8-13 Jan 2022 Upper Howqua-Bluff Hut-Howitt-Speculation-SNS
Posted: Sat 15 Jan, 2022 1:46 pmJust returned from the planned 7 day hike discussed here: https://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=39111
Due to forecast heavy rain (35-55mm at one point!) we shifted our starting date back a couple of days, holing up in an AirBNB in Mt Buller for two nights. In the end, the rain was pretty mild. We ended up not getting rained on during the day during our walk at all, which was nice.
Day 1:easy stroll along Bindaree Road to Bindaree Hut, then along the 4WD track to Pykes Flat.
Just 7km for the day, but a nice way to ease in since we haven't been hiking in over 2 years. Passed what looks like an incredible waterhole with waterfall along the stretch the Pykes Flat. The flat itself is a huge expanse of grass, but it looks like most 4wd-ers kind of carve out little secluded spots down by the river, maybe for fishing. A bit unimpressed to see one of them actually driving up the river from the ford to get to his spot.
We met a group of 4 young hikers (missionaries? church-related, anyway) who'd come down from Buller, but didn't quite understand where they were headed. Saw a tiny black snake curled up on a rock.
Day 2: climb up Sixteen Mile Jeep Track up to Bluff Hut.
Not the most exciting climb, but a simple and straightforward way to get up to the range. We took the marked shortcut walking track from the intersection with Bluff Link Track, up to a part of Bluff Track, but wouldn't recommend it. Heavily overgrown with blackberries, very painful to get through.
Lots of water in the Bluff Hut tank (probably more than half full). We were worried there would be a lot of 4wders, but it being Sunday, they'd all gone, and it was just us and two extremely fit women doing essentially the whole 7 day Buller Huts circuit in 4 days, despite seriously heavy packs. (I don't think they were sharing any gear?)
We did a side trip up to Mt Eadley Stoney. It's a bit odd that there isn't a path to the summit. Still, the views were absolutely amazing, the weather was stunning, and it was lovely rock hopping along the cliff on our way back down.
Lots of flies, maybe due to the horse poo?
Day 3: past Lovicks Hut, over Mt Magdala to the Hells Window saddle.
I thought we could get water near Lovicks Hut, but couldn't find any. Near the hut, there's a pond, and a plastic pipe running downhill, but I couldn't find anywhere I could fill up from. Fortunately was able to bum a couple of litres off a 4wder. Further down the track, there's a point where you're supposed to be able to find water, but again, I could see a pond, but nothing I'd really want to fill up from. Instead, clambered down the gully from near Picture Point, to a point suggested by someone else in these forums, and found a a stream running ok - around 10-20 seconds per litre.
Mt Magdala was great. We filled up at the water point below the saddle, well marked by red plastic markers on trees. The flow was very slow - around 2-3 minutes per litre. Someone had left a small piece of pipe to somehow improve things, but the flow wasn't strong enough to enter it.
The saddle campsite was nice, but during the night, a fox got into my vestibule. It chewed its way through our two Sea to Summit collapsible bowl/plates, destroying them. It also dragged my pack about 2 metres from the tent before I woke up and scared it off.
To improve the night further, a big thunderstorm kept us up for a bit.
Day 4: over Mt Howitt to Stanley Name Spur junction
We were a day ahead of schedule, with the goal of camping on the far side of Mt Speculation. (Our original plan only had a short detour into the Crosscut Saw, but my partner was feeling more confident about fitness by this point).
We stopped in for water at the well marked point near the turn off to Macalister Springs. It was running incredibly slowly, something like 10 minutes per litre, so we were there a while.
We then camped at the junction to Stanleys Name Spur. This was a bad idea. The area looked pretty flat and inviting, but with a steady wind from the east, up out of the value, we tried to find a sheltered spot. It turned out to be impossible to find somewhere flat and sheltered. The best compromise was right next to the SNS path, on the south side, which was steep enough to be awkward for sleeping, and still a bit battered by the wind. The low flying clouds also caused constant droplets on the tent roof. Another not great night of sleeping.
Day 5: side trip to Mt Speculation, then down to SNS saddle camp
For various reasons, we opted to make this a day side trip rather than carting everything to Camp Creek and back.
We ditched most of our gear and set off across the Crosscut Saw. Wow, what a spectacular piece of hiking! We got started late due to the poor sleep, and persistent fog and wind, however things improved by midday.
Climbing Mt Buggery wasn't really deserving of its name, just a bit of a boring slog through vegetation without much reward. The summit does look like a good place to camp though. There was a big, unpleasant pile of used toilet paper at Horrible Gap though, sigh.
The climb up to Mt Spec was great, though. Great views, some fun rock scrambling. There's one slightly longer section of rock to climb, but I can't really imagine using a rope to pack haul here. Pretty straightforward to get up and down.
We met a group of 4 young guys who were doing the full AAWT. They seemed to be going well, 2 weeks in. They were getting in-person food drops from family and friends, with their next one at Mt Hotham.
