipment, and there was (just) enough time to finish before sunset.
A serious injury would have certainly meant being out in the park overnight. An injury without a PLB, or someone knowing my route/whereabouts, would have likely meant several nights out, or worse.
This track is not suitable for people of all abilities, the inexperienced nor faint of heart. Being off-track added 3km to a planned 12km route. It halved my average speed, down to 2km/h. That slow pace should take into account that for the 7+ hours this hike took to complete, I did not stop once, other than -30 second breaks to check my bearings when I couldn’t walk and do so safely at the same time—which was a lot of the time. I completed the hike in a clockwise direction.
This was definitely the most extreme, adventurous hike I have ever done. I spent more time off-track than in all my hundreds of other hikes combined. It is a rugged, picturesque park and the wildlife and terrain added a lot to the joy of doing it. I saw kangaroos, a huge hare and a massive brown eagle, twice.
The remoteness of the route is something I also treasured. I encounter no one for the whole hike. I am very grateful to Parks Victoria for allowing such a rough and ready track to exist, although I do think this hike emphasises the need we have, as a community of hikers, for better communication regarding the nature and difficulty of hikes. Hikes like this carry an inherent, heightened risk that most other hikes where we are on a track the whole time do not. With all that said, I hope to find similar such experiences in the future and look forward to my next hike at Lerderderg State Park.
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