3 day Bogong High Plains circuit suggestions

[Drew]

Hi there,

I'm trying to plan a 3 day walk in the Bogong High Plains area for Labour Day weekend, preferably a circuit. I've trawled through this forum (and the rest of the internet) and it seems that there are a lot of good options for 4 day circuits, or 2 day circuits (up Mt Bogong and down again), but finding something for 3 days is a little trickier.
I guess it could be possible to squeeze a 4 day route into 3 days, but we might have a couple of inexperienced hikers in the group, and I don't want to be responsible for them retiring from hiking before they've really got started if it ends up being too hard! I know the obvious suggestion for 3 days in that area is Feathertop, but most of us have done that at least once.

One route I'm looking at is:
Starting at Rocky Valley Storage - Day 1: Heathy Spur Track, heading north on AAWT to Cleve Cole Hut. Day 2: Bogong Summit, Quartz Ridge, camp somewhere near the Bogong Creek Saddle, depending on water availability (at the helipad?). Day 3: Mt Arthur - Grey Hills Track - Spion Kopje - AAWT - Heathy Spur - Finish.
Thought on this? Suggestions for second night campsite? Day 1 would be about 22km, but would it be an easy, average or hard 22km?

Another route:
Starting at Mountain Creek. Day 1 - Moncrieffs Gap Track - Little Bogong Fire Track - Camp somewhere near Bogong Creek Saddle. Day 2: Big River Fire Track (Timms Spur) - AAWT - Cleve Cole Hut. Day 3: Bogong Summit - Descend via The Staircase - Mountain Creek.

Any thoughts or suggestions much appreciated.

Drew

[JohnM]

Day 1 starts out really easy, but once you leave Roper's Hut, the walk down to Big River and then up to Cleve Cole is pretty tough. Unrelenting steep down, then up. Track's clear the whole way, but I always find it hard going. So I'd say it'd be a hard 22k, especially if you're not starting early and want to hoof it a bit. But definitely do-able if you're fit.

[Drew]

Thanks for that John. We'd probably camp at the trailhead before starting, so we should have plenty of time for rests to break up a tough day.
Any ideas about camping in the Bogong Creek saddle area?

[Drew]

Getting prepared to head off on Friday evening and hoping things won't be too wet up there after all the rain. One question though: where would be the best place to camp on Friday night (we'll probably be arriving about midnight)? I'm thinking at Rocky Valley Storage, but I don't know how easy it'll be to find somewhere in an unfamiliar area in the middle of the night, or how much room there'll be. If anyone can suggest a spot it would be appreciated. There will be 3 or 4 tents in the group.

[JohnM]

Hmm, getting up there at midnight doesn't give you a lot of options really.

The road goes right around rocky valley dam, and the dam is right next to the ski resort, so not a lot of camping close to that. However...

Probably the best option:

1. Park your cars at the dam, right across the road from the Heathy Spur track. There's a flattish grass area with a picnic table there, and a gravel road that leads the 15m right down to the water. Room enough to park a few cars and put up a few tents. Pretty exposed if the weather's wet... you're right on the water. But definitely easy to spot at midnight. No water there, other than the dam itself. Technically it's not a camping area, but last time I was up someone had pitched a couple of tents just fine. You can leave your cars there for the duration of the walk too.

Not a stack of room there, but you'll be fine unless someone else has had the same idea.

or

2.Keep driving past the dam (a couple of k) and park at Langford Gap. There's a small hut a few hundred metres along the aquaduct (no dunny), and room for tents. Downside to this option is that you won't get to walk Heathy Spur in the morning, instead you'll be following the snowpole line up to meet the AAWT. Not as nice a walk.

I'd do option 1. It lets you just stop the car, get some sleep, and properly sort yourselves out next morning. And no midnight walking required.

[Drew]

Great, thanks for that John. The weather's looking okay, so we'll just have to hope nobody else uses that spot. If not I guess we could always go to Langford Gap and drive back to Heathy Spur to start walking in the morning.

Cheers

[Drew]

A quick trip report here: viewtopic.php?f=37&t=9253