Suggested 3 Day circuit in the Bluff Area (Vict Alps)

[plottwisted]

Hi

I'm looking for suggestions for a three day/two night circuit near The Bluff in the Alpine NP to do this Labour Day weekend.

I've done a lot of other walks in the Alps, but this is one region I haven't explored yet.

I've seen some suggested routes on this forum such as:
Day 1: Bluff Car Park (near Refrigerator Gap) to Chesters Yard via Bluff Hut, Lovicks Hut and King Billies.
Day 2: Chesters Yard to the Mt McDonald via Mt Clear and The Nobs.
Day 3: Mt McDonald to Bluff Car Park via Upper Jamieson Hut.

I'm assuming we will be able to find enough water along the route at this time of year. I'm guessing there is no water at Mt McDonald so may need to carry water to our camp from earlier fill points.

Any other suggested routes? Alternatives? Comments.

Thanks, Kalu

[north-north-west]

The old track on Big Mac's north face no longer exists, so it's going to be a bit of a scrub bash down. Best camping is not right at the top but on one of the terraces a little further down. But the views are fantastic.
You're right, there's no water on top but you can usually find it near the junction of the foot route over the Nobs and the Nobs 4wd track - soaks and the like. Chester's Yard is the best water on the route after Lovick's Hut, but again there is usually water to be found near the base of the climb up Clear, although you may have to descend some way to get to it.
The pad over the top of the King Billies is rough but easy enough too follow.
There will be 4wders between Bluff Hut and the track junction so be alert, or follow the road off to the side - it's mostly very open snowgum forest and the views along the Picture Point cliff edges worth the extra effort.
The 4wd track is the best route back up to the carpark. Off track can be very scrubby especially the lower few hundred metres.

[damoprz]

We did this loop back in Nov, there were no real problems. The route can improved by a car shuffle between Bluff Carpark and the corner of Brocks road and low saddle road. It is meant to be possible to walk up Jamieson Spur to the Bluff, avoiding the long walk up Refrigerator gap track, but the scrub looks like hell at the moment.

The climb down from Mt Mac is a bit scrubby and the fire trail between Bluff and Lovicks is kind of boring, otherwise the walk is reasonably straight forward. The AAWT can be faint at times, but navigation along the ridges is easy. With a compass + topo you should have no problems.

WRT water, in the worst case you can find water before Mt Mac by following the 4WD track south after the AAWT turns up Mt Mac. I think I walked around ~1km down the road to a stream, you may need to go down further (~4km) if it is dry.

[plottwisted]

Thanks for the replies.

I was wondering about the route up Jamisons Spur. I've seen it referenced in other blog posts but the path is not shown on my Spatial Vision map or Topo map.

I am tempted to cut the previously mentioned route a little shorter and do something like this:
Day 1: Brooks Road/Nobs Tk Junction up Jamison Spur to the Bluff, continue to camp Lovicks Hut or beyond to the King Billys (depending on how far we make it).
Day 2: Head South to Mt Clear, High Cone, The Nobs.
Day 3: Take the Nobs Tk back to the starting point. Potentially visiting Mt McDonald in the morning (leaving packs at the Nobs Junction).

But this assumes we can track find a path up Jamisons Spur OK.

Would appreciate any thoughts.

Kalu

[peregrinator]

Thanks for the replies.

I was wondering about the route up Jamisons Spur. I've seen it referenced in other blog posts but the path is not shown on my Spatial Vision map or Topo map.

I am tempted to cut the previously mentioned route a little shorter and do something like this:
Day 1: Brooks Road/Nobs Tk Junction up Jamison Spur to the Bluff, continue to camp Lovicks Hut or beyond to the King Billys (depending on how far we make it).
Day 2: Head South to Mt Clear, High Cone, The Nobs.
Day 3: Take the Nobs Tk back to the starting point. Potentially visiting Mt McDonald in the morning (leaving packs at the Nobs Junction).

But this assumes we can track find a path up Jamisons Spur OK.

Would appreciate any thoughts.

Kalu

See http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=12063&p=162742&hilit=jamison+spur#p159198

Scroll down for three further references to the degree of difficulty.

[damoprz]

See http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=12063&p=162742&hilit=jamison+spur#p159198

Scroll down for three further references to the degree of difficulty.

