Mt Samaria state park

[Charlievee]

Hey team - I'd like to backpack this area soon, and have obtained the map of the area. Has anyone walked this area before ? A bit of enlightenment would be most welcome. Thanks, CV.

[trickos]

CV,

Years ago, I did a looped day walk here from Camphora Campground retun via Samaria Summit and Spring Creek sawmill.
From memory it was a good 15 km's up and down but I remember the terrain wasn't too difficult. There were terrific views from the summit looking down on Lake Nilahcootie (?!) and beyond.
Looking at the Parks map again, I now remember that it looked a challenge to create more than a day walk here unless you were willing to walk on vehicle tracks for a fair whack.

[Charlievee]

Thanks trickos, I was looking at doing the same thing, although parking nearer to the summit, and camping overnight at Camphora. Nice to know someone else who has done the walk. Some of the hills look arduous, but then I'm using this as a bit of a training walk for the first section of the AAWT. Thanks for your comments. Regards, CV.

[gmac]

Hi CV

Have walked this area a couple of times. Started from the Kiln area and went up Lightening Track to the top and then turned left and walked the track to Mt Samaria. About half way to the summit the track seemed to disappear but by focusing on the Summit you do pick it up again. Once the Summit was achieved it was a walk into the Wild Dog falls camping area and spent the night with the wind moving the trees around a bit and then walked out the next day after visiting the falls.

Its not the biggest of pack walks but its ok. Have done the same walk as a day walk and also the walk out to Tramline.

A friend of mine has mentioned that it is possible to walk off track from the Samaria Wells camp site along a ridge to the Summit area, if possible that would be a good training run.

Regards

gmac

[Charlievee]

Thanks gmac - very kind of you to post your notes. The weather was feral the weekend gone, so I opted out for a better weekend. The additional trail notes you guys have provided have helped immensely. Will be hiking it soon. Thank you. CV

[Moondog55]

Keep an eye out for feral pigs, they haven't done any shooting or baiting there in a long time and I saw evidence of lots of the buggers, keep your food and gear out of reach

[Charlievee]

Thanks Moondog. I wonder if all the rain has caused a surge in new growth and the buggers are capitalising on it ?

[Earwig]

I had a wander up Mt Samaria the other day. You can read about it here http://ian-folly.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/wild-pigs-and-gang-gangs.html
Didn't see any wild pigs or signs of pigs ... or much in the way of signs!

[Johnno]

I just got back from a day in Mt Samaria.

I drove in and camped at the Spring Creek campsite for the night, near the kilns. The next morning I walked up lightning ridge, then along Mt Samaria track to the Summit. Its a very nice walk from the top of lightning ridge along towards Mt Samaria.

As gmac said, once you start climbing towards the summit it becomes pretty much impossible to follow the track. There are deer trails everywhere and thick scrub that is head-high in places. I ended up just bush-bashing my way uphill along the ridge until I found the summit.

Great view from up there!

From there I walked down and onto wild dog falls. Good campsite there, and the falls are 1km or so walk away down the hill from there but well worth the look.

I'll definitely be going back to Mt Samaria state park. Its a beautiful location with fairly good access that seems to have few visitors.