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Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Thu 30 May, 2019 4:27 pm
by GBW
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Thu 30 May, 2019 4:46 pm
by GBW
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Thu 30 May, 2019 5:34 pm
by GBW
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Thu 30 May, 2019 6:04 pm
by GBW
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Thu 30 May, 2019 6:20 pm
by GBW
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Thu 30 May, 2019 6:42 pm
by GBW
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Thu 30 May, 2019 6:56 pm
by GBW
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Thu 30 May, 2019 7:24 pm
by GBW
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Thu 30 May, 2019 7:50 pm
by CraigVIC
Great photos, thanks for posting this. Had a chuckle looking at that photo of Starling Gap. Looks like a lovely picnic spot in the pic. When I was there a couple of months back it was a mud pit with the most miserable bunch of car campers I've ever seen huddled under that info shelter out of the rain.
Your walk was a lot further than anything I had planned though and good inspiration. Cheers.
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Thu 30 May, 2019 8:04 pm
by bigkev
Thanks for the great report and photos GBW. I looked at it too when I passed the turn off on the AAWT.
One day....
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Thu 30 May, 2019 8:30 pm
by crollsurf
Great report and photos, thanks. Does look like a lot of road walking but beautiful scenery. I'd jump at the chance to walk it.
Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Fri 31 May, 2019 12:23 am
by GBW
Thanks guys, it was a different walk to what I'm used to but very relaxing. The worst road sections are Boundary and Toorongo Rd, the rest is a bit like a firetrail until you reach the base of Baw Baw in Newlands where it becomes a bushbash. Someone needs to go down that track with a brushcutter and save it from the forest. The AAWT from the UYT to Whitelaw Hut also needs a trim in places.
The original track up via Yarra Falls must have been spectacular in its day. I found this article interesting proposing a link from Melbourne to Canberra via the AAWT. Hope it happens.
https://themountainjournal.wordpress.co ... ing-track/
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Fri 31 May, 2019 7:03 am
by neilmny
Great report and pictures GBW, thanks posting.
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Tue 02 Jul, 2019 6:41 am
by Watertank
GBW, Thanks for such a great report- I appreciate the effort you have put into making it so comprehensive - lots of inspiration for future walking.
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Mon 07 Oct, 2019 1:09 pm
by nezumi
I'm wondering about the possibility of doing part of this route by bike over 3-4 days, possibly incorporating some of the Lilydale - Warburton and Moe - Yallourn rail trails.
How viable would this be while avoiding the "bikes forbidden" areas (I am willing to carry the bike for up to 1km at a time, especially if it gets me into camp.
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Sun 08 Nov, 2020 6:49 am
by Uncle Rumple
Hi GBW - I too really enjoyed your notes and photos but am wondering if it could be done a bit quicker in the summer months with longer days etc
How accurate are the distances you list? In your very first para for the Day 1 notes you write "I allowed 7 days to cover the 130k" but if I add all your daily distances I get 143km, with your Days 6, 7 and 8 (on the AAWT) being 15, 15 and 14km for a total of 44km.
Chapman, who I admit is always optimistic with his distances, shows the same path from Whitelaw Hut to Walhalla as 37.3km.
Is it possible your Days 1-5 might be a bit shorter than the 99km I get if I add your daily distances?
Thks again for a great post.
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Sun 08 Nov, 2020 8:10 am
by GBW
The GPS always seems to be over so daily distances may be slightly off but I did add a couple of km walking down the Mountain Monarchs track near Mt Erica carpark. Also at off Newlands Rd there's a lake I looked at (maybe an extra 5-6k) and at Frangipani Saddle walked south for a look following a possible route to Tanjil Bren for a future walk. You could easily do it faster. I was hampered by a sore knee the entire walk which slowed my progress greatly so you could do it a lot faster and it's easy apart from the route up from Newlands to the AAWT. I also did an extra couple of k getting water off Road 20 near Mt Horsfall. I did it on the bike over Christmas last year to Bairnsdale following roughly the same route but went around the top of Baw Baw and down Thomson Valley rd. It took me 2 days to get to Stronachs from Bundoora via Warburton.
