Here’s a summary of a recent 4 day hike with my father in the Budawangs (3-6 Apr 2011). First time in this region and like our last walk in Western Tassie, we saw no other bushwalkers the entire trip; gotta love the seclusion.
Day 1 – We left the car park gate at Sassafras at 11am in fine weather and reached a great campsite at Styles Creek at 4:45pm (about 17.5km plus sidetrips). Along the way we passed Camp Rock and a section of the mystical Vines rainforest, and a 1 hour return diversion to the partially disturbed but still impressive Bora grounds on Mt Quilty. The only difficult section was the 2km after Mt Quilty turnoff due to numerous fallen trees.
Day 2 - Left Styles Creek camp at 9am in fine weather and arrived at Mt Cole campsite at 4:30pm in deteriorating weather (about 10.5km). This was a fantastic days walking, with some navigational challenges, initial bush bashing across swamplands, enjoyable walking beneath the cliff line and caves of Mt Haughton, interesting and sometimes rough walking across Mt Tarn, with some welcome duckboards in tougher terrain sections, and views of the Anvil, and a pleasant walk beneath the Mt Tarn cliff line amongst the caves and then across to Mt Cole. The campsite was a large cave about 100m along Mt Cole, no need for the tent.
Day 3 – Unfortunately the weather really closed in, with persistent rain and only about 50m visibility. Our intention was a long daytrip following the Mt Cole cliff line then through Monolith Valley and summit the Castle and return. With the poor weather it was obvious the Castle was out of question. A circuit of Mt Cole was considered, but after 1 hours walking we turned around and headed back to camp as the weather and visibility were very poor, and remained so the whole day. The cave provided great protection and it was great to watch and hear the water cascading over the cave front.
Day 4 – Left Mt Cole campsite at 7:45am in drizzle and minimal visibility and arrived at the finish of Wog Wog car park at 3:45pm (about 20km). This was another good days walking, and would be great in good weather. The track is generally well defined with considerable sections of duckboards, with the 2km into Burrumbeet the roughest and least maintained section. The cave at Burrumbeet is awesome, a good 150m in length. The track over Corang Arch is spectacular, as is the Arch itself. The weather cleared for about 30 minutes at this point and we enjoyed a good break and some great views. The poor weather soon returned and we decided to walk around rather than over Corang Peak which was now hidden. From here it was relatively easy walking especially the final 6km.
All in all it was a great walk with some spectacular scenery and sections of challenging terrain, and a great escape for 4 days.