Little River, 19th December 2013

Just before Christmas last year I thought it was time to revisit an old favourite, Little River Gorge. I was also hoping to be able to go for a bit of a swim if there was enough water and maybe get some nice photo's of the rocky bluffs. The photo's are so so, but the swim was good. As usual it was late in the day when I pulled up in the Little River Camping Area to start the walk, so, after a quick chat to a bloke camping there walking The Burchell Trail, I was on my way.

Starting the climb up McLeans Highway.

Easy walking along Griffen Hill Track.

Grass Trees near Griffen Hill Track.

Initially I climbed up McLeans Highway, an optimistically named dirt road, my lungs gave me plenty of time to check out the ironbarks and grass trees. On reaching the top I turned to the south along Griffen Hill Track, which provided easy walking until I ran into the long distance Burchell Trail. Here I turned to the left, taking in the views of Melbourne across the western plains, before the walking track dropped steeply into Little River Gorge.

That'd be Melbourne.

Descending down the Burchell Trail into Little River Gorge.

On meeting the river in the gorge I left the Burchell Trail and just wondered downstream along the path of least resistance, every now and again I would pick up a bit of a pad. After passing a couple of potential swimming spots I eventually decided that I'd gone far enough, stripping off I plunged in, making sure to be careful of the stinging nettles. All to soon it was time to start heading back to the car, so after drip drying for awhile in the late afternoon sun, I put my clothes back on and retraced my steps back up stream.

Making my way down the gorge looking for somewhere to have a swim.

This will do.

Not sure what happened, but the photo's of the bluffs that should have been cool, look pretty washed out, I must have been facing towards the setting sun, makes you wonder why I didn't just turn around?! After re joining The Burchell Trail I had about another kilometre back to the car, getting there just as the sun was finally going down.

Heading back to the car in the late afternoon.

The Dirt.
The walk is in the Brisbane Ranges NP about an hour west of Melbourne, it starts at the Little River Camping Area, the roads in are sometimes a little rough but should be OK for a normal car.
I used the notes from Glen Tempest's, Daywalks Around Melbourne second edition, its walk number 21. I did the walk in reverse hoping to get some good photos in the gorge in the late afternoon sun as well as have a swim near the end of the walk. My GPS says I walked 6.7 kilometres and climbed 193 metres.
Including a swim and plenty of stops for photos the walk took about two and a half hours.