Wilson's Prom North loop over cup weekend

[DanJWill]

Hey guys, I haven't posted here before but you've all helped me before with a lot of valuable information.
Actually I met a couple of guys from the forums on a hike to Lake Rhona earlier in the year when the bridge was being rebuilt by Norske Skog. I don't remember any names though.

Anyway, I'm back again for more information. I'm looking to do a 3-4 day hike in the Prom, probably the North loop but that's only going off a difficulty rating I saw in a hiking guide. There will probably be 5-6 of us, some are inexperienced but up for a challenge.
Does anyone have any advice on hiking the prom at this time of year? Also, what's it like down there over the Melbourne Cup weekend?
I haven't been since I was a little tacker.

Thanks,
Dan.

[trickos]

Melbourne cup weekend is one of those weekends probably best avoided in the Prom. From memory there is a ballot system for campers at Tidal River and also for all overnight hikes especially in the Southern Loop.
The area is crawling with day trippers (which shouln't effect you) however given the generally nice weather and the long weekend it's a rediculously busy time. Mind you this was before the area was flood damaged and Parks Vic strikes.

[JamesMc]

Cup day is an excellent time to walk North Prom because its generally a pretty dry place but you should have OK water supply in November.

Looking at the question the other way, North Prom is an excellent place to go at Cup day because of the permit system. This means it's about the only place in the Victorian bush that won't be overrun with crowds. Sometimes there are a few people camping illegally but not many.

Book your permit NOW to avoid disappointment.

If you need to car camp on Friday night, I recommend Stockyard Camp which is at the National Park entry gate. You will need to book this with your permit.

The North Prom loop is physically easy walking, but the track is indistinct in places (or at least it was - there's been a bit of track clearing activity in the last few months). As long as you have one person who can navigate, you'll be fine.

JamesMc

[DanJWill]

Thanks for the info guys.

I just spoke to the lovely lady at the Prom who gave me a good run down.

There is a limit of 12 hikers max in the north section at any one time with a max group size of 6.
The south section has a maximum of 60 at any one time. All hikes need to be booked in advance.

I might do the overnight Friday car sleep like you suggested James and maybe 3 nights in the north if the pack can muster it.

Parks Vic states that navigation skills are necessary for the north loop as there are NO markers on the trail.
Does anyone know how serious my skills have to be?

[JamesMc]

You should be able to know where you are. It's a few years since I've been there but the only navigational challenges were.....

Track not visible between Jonny Souey Bay and 3 Mile beach but Bush is open and the coast line is walkable.

South of Chinaman Long Beach we lost the track a few times in open country.

Be a aware that Wilson's Prom gets a lot of complete nuffis. You are assumed to be one unless you sign the form to say you aren't.

JamesMc

[Drew]

It is actually quite tricky to find the track in parts of the swamp, but not that bad. Bear in mind though that depending on how much water is around you may have to wade through water in the swamp - up to chest deep at times!

[trickos]

There is a pretty good article in the new edition of AG Outdoor magazine about the Northern Prom Loop. These guys who wrote it were the first group through after its reopening from floods / fires etc.

[Out_Walking]

Hey DanJWill, I've had my eye on this walk for a while. What route are you intending to take?

Every time I've checked the Parks Vic site it states the track between Lighthouse Point and Tin Mine Track is closed. Is that not the case? I'd rather do the full circuit in one hit, so that closure has put the whole walk on the back burner for me for the time being...

[DanJWill]

James let's hope I'm more skilled than the nuffis.

Thanks for the heads up trickos, I'll pick up a copy of AG Outdoor tomorrow and see what it's got for me.

Out_Walking I just got my topo map in this week to work out my route but my whole team has pulled out so it doesn't look like it's going to happen cup weekend now. I'm itching to get out again.
When I spoke to a lady at Tidal River a couple of weeks back she didn't mention anything about tracks being out of action only that a lot of it is unmarked due to the fires that cleared a lot of it.
I'd be looking to do the north as a circuit when I end up making it there.

[DanJWill]

I picked up a copy of AG Outdoor, there's a lengthy feature on the Annapurna-Dhaulagiri Circuit which is an alright read.
There's a small write up on the Prom North Loop by a couple of guys which is useful, they seemed to be bashing their own tracks as they were the first given a permit for the area after the fires and storms.

