Grampians Walk Advice?

[Biggles]

My very adventurous walk up to Briggs Bluff/Mount Difficult camp was with the VNPA way back in May 1987. We had camped the night before (arriving so late most people got very lost) at Troopers Creek. Next morning, it was straight across the road, along a track, passed a season waterfall and "straight up, chaps!" through the cliffs: if there was a track, the crusty Leader wasn't using it! The effort required to scour the boulders, scrub and vertical surfaces was something I had never been exposed to, and it was, frankly, a *&%$#! relief to get to a large granite ledge for lunch before the final pinch up to the dismal grey plateau. Our camp was somewhere near the summit of Mount Difficult in increasing winds, with little room for tents on the boulder-strewn surface. It rained and rained and rained all night, with the following morning a miserable experience with everything sopping wet and heavy. In 1994 I did the trip again, solo this time, and got lost! Ended up rock-hopping down ledges before arriving at a road and walking 6km back to Troopers.

My first walk up Mount Bogong in 1988 was done with a VNPA group, and we got caugh, fittingly, at Hell Gap in a blizzard...

[Baeng72]

My very adventurous walk up to Briggs Bluff/Mount Difficult camp was with the VNPA way back in May 1987. We had camped the night before (arriving so late most people got very lost) at Troopers Creek. Next morning, it was straight across the road, along a track, passed a season waterfall and "straight up, chaps!" through the cliffs: if there was a track, the crusty Leader wasn't using it! The effort required to scour the boulders, scrub and vertical surfaces was something I had never been exposed to, and it was, frankly, a *&%$#! relief to get to a large granite ledge for lunch before the final pinch up to the dismal grey plateau. Our camp was somewhere near the summit of Mount Difficult in increasing winds, with little room for tents on the boulder-strewn surface. It rained and rained and rained all night, with the following morning a miserable experience with everything sopping wet and heavy. In 1994 I did the trip again, solo this time, and got lost! Ended up rock-hopping down ledges before arriving at a road and walking 6km back to Troopers.

My first walk up Mount Bogong in 1988 was done with a VNPA group, and we got caugh, fittingly, at Hell Gap in a blizzard...

That's extreme. I can't imagine doing that.

There are Granites in the Grampians region, but the Geological maps don't show it in that exact area, but only Grampians group Sandstones.

[paidal_chalne_vala]

I dragged my then g/f up the ' track' from Trooper's Ck. to Mt. Difficult as a day walk some 8 years ago. I found it to be quite good fun with crab crawling, scrambling and steep bits but she was having her own private ordeal!.
Most of the hiking trips I took her on were like that. She did give it a go . Many people will never see The Grampians, Mt. Loch. , The Prom etc. with a pack on their backs.
The Troopers Ck. to Mt. Gar track was closed not long after that hike due to floods and fires.

[rhodamnia]

Hello,

I've been lurking on this forum for quite a while and wanted to make my first post as I did the Mt Difficult/Mt gar walk on Friday/Saturday thanks to the recommendation and fantastic info here. Thanks to everyone for the trip reports and maps.

We did the walk clockwise and camped at the summit Camp on Friday night. The first day was big for my husband and I! We are still fairly new to overnight bushwalking but I think this was a great way to level up from the walks we had done at the Prom etc. Challenging but extremely rewarding, absolutely beautiful.

The closed Summit Camp was easy to spot from the walking track and reasonably protected. It was a pretty windy night, we could hear wind rushing around the tops of the mountain. Apparently there was a rescue on nearby Mt Stapylton and we didn't hear the helicopter for the wind! Just a mildly flappy tent night tucked down in the summit camp nook. Very glad we pushed on and didn't stop at Long point as the sunrise the next morning was absolutely stunning. We were also keen to cut down our walk length on day two due to forecasted storms on Saturday afternoon.

We stocked up on water from Longpoint West for the night and morning. The next morning we refilled from some of the small watercourses along the track. We filtered it and it was fine. This water availability would be very seasonal.

The section from the summit to the Briggs Bluff junction was absolutely stunning.. well the whole walk is really.

We walk at "botany pace" and are of reasonable fitness. Day one from Beehive Falls to summit took us about 6 hours including breaks. Descending took us about 3.5 hours including breaks. We skipped Briggs Bluff (another time) and didn't take any of the GPT shortcuts.

Navigation was fairly straightforward with the yellow arrows filling us with confidence. We only lost the trail at one point as you descend down to the Longpoint campsites. We doubled back and found our way again. Some helpful walkers had placed rock cairns and sticks to guide other walkers along the way- thank you! The maps and reports in this thread were also of great help.

Parks have clearly done a lot of recent track work so it was in good condition but still plenty of satisfying rock scrambling/free form walking. Signs of GPT campsites being built near summit.

A seriously beautiful experience.

[Baeng72]

Hey, well done!

[paidal_chalne_vala]

Well done. Spring is a good time to walk up there. There is more chance of finding water and the days are becoming longer. The sun has not yet become a nuisance.