Mount Bogong - Hiking the Staircase and Eskdale Spur Track

At the top of Victoria

Had a fantastic (but challenging) climb of Mount Bogong last weekend.

Falls Creek / Bogong High Plains

Four weeks ago we took a day trip to Falls Creek for a picnic and a hike through the Bogong high plains.

Falls Creek is (by Google) only an hour and twenty minutes drive from us, but realistically the winding mountain roads it is probably closer to two hours away. This was our first visit to the area and my first time over Tawonga Gap to the Kiewa Valley and through the neighbouring town of Mount Beauty.

Falls Creek is a popular ski resort in the winter and mountain biking spot in the summer. There were a lot of people on the road and the town of Mount Beauty was bustling, but there was hardly any traffic as we made our way up the winding roads toward Bogong and Falls Creek - due to it still being the shoulder season, but more likely largely impacted by the fact travel restrictions between NSW / VIC and for those living in Melbourne had not yet been lifted. We did see a few other visitors at Falls Creek, but overall it was extremely quiet.

A stop at Sullivans Lookout over Tawonga Gap: Looking down into the Kiewa Valley

Mt Bogong, the highest peak in Victoria.

Blue skies and the very blue Rocky Valley Storage Reservoir

Our first stop was for a picnic lunch near the Rocky Valley Storage Reservoir, which has been dammed for hydroelectricity and used to create snow for the resort in the winter. We had not quite anticipated just how cold the air and wind would be in early November! We had brought plenty of warm layers, but it was still quite surprisingly cold.

After lunch, we hiked and made our way to Mount McKay. The walking/hiking at Falls Creek is not extremely well developed, so our walk was both on tracks as well as the unsealed roads which traverse the resort area. The only real downside is that some of the paths were not well marked - a few times our path suddenly ended and we had to tramp through the heath to get back onto the road to continue our walk.

Once we reached Mt McKay we escaped from the wind and sheltered in the hut near the radio station. We watched currawongs and crows leaping from the rocks to glide on the currents down into the Pretty Valley. All in all, it was a beautifully clear and enjoyable day!

Spring flowers in Falls Creek

Alpine heathland

Alpine buttercups

The "Ruined Castle".
(A much better photo is available from Google here)

View looking north(ish), we could see smoke from a small fire north of Tawonga.

The Mt McKay summit (elevation 1,842 m (6,043 ft) looking down into the Pretty Valley.

View of Mt Buffalo from Mt McKay

The access road winds through the hills. In the distance, the blue of Rocky Valley Storage. 

Snow on Mount Buffalo (2019), part 2

Our next snowy visit to Mount Buffalo was mid-August 2019. When a snowstorm brought a decent amount of snow, we rented some snowshoes and some chains for the weekend, packed ourselves some muffins and some biscuits, the portable stove to heat water for coffee, and off we went.

It is pretty unreal to see eucalyptus boughs heavy with snow and of course it was magical to be walking in a quiet, snowy forest after such a long time. Since we went up first thing in the morning, the tracks we walked were pretty quiet (we only saw a group of cross country skiers on the track around Lake Catani) and it felt like we had the forest all to ourselves.

As it happens we had a bit of snow here last weekend, but unfortunately due to COVID-19 restrictions the park is closed. This year we had to make do with looking up at the snowy mountain (when it would come out behind the cloud) and remember our snowy winter experience from last year.

Snow on Mount Buffalo (2019), part 1

Only a week after we moved here last year, we drove up to Mount Buffalo for a bit of sightseeing—not only because it was an easy activity (a relatively quick jaunt up the road) but also because the days of constant rain brought snow at higher elevations, and it had been five years since we had seen any snow more than the light dustings we had experienced in the New England.

Given its name from some early British-Australian explorers to its resemblance to a reclining buffalo, Mount Buffalo is a granite plateau within the Australian Alps mountain range. The park was established in 1898, which makes it one of the oldest established National Parks in Australia and is often heard referred to as the “Family Mountain” due to its long-standing accessibility and popularity. We are conveniently located about five minutes from the park entrance, however the winding road up to the plateau is approximately a 45 minute drive, more or less depending on conditions and the number of cyclists on the road (it is a very popular cycling route.)

The granite outcrop.

The view from the top looking north east. On clear days you can see Mount Kosciusko (NSW), Australia’s highest peak, 134km away.

Looking down into the Buffalo Valley below toward Porepunkah.

Paraglider launch pad.

Pepperberry plants under snow.

The sparsely snow-covered plateau at Cresta Valley.

Looking toward The Horn, the highest point of Mount Buffalo.

Australian alpine winter colours.