This is why we didn't do it. It is three reasonably long days already with the walk down Mt Mac and the sun starting to set earlier. If I was doing 3 nights, 4 days I would have had a crack.

[plottwisted]

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm starting to think my original suggested route is going to be a bit challenging for three days/2 nights. Especially with shorter daylight.

I'm trying to work out the best shorter route. Shame the Jamison Spur route is too overgrown/challenging.

Would be happy to hear alternative suggestions for a three day loop.

We might try doing a circuit like:
Day 1 - Leave car and start at Brocks Rd and walk up Refrigerator Gap Rd to The Bluff Tk, then on to Blair Hut (or possibly further depending on time).
Day 2 - Mt Lovick, King Billys, to Chesters Yard.
Day 3 - Chesters Yard to Mt Clear, High Cone, The Nobs then down Nobs Track to Brocks Rd and car.

But this will involve some boring walking on 4WD track up Refrigerator Gap Rd. But maybe we'll get lucky and hitch a ride and then have more time to push on to some other peaks on the next couple of days.

K

[north-north-west]

You could always go up MacDonald and reassess your descent route at Mt Clear. From there you can do the King Billy route if you have enough time, or follow the MVO along the spur to the west and back down to Brocks.

[damoprz]

NNW's suggestion is a good one, Mount Mac is probably the best bit. See how far you make it on Day 1, make a call half way through day 2 on whether to go down the Mt Clear track or finish the Bluff loop. There are nice campsites all along the ridge line from Mt Mac to the Billies. We got the full loop done in 3 days with little problem, I just wouldn't add the Jamieson Spur to it.

[plottwisted]

Hi

Thanks for all the suggestions regarding this walk. We had a fantastic walk.

A brief summary below.

Friday night drive to Sheepyard Flat (approx 3 hours from Melbourne). It was pretty bush with campers/4WD for long weekend.

Saturday morning we drove to car park at base of Bluff Walking Track (near Refrigerator Gap). About 1 hours drive from Sheepyard Flat.

We walked up the Bluff and on to Bluff Hut, then Lovicks Hut and onto to Picture Point for lunch. We continued over King Billies and on to Chesters Yard for the first night. It was about 7.5 hours walking on the first day (including some short stops). We got water at Bluff Hut tank, but no tank at Lovicks Hut. We found water on the path just past the campground south of King Billie 2.

As we approached Chesters Yard walking along the main track (rarely used maintenance vehicle track) we noticed a small triangle/arrow on a tree pointing away from the main track. We assumed this was a track leading to the clearing/plateau of Chesters Yard. We headed in the direction of the arrow, but soon found there was no clear track to follow. We made our way through the scrub onto the clearing and set up camp there for the night. There was evidence of other people camping there too and it was a good spot with nice views. But there was no water immediately close by. In the morning we made our way through the scrub back to the main track and discovered a good camping spot adjacent to the fresh water spring on the main track. This was probably the better place to camp, although it was more sheltered without much of a view.

The second day we headed off with the hope of making it to Mt McDonald. We collected about 4 litres of water each which we hoped would be enough. The trail up Mt Clear was spectacular. After Mt Clear we found the trail was a lot less obvious to follow and was easily lost. In some sections we wondered if there was a main path. As we approached Square Top our maps showed the trail splitting with one trail leading over the summit and another trail following the contours around the NW side of the peak. We thought we'd take the easier trail around the side of the hill, but we soon found there was not much of a trail to follow. We got part way around and found it was much harder going trying to walk along the steep hill side. We ended climbing/scrambling back up to the top of the ridge to follow the main trail. I suspect the map is not accurate and there isn't a proper trail on the side of Square Top.

We continued on over High Cone finding the trail pretty hard to follow at times. We made it to the Nobs in the later afternoon and decided to call it a day there. It had been a hot day and we'd been going through our water faster than we'd thought and we weren't confident we'd have enough to last until we descended from Mt McDonald. We found a lovely camping spot in the saddle between the two Nobs. Spectacular sunrise int he morning.

The following day we headed quickly down Nobs Track and after refilling our water bottles and eating lots of blackberries on the trail in the valley we made our way back to the starting point.

We'll have to do Mt McDonald another time. We'll look for another circuit option for Mt Mac.

K