McKillops Bridge and South

[dashandsaph]

Hi,
I'm interested in walking (not rafting) south from McKillops Bridge on the Snowy River to Orbost. The obvious tracks running south are Deddick, then Moonkan with an alternative route further west on the other side of the Snowy River. Any comments, pointers to track notes or suggestions including how hard is the Snowy to cross at the end of September, gratefully accepted. I have the 1:50k maps which are useful but a bit of direct knowledge would be appreciated.

[tsangpo]

Be wary of environmental flows and don't go near the peaks. I believe the lag time is around 5 days to McKillops bridge. http://www.snowyhydro.com.au/wp-content ... /SN_DT.pdf. Also if there is significant rain (East coast low) then the river will be up and very hard to cross.

Other than that if you don't mind getting wet there are plenty of safe places to cross, maybe take a thin ~20m rope for added security. Not sure how close these are to tracks though apart from near the bottom where Jackson's crossing has tracks on both sides.

[dashandsaph]

thanks Tsangpo - good advice.

[madmacca]

I did this in January 2013 (south to north).

Garnett track, Moonkan, Deddick - these seemed to be the only real options. But parts of this are popular 4WD trails so keep your ears open (although some of these may be seasonally closed). Moonkan is MVO. Nav is pretty easy (I did it with 1:100K)

Pretty easy going for the most part, except for some steep descents down into and out of Mountain Creek.

I didn''t check it personally, but Jacksons is supposed to be an easy crossing. For the most part, flows are low enough to be easily able to find a crossing point (except the lower reaches). But if there are heavy rains, or environmental releases, then crossing can be more problematic. Env releases are often timed for October.

[nicocre]

Hi All
Topic on a similar vein - has anyone done the Silver Mine Track from Mackillop Bridge (15.5km)? Parks Vic are recommending an overnight walk, just wondering if there is any reason it can't be done in a day?

[north-north-west]

Hi All
Topic on a similar vein - has anyone done the Silver Mine Track from Mackillop Bridge (15.5km)? Parks Vic are recommending an overnight walk, just wondering if there is any reason it can't be done in a day?

No reason at all. I did it in a fairly easy day about ten years back. I recall one steepish descent and one section on or just before that descent where the track was a bit vague, but otherwise it was straightforward. A pleasant little ramble.
*sigh* Ten years younger and fitter ago . . .