After reading that, it doesn't sound like too much of a hassle to manage a couple of days without getting lost.

[sim1oz]

Good news! In Bushwalking Victoria's latest (October) newsletter, it says that the entire North circuit has been cleared.

See page 9. http://www.bushwalkingvictoria.org.au/view_category/2-2012.html

"

NORTHERN WILSONS PROM TRACK MAINTENANCE— TIN MINE COVE TRACK CLEARED

Thank you to all who worked on clearing Tin Mine Cove Track in northern Wilsons Prom this winter. It took three working bees to clear the track. The bushwalkers who attended the various weekends have done a magnificent job, as we could see last weekend (22-23 Sept). The last ‘assault’ was largely on the almost impenetrably overgrown section from the beach up to Lighthouse Point. After a difficult and wet landing and the work on the steep ascent to the Lighthouse Point from the beach, the whole Northern Wilsons Prom circuit has been cleared.

We hope Parks Victoria will officially declare the track open soon. It’s great walking, so bushwalkers walk it; walking it will help keep the track open.

"

[Hallu]

That's great news, too bad it'll still take at least until December for the closed Southern tracks to reopen =( I was thinking about doing the Five Mile Beach return walk, but if Tin Mile Cove and Lighthouse point are cleared, I might consider the full circuit. Is it doable (and not too rushed) in 2 days ? Which map do you recommend ?

[DanJWill]

Brilliant, it's on. Thanks for the update sim1oz.

Good news! In Bushwalking Victoria's latest (October) newsletter, it says that the entire North circuit has been cleared.

See page 9. http://www.bushwalkingvictoria.org.au/view_category/2-2012.html

[sim1oz]

Hallu, mapwise I'd take Vicmap Wilsons Promontory Special 1:50,000 (2008, 2nd ed). Parks Victoria also has a new mapping app for iPhones. See: http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/explore/parks/wilsons-promontory-national-park

PDF maps of this park are available to download for Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices. These interactive maps allow you to see an overview of visitor facilities, calculate distances, see walking tracks, and (with sufficient mobile signal) locate yourself within the park. To download these maps, you must first install the free Avenza PDF Maps application. Search for “Avenza PDF Maps” in the Apple App Store via your mobile device to get started.

DanJWill, glad to hear you are going. Have a great long weekend and bring back lots of photos to share. I won't get there until early December so any tips on things to watch out for would be appreciated.

[Hallu]

Thanks I just wish they had this for Android... Most people don't realize about 80% of smartphone owners don't have an iPhone...

[DanJWill]

Thanks sim1oz, I normally keep the experiences to myself but I'll do my best to share.

DanJWill, glad to hear you are going. Have a great long weekend and bring back lots of photos to share. I won't get there until early December so any tips on things to watch out for would be appreciated.

[stuart53]

Two days for the northern circuit would be pretty heroic Hallu. It's around 60 ks for the circuit, and you'd either need to cover the 40 ks to Tin Mine on the first day or stay somewhere around Lighthouse Point overnight (no water as far as I'm aware) and still do two big days. Most of the walking is pretty straightforward (the haul across to 5 Mile is a fairly boring road bash) but the leg across Chinaman's Swamp can be challenging. The track here is very indistinct and it gets pretty wet - we did it in 2009 at the end of the drought and it was still knee deep in places. However there's only about 5 ks of difficult stuff and if you keep looking out for the tapes it's ok. Across the first bit of the swamp it's very open going and you don't really need to keep to the "track'" but there are a couple of thick scrub bands in the middle of the swamp so if you lose it completely you're in strife. Better to take three days and enjoy the walk.

[Hallu]

OK thanks. The overnight walk to five mile beach is what I had in mind. When you say boring do you mean just the track because it's a 4WD flat straight track or is the scenery boring as well ?

[sim1oz]

Thanks DanJWill, I was thinking mainly feedback on where the track was perhaps not really cleared yet, or anything else worth remarking! With social media these days, people seemed to have lost their filter for what not to share. Feel free to keep all those experiences to yourself.
Happy walking!

