Mt McDonald
Posted: Wed 17 May, 2017 6:46 pm
I had such a great time last Saturday over on Mt Magdala that this week I decided to head back up to the Alpine NP and do a circuit encompassing Mt McDonald. The plan today was to Climb Mt McDonald via it's North Ridge before following the AAWT along the high ridges towards The Nobs, then drop down Nobs Track into the Jamieson River Valley and walk Brocks Road back to the ute. That all sounds pretty easy if you say it quickly! The walk from where I left Low Saddle Road to the bottom of North Ridge was a serious scrub bash through re growth, made even harder due to the fact that I was trying to locate a shallow saddle at the foot of North Ridge and not just pushing through the scrub climbing up a spur (which always makes the off track stuff easier IMHO). Once on North Ridge there are a couple of more belts of scrub to push through although there is a bit of a pad. Once onto the rock above the re growth North Ridge made for great walking, the rock bands continued all the way to the summit of Mt McDonald, and while never huge they all required scrambling or by passing - good fun. It took me almost 4 hours to reach the summit though.
From the summit I followed the AAWT along the ridge to Nobs Track, this ridge walk is another stunner, although it can be a bit rough in sections as you try a pick a pad that avoids the worst of the rocky obstacles. Unfortunately I ran out of time for the side trip to The Nobs on this walk, continuing on and down the very steep Nobs Tack to meet Clear Creek Track which in turn led me to Brocks Road. The descent down off the tops on Nobs Track needs to be taken a little carefully as the surface of the track consists of loose gravel. Once on Brocks Road I had a nice easy stroll back to the ute in the twilight. I walked a bit over 23 kilometres on this stroll and climbed a bit over 1200 metres, the off piste stuff and the scrambling and it made for a fairly hard walk for me. If your interested I used the notes out of Glenn Tempests book [i]Daywalks Around Victoria[i]I've also written up my usual blog post if you want to check out a few more photos http://goinferalonedayatatime.blogspot. ... k-may.html
From the summit I followed the AAWT along the ridge to Nobs Track, this ridge walk is another stunner, although it can be a bit rough in sections as you try a pick a pad that avoids the worst of the rocky obstacles. Unfortunately I ran out of time for the side trip to The Nobs on this walk, continuing on and down the very steep Nobs Tack to meet Clear Creek Track which in turn led me to Brocks Road. The descent down off the tops on Nobs Track needs to be taken a little carefully as the surface of the track consists of loose gravel. Once on Brocks Road I had a nice easy stroll back to the ute in the twilight. I walked a bit over 23 kilometres on this stroll and climbed a bit over 1200 metres, the off piste stuff and the scrambling and it made for a fairly hard walk for me. If your interested I used the notes out of Glenn Tempests book [i]Daywalks Around Victoria[i]I've also written up my usual blog post if you want to check out a few more photos http://goinferalonedayatatime.blogspot. ... k-may.html