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Sun 08 Nov, 2020 8:44 am
by Baeng72
Any cartographers out there, feel free to fling poo if you have it, but here goes:
If you look on a map, the distance is horizontal.
If the terrain the map covers has a change in altitude, a vertical component, which this walk does, then you will naturally be walking a greater distance than the map distance.
Think of a triangle. The bottom edge is the map distance, the vertical edge is change in altitude. The hypotenuse is what you're walking.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HypotenuseIf this isn't wrong, it explains greater distances than what might be in a guide book or map.
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Sun 08 Nov, 2020 9:02 am
by GBW
I think it's more due to the GPS inaccuracy. As you can see from the following even though I was stationary for 20 minutes the GPS still recorded a distance traveled of 199 meters which over a day could add up to an extra couple of km.
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Sun 08 Nov, 2020 9:28 am
by Baeng72
Fair point. You picture reminded me of my Garmin device, saying I was travelling 0.1 km/h when I was stationary.
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Mon 16 Nov, 2020 7:48 pm
by Uncle Rumple
Thks everyone for your comments. After plodding 600+ km on the AAWT IN 100km blocks over 6 years my theory is that Chapman’s distances are low because he had his GPS ‘pinging’ at say every 5 minutes to reduce battery drain
Longer times between pings gives a path made up of small straight lines which will always be shorter that a curved path created with pings every (say) 30 seconds.
Well that’s my theory anyway!
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Wed 18 Nov, 2020 8:05 am
by Baeng72
I recorded a track ascending Bungalow Spur up to Fed. Hut, at 9.74 km, and the same route down at 8.7km. On the route up, I doing sections of bush-bashing according to the track.
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Sat 21 Nov, 2020 6:01 pm
by paidal_chalne_vala
Impressive !
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Sun 21 Mar, 2021 8:47 pm
by Uncle Rumple
Hi GBW
Based on your great trip report and photos, four of us did this walk a few weeks ago. We did it in 6 ½ days, for a total of 148km as recorded by my old Garmin Oregon, as follows:
Day 1 – Big Pat’s to New Federal Mill – 21.6km
Day 2 – NFM to McMahon’s Creek – 25.9km
We were getting anxious when we couldn’t find your dam along Boundary Rd so took a left turn through a locked gate 1km down to McMahon’s Ck and found beautiful water and a great campsite at 039171 (I hope I’ve got this nomenclature right!)
Day 3 – McMahon’s Ck to Mt Horsfall Helipad – 21.6km (again)
Needless to say after a steep 1km heart starter back up to Boundary Rd we found your dam a little further along the road – but I think the diversion to McMahon’s was worth it
We figured there would be water at Davies No2 Mill site (for the mill boiler) so didn’t bother with the side trip down Nth Loch Rd and sure enough there was – go through the locked gate, follow the RH side of the clearing down to another great creek at 133192
Day 4 – Mt Horsfall to Newlands Rd – 24.7km
We awoke with our head above the clouds in the valleys below and had a really beautiful walk east off Mt H. A highlight was the lyrebird which flew across the path just in front of me.
Toorongo Rd was an unpleasant slog with two empty log trucks and two 4WDs all going uphill but other than that we saw no more traffic than you did with closed roads in May
We walked past the turnoff to your other dam and camped near the fourth Thomson River crossing so we could get an early start on the climb up to the AAWT
Day 5 – Newlands Rd to Mt St Gwinear/Rock Shelter – 18.2km
Getting up to the AAWT was a doddle compared to what you experienced. Some kind person had been through with a chainsaw to clear the trees across the path, and there was even the occasional pink ribbon. We did it in 1 ½ hours with two short stops – a fast group could do it in an hour. The AAWT to Whitelaws Hut site was more difficult than the walk up – some chainsaw work is needed here
We had just put our tents up at the Rock Shelter when a very well organised group of ten Year 9 schoolgirls and two leaders arrived from the east on the last night of a 4 day trip. They set up their camp with great efficiency. I was impressed.
