Bushwalk Australia

We are planning a 3 day walk in a few weeks, up Helicopter Spur, then camping for the first night, just north of King Billy 1 (we then plan to camp at the top of Stanley Named spur the second night). In John Chapman's AAWT book he mentions this camp site and water source. Just wondering a couple of things; Is the water source reliable and is it difficult to find?

Mr Bean wrote:We are planning a 3 day walk in a few weeks, up Helicopter Spur, then camping for the first night, just north of King Billy 1 (we then plan to camp at the top of Stanley Named spur the second night). In John Chapman's AAWT book he mentions this camp site and water source. Just wondering a couple of things; Is the water source reliable and is it difficult to find?

I've not been there, but would love to get there one day, so caveat lector.
My avenza map shows a WP right near King Billy 1 on the Bluff track.

If you search on water and king billy there are a number of discussions on this website.
This may be the most relevant: http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=26900&p=339981&hilit=water+king+billy#p339458

eggs wrote:If you search on water and king billy there are a number of discussions on this website.
This may be the most relevant: http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=26900&p=339981&hilit=water+king+billy#p339458

Ah, thanks for that eggs. I do remember a reference being made about Timbertop kids camping in that area. Hopefully the weather is a little better in a few weeks (we had planned to head up on Melbourne Cup weekend, but it was a little wet).

That water point is usually only flowing up until Xmas. We went out there last Xmas break i.e 27/12/18 and went to look for that water source on the way from The King Billies to Hellfire Creek saddle camp site . It was little more than a soak surrounded by more profuse vegetation than elsewhere. The Timbertop school pupils have marked the route down there with thingies hanging from the trees. There are some very good campsites down by that clear foot pad.

paidal_chalne_vala wrote:That water point is usually only flowing up until Xmas. We went out there last Xmas break i.e 27/12/18 and went to look for that water source on the way from The King Billies to Hellfire Creek saddle camp site . It was little more than a soak surrounded by more profuse vegetation than elsewhere. The Timbertop school pupils have marked the route down there with thingies hanging from the trees. There are some very good campsites down by that clear foot pad.

Thanks for the info PCV. Just trying to balance the water we need for the climb up Helicopter Spur. I guess from a worse case perspective, we could head back to the intersection of Bluff Rd / Brocks Rd, which isn't far from the water running across the road (we saw it last January, flowing well).

There is a fairly reliable spring on the AAWT about 500 M. south ( heading Towards Chester's Yard) before it reaches the locked gate at King Billy Saddle. It is possibly a nuisance to have to go out there either over KB 1 and 2 or along the Jeep track to reach it. Hellfire Creek will be flowing until Xmas esp. with the huge cold front coming this Monday and Tuesday. Further Rainfalls and Snow down to 1000 M. are forecasted. I am looking at possibly going XC skiing at Mt. Baw Baw on Tuesday if it delivers the goods. Yes Nordic skiing in December !. There is a stream near Lovicks hut which is heading away/down a steep rocky 4 WD track from Picture point. The first section of Helicopter spur walking route from the Upper Howqua camp site has been given a haircut by track clearing volunteers. I have yet to scramble up that route but eventually I will give it a go.

paidal_chalne_vala wrote:There is a fairly reliable spring on the AAWT about 500 M. south ( heading Towards Chester's Yard) before it reaches the locked gate at King Billy Saddle.

Yep, that's the one we saw. Had good flow in January.

paidal_chalne_vala wrote:There is a stream near Lovicks hut which is heading away/down a steep rocky 4 WD track from Picture point. The first section of Helicopter spur walking route from the Upper Howqua camp site has been given a haircut by track clearing volunteers. I have yet to scramble up that route but eventually I will give it a go.

Ok, thanks for the tip.

Yes, I was part of the crew last weekend doing track clearing. 4 of us, including Nigel the Parks Vic ranger did Helicopter Spur on Sunday (up to where the 4WD track meets the spur). Unfortunately, it appeared that a 4WD had attempted to drive up that closed track (they cut a number of fallen trees before being stopped by a large tree across the track). It made the track clear job a little more difficult as they had pushed down a lot of understory, which meant we had lift a lot of stuff off the track.

Anyway, that work got me interested in Helicopter Spur. We are heading up that way in 2 weeks and had planned to do Howitt up, Stanley NS down but will do Helicopter up.

P.S. Both Howitt and Queens had a good clearing last weekend.

Coming down off SNS track there are three bands of rock which are steep backwards crab crawling exercises .
The camp sites at Hellfire creek saddle and SNS saddle 1 km down off the X cut saw both have water until Xmas and have way fewer people than Mac. Springs ever will.
I would prefer to ascend that SNS route. The consensus about Helicopter spur is that it is safer to ascend the spur than to descend the spur. If the weather is wet then avoid it. The Howitt spur is fine to ascend / descend in wet weather. The formulae I have memorized for the day I tackle that route ( maybe spring 2020)for ascending the three rocky bluffs are go left twice and then up the first two rocky scrambles and then right and then up the last one.