Clearwater Creek, Lerderderg State Park - January 2015

Its about time I did a local walk seeing that I've been back in the country for a couple of weeks. The weather forecast for this Saturday was for a reasonably mild day for summer so I thought that I might head over to Lerderderg for a walk. The walking in Lerderderg is normally rock hopping through the gorge or climbing or descending steep and dry spurs, once you leave the river it quickly gets very hot on a warm day. Consulting my extensive library of guide books I decide to head up and do the Clearwater Creek walk as I'd never done that particular walk and the off track section up Clearwater Creek appealed to me.

The start photo, Lerderderg Track heading away up the hill.

Lerderderg Track undulates for awhile.

So, pulling up at the car park at my standard day walk time of three in the afternoon. I set off up the dusty fire track. The walk starts off with a reasonably gentle roller coaster walk along Lerderderg Track, being a fire track there was no navigational issues, after around half an hour I passed a fire track off to my left, that was Lerderderg No. 2 track, my return route. I continued along Lerderderg Track along the ridge tops for awhile before the dusty track started to drop steeply towards the Lerderderg River