Day 6 Rock Shelter to O’Sheas Mill - 21.9km
The highlight was seeing a 90mm long yellow/brown crayfish-like critter on the path down from Mt Erica. He had his claws out in front, not splayed at 45 degrees like a yabbie. Somebody might know what it was from this scientific description
O’Sheas was a bit of a disappointment – very leachy with not much flat ground, offset by the table, toilet and river for a wash.
Day 7 – O’Sheas to Walhalla – 14.1km
Poverty Point Bridge is now closed for assessment/repairs
Overall it was a great walk. It doesn't have the mountain majesty of Mt Howitt, the Crosscut Saw and Mt Spec, but does have (mostly) great forest scenery and not too many ups and downs. It should be on everyone’s list. The logistics of getting to the start, and home from the finish are also easy.
Thks once again for your notes and photos without which we wouldn’t have considered it.
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Mon 22 Mar, 2021 8:16 am
by paidal_chalne_vala
Stronarch' s Camp to St. Phillack saddle on the AAWT will be cleared by BTAC on the weekend after Easter 2021.
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Mon 22 Mar, 2021 9:48 am
by neilmny
Uncle Rumple wrote:..............
Day 6 Rock Shelter to O’Sheas Mill - 21.9km
The highlight was seeing a 90mm long yellow/brown crayfish-like critter on the path down from Mt Erica. He had his claws out in front, not splayed at 45 degrees like a yabbie. Somebody might know what it was from this scientific description
Possibly the endangered Victorian Burrowing Crayfish?
https://www.latrobe.edu.au/news/article ... g-crayfish
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Mon 22 Mar, 2021 8:08 pm
by Uncle Rumple
Hi Neil - yes that looks like him. Thks for following this up for me.
Re: Upper Yarra Walking Track
Posted:
Mon 26 Sep, 2022 6:24 pm
by meemaamoo
Hi GBW, thanks for this resource. Based on your trip report we have just completed the route in September 2022, with a visit to the Ski Village added in and a diversion at the end due to snow. Water supply was a non-issue because of the heavy rains.
Day 1: Warburton to New Federal Mill - thunderstorms, hail, rain, mud, a river crossing and masses of leeches. New Fed Mill has a shelter (and tent platforms), so we ended up pitching our tent under it between picnic tables which was a relief as the heavy rain continued all night. We collected our water from the last river crossing before New Fed Mill.
Day 2: To Boundary Road - mist, rain, road walking, leeches. We also camped by the side of the road near the little dam on Boundary Road. It's not on the map but it's there. Bramble residue at the campsite punctured a few pieces of gear (my mat, camel pak - not through the tent floor but by carelessly putting things on the ground) before we figured it out and took more care.
Day 3: To Horsfall Summit - sunny, short day, road walking, lovely views and easy flat grassy camping. We diverted down a side road past a locked gate to collect some water from a stream before arriving at camp.
Day 4: To Thomson River Xing - more road walking, lyrebirds galore! We also went past the little dam turn off and opted to camp by the forth Thomson River crossing (as Uncle Rumple above has mentioned) Nice fresh water from the river and pretty campspot by the road.
Day 5: To Baw Baw Village - easy ascent up the upper yarra track to the AAWT. It was not overgrown, just a few blow downs. The spring snow began around Mt Whitelaw and this section was a struggle without snow shoes. No visible path, so navigating, altitude and with the melty snow it was pretty physically/mentally challenging. Saved by a hot shower and hot meal at the ski village (booked a room in advance at the Frosti Lodge).
Day 6: Due to the snow, we changed to plan B - we detoured down Sth Face Rd To Rawson - 35km of road walking through thick mists. A bit of a slog but better than facing another day of snow collapsing beneath our feet! We ended
Had a fantastic hike and loved the wild camping. Saw no other hikers for the whole trip, just a handful of 4WDs, snowboarders and some snow shoe tracks up on Baw Baw. Thanks again!