I also randomly found someone else's food drop, in a white plastic tub once labelled "DYNAMIC LIFTER". Couldn't resist having a look inside, and approving their choice of 85% Lindt chocolate. One of their dinners was labelled "Spag bol 1/2021" so there was some chance it was a year old, but also possible they just got the year wrong. (I do know a guy who bailed on the AAWT around this time last year, somewhere around that area). I didn't really get the feeling it had been sitting there for a year, though could be wrong.
This whole section took us a long time though. Each of the 2.5 km sections (junction to Mt Buggery, to Mt Spec, back to Buggery, back to junction) took about 2 hours, so it was 7:30pm by the time we got back to our packs.
Someone had warned us that the descent down SNS isn't trivial, but, wow. Some seriously challenging rock scrambling down there, especially after a big day out. Had to really consider our foot and hand placements. Also had trouble following the trail in a couple of places, and there are one or two spots where it seems there are two alternative paths.
The saddle campsite was fine, though a little more exposed than we would have liked. Fortunately the wind dropped late at night and was very peaceful.
The creek was flowing very well, maybe 2-3 seconds for a litre. The trail to it was marked in the wrong spot on OSM though, so I'll fix that. (It's to your right at the very start of the campsite, coming down).
Day 6: SNS saddle to Upper Howqua Campsite
We met a couple of guys who'd done a loop around the Viking Circuit and were walking out. They'd gotten to the top of Helicopter Spur on the first day, before realising they'd forgotten sunscreen, and had to go back down for it! Eep.
Following the trail to Queens Spur Road was a bit hard in places. Overgrown, indistinct, fallen logs, etc. I did a fair bit of impromptu track maintenance to try to improve it. At one point, the path does a sudden right bend, and we completely lost it for ages.
Queens Spur Road was pretty unpleasant. A lot of knee-to-waist-high vegetation, and one nightmare patch of maybe 200m heavily overgrown by native raspberry. So prickly! Right in the middle of that patch, my partner fell on a sharp rock, and gave herself a really painful bruise on the bum. :/
Quite a few fallen logs, too. We actually saw a pretty big tree fall over, on the spur above us, and slide down onto the path, from just 30m away. Fortunately its final position was easy to walk under.
Once down onto Upper Howqua Road, the track improved a lot. Quite a few river crossings, but managed to keep the boots dry.
After reaching the car, we drove down to a fantastic waterhole we had noticed, maybe 1km further along Bindaree Road. It's not signposted or obvious from the road, but we'd heard people swimming there on the first day. Very deep, great swimming, just gorgeous, and such a wonderful way to wash off all the hiking grime.
Thanks everyone for the info and suggestions on my original post.
Due to forecast heavy rain (35-55mm at one point!) we shifted our starting date back a couple of days, holing up in an AirBNB in Mt Buller for two nights. In the end, the rain was pretty mild. We ended up not getting rained on during the day during our walk at all, which was nice.
Day 1:easy stroll along Bindaree Road to Bindaree Hut, then along the 4WD track to Pykes Flat.
Just 7km for the day, but a nice way to ease in since we haven't been hiking in over 2 years. Passed what looks like an incredible waterhole with waterfall along the stretch the Pykes Flat. The flat itself is a huge expanse of grass, but it looks like most 4wd-ers kind of carve out little secluded spots down by the river, maybe for fishing. A bit unimpressed to see one of them actually driving up the river from the ford to get to his spot.
We met a group of 4 young hikers (missionaries? church-related, anyway) who'd come down from Buller, but didn't quite understand where they were headed. Saw a tiny black snake curled up on a rock.
Day 2: climb up Sixteen Mile Jeep Track up to Bluff Hut.
Not the most exciting climb, but a simple and straightforward way to get up to the range. We took the marked shortcut walking track from the intersection with Bluff Link Track, up to a part of Bluff Track, but wouldn't recommend it. Heavily overgrown with blackberries, very painful to get through.
Lots of water in the Bluff Hut tank (probably more than half full). We were worried there would be a lot of 4wders, but it being Sunday, they'd all gone, and it was just us and two extremely fit women doing essentially the whole 7 day Buller Huts circuit in 4 days, despite seriously heavy packs. (I don't think they were sharing any gear?)
We did a side trip up to Mt Eadley Stoney. It's a bit odd that there isn't a path to the summit. Still, the views were absolutely amazing, the weather was stunning, and it was lovely rock hopping along the cliff on our way back down.
Lots of flies, maybe due to the horse poo?
Day 3: past Lovicks Hut, over Mt Magdala to the Hells Window saddle.
I thought we could get water near Lovicks Hut, but couldn't find any. Near the hut, there's a pond, and a plastic pipe running downhill, but I couldn't find anywhere I could fill up from. Fortunately was able to bum a couple of litres off a 4wder. Further down the track, there's a point where you're supposed to be able to find water, but again, I could see a pond, but nothing I'd really want to fill up from. Instead, clambered down the gully from near Picture Point, to a point suggested by someone else in these forums, and found a a stream running ok - around 10-20 seconds per litre.