[stuart53]

OK thanks. The overnight walk to five mile beach is what I had in mind. When you say boring do you mean just the track because it's a 4WD flat straight track or is the scenery boring as well ?

You go through some pretty banksia forest and there are nice views over Corner Inlet for the first few kilometers but after that it's a bit ordinary until the last stretch down to Five Mile Beach. The scrub has been cut back from the track verge most of the way and it can be hot walking if it's sunny. It's not horrible, it just not the nicest bit of walking on the Prom. The campsite at Five Mile is pleasant and it sees a lot fewer people than any of the southern campsites. We have done Johnny Soueys return in a weekend a couple of times by walking in to Barry Creek on Friday night (the road is good enough to do this by head torch without difficulty) then to JS by early afternoon Saturday. If you haven't seen the north end of the Prom then the weekend return idea is a good one.

[Hallu]

OK thanks for the idea, I'll keep that in mind =)

[JamesMc]

Just got back from Wilsons Prom - apparently the track from lighthouse point to Chinaman Long Beach is still closed, though I can definitely confirm that it has been re-cut and is in excellent condition. BTW the road to 5 Mile Beach isn't 4WD, it's 2WD I don't mind it though. Walk it with soft shoes, look out for wild flowers in spring, and enjoy the views.



JamesMc

[DanJWill]

Nice one James.
What tracks did you hike? Did you end up taking the track to chinaman's beach?

[JamesMc]

We took a ship to 3 Mile Beach.

JamesMc

[dplanet]

What was the level of water in Chinaman's Swamp? There have been decent rains this year; so it would be high. I walked it a couple of years ago and the water was a little high; so went around and missed the track as the result and it took a bit of time for me to get back to the track (if memory serves me correctly). The link below is the slide show about the walk and the walk information is mainly based on "Northern Circuit Walk" in Weekend Walks Around Melbourne by Glenn Tempest. Hope you can view the show and enjoy it
http://dzungn.jalbum.net/NorthernPromontoryCircuitWalk/

[JamesMc]

Didn't go via Chinamans Creek, but it's very wet at the Prom so l suppose the swamp is deep.

JamesMc

[Hallu]

I just did Tongue Point and Miller's Landing/Vereker outlook. Beautiful spots, I especially loved the mangroves at Miller's Landing and the granite boulders at Tongue Point (who said you had to go to crowded Remarkable Rocks on Kangaroo Island for beautiful granite boulders...). I was surprised how few people there were : it's the Melbourne Cup week-end. At mid-day, we saw in total about 8 people doing Tongue Point, 0 doing Miller's Landing/Vereker Outlook (it was after 5 pm though). And on the other hand, Tidal River was absolutely packed. Oh well, fine by me, we were feeling good to be almost alone there, I'm just surprised most people go to the Prom' without actually walking it. It was a haven of wildlife too : tiger snake, legless lizard, a couple of wombats, some kangaroos in a swamp (on the 5 mile beach road), a lot of swamp wallabies on the way to Miller's Landing, some black cockatoos, crimson rosellas, an echidna, some emus, and lots of waterbirds. Lovely day.

[3flp]

I hiked over from the Five Mile Road car park to Lower Barry creek over this last weekend. There was a fair bit of water around, after the recent rains, I had to get across a few knee deep swamps between the Five Mile road and the Lower Barry creek. Saturday afternoon, after I got to Lower Barry creek, I went on to continue towards the Chinaman Swamp, but eventually gave up as it was getting quite late. The terrain after Lower Barry creek is quite tough. High grass, bush land, and generally, not much of a trail. The tape markers were hard to find at some places, and I got off track for a while as well. I had to use my smart phone as a GPS, to help me find my way around. I had a map as a back up, but the phone did the job well in the end. My backpack was way too heavy for the terrain as well. Time to rethink what I pack, before I attempt that route again. In the end, I retraced back and camped over at Lower Barry Creek. According to the park ranger at Wilson's prom entry gate, I was the only one who booked that route on Sat/Sun night. I did meet two other guys going in the same general direction last night, and no one else. Needless to say, it was quite beautiful, and I enjoyed the solitude, as well as all the wildlife. Amazing place.

[Hallu]

A couple of pictures that I hope do justice to the place :

[sim1oz]

Hallu, great photos, thanks for sharing!