Mt Magdala was great. We filled up at the water point below the saddle, well marked by red plastic markers on trees. The flow was very slow - around 2-3 minutes per litre. Someone had left a small piece of pipe to somehow improve things, but the flow wasn't strong enough to enter it.
The saddle campsite was nice, but during the night, a fox got into my vestibule. It chewed its way through our two Sea to Summit collapsible bowl/plates, destroying them. It also dragged my pack about 2 metres from the tent before I woke up and scared it off.
To improve the night further, a big thunderstorm kept us up for a bit.
Day 4: over Mt Howitt to Stanley Name Spur junction
We were a day ahead of schedule, with the goal of camping on the far side of Mt Speculation. (Our original plan only had a short detour into the Crosscut Saw, but my partner was feeling more confident about fitness by this point).
We stopped in for water at the well marked point near the turn off to Macalister Springs. It was running incredibly slowly, something like 10 minutes per litre, so we were there a while.
We then camped at the junction to Stanleys Name Spur. This was a bad idea. The area looked pretty flat and inviting, but with a steady wind from the east, up out of the value, we tried to find a sheltered spot. It turned out to be impossible to find somewhere flat and sheltered. The best compromise was right next to the SNS path, on the south side, which was steep enough to be awkward for sleeping, and still a bit battered by the wind. The low flying clouds also caused constant droplets on the tent roof. Another not great night of sleeping.
Day 5: side trip to Mt Speculation, then down to SNS saddle camp
For various reasons, we opted to make this a day side trip rather than carting everything to Camp Creek and back.
We ditched most of our gear and set off across the Crosscut Saw. Wow, what a spectacular piece of hiking! We got started late due to the poor sleep, and persistent fog and wind, however things improved by midday.
Climbing Mt Buggery wasn't really deserving of its name, just a bit of a boring slog through vegetation without much reward. The summit does look like a good place to camp though. There was a big, unpleasant pile of used toilet paper at Horrible Gap though, sigh.
The climb up to Mt Spec was great, though. Great views, some fun rock scrambling. There's one slightly longer section of rock to climb, but I can't really imagine using a rope to pack haul here. Pretty straightforward to get up and down.
We met a group of 4 young guys who were doing the full AAWT. They seemed to be going well, 2 weeks in. They were getting in-person food drops from family and friends, with their next one at Mt Hotham.
I also randomly found someone else's food drop, in a white plastic tub once labelled "DYNAMIC LIFTER". Couldn't resist having a look inside, and approving their choice of 85% Lindt chocolate. One of their dinners was labelled "Spag bol 1/2021" so there was some chance it was a year old, but also possible they just got the year wrong. (I do know a guy who bailed on the AAWT around this time last year, somewhere around that area). I didn't really get the feeling it had been sitting there for a year, though could be wrong.
This whole section took us a long time though. Each of the 2.5 km sections (junction to Mt Buggery, to Mt Spec, back to Buggery, back to junction) took about 2 hours, so it was 7:30pm by the time we got back to our packs.
Someone had warned us that the descent down SNS isn't trivial, but, wow. Some seriously challenging rock scrambling down there, especially after a big day out. Had to really consider our foot and hand placements. Also had trouble following the trail in a couple of places, and there are one or two spots where it seems there are two alternative paths.
The saddle campsite was fine, though a little more exposed than we would have liked. Fortunately the wind dropped late at night and was very peaceful.
The creek was flowing very well, maybe 2-3 seconds for a litre. The trail to it was marked in the wrong spot on OSM though, so I'll fix that. (It's to your right at the very start of the campsite, coming down).
Day 6: SNS saddle to Upper Howqua Campsite
We met a couple of guys who'd done a loop around the Viking Circuit and were walking out. They'd gotten to the top of Helicopter Spur on the first day, before realising they'd forgotten sunscreen, and had to go back down for it! Eep.
Following the trail to Queens Spur Road was a bit hard in places. Overgrown, indistinct, fallen logs, etc. I did a fair bit of impromptu track maintenance to try to improve it. At one point, the path does a sudden right bend, and we completely lost it for ages.
Queens Spur Road was pretty unpleasant. A lot of knee-to-waist-high vegetation, and one nightmare patch of maybe 200m heavily overgrown by native raspberry. So prickly! Right in the middle of that patch, my partner fell on a sharp rock, and gave herself a really painful bruise on the bum. :/
Quite a few fallen logs, too. We actually saw a pretty big tree fall over, on the spur above us, and slide down onto the path, from just 30m away. Fortunately its final position was easy to walk under.
Once down onto Upper Howqua Road, the track improved a lot. Quite a few river crossings, but managed to keep the boots dry.
After reaching the car, we drove down to a fantastic waterhole we had noticed, maybe 1km further along Bindaree Road. It's not signposted or obvious from the road, but we'd heard people swimming there on the first day. Very deep, great swimming, just gorgeous, and such a wonderful way to wash off all the hiking grime.
Thanks everyone for the info and suggestions on my original post.
I got to the campsite from the Circuit Road in very good time, and then up to the Crosscut and out to Spec without drama and again in good time, the next day, and I am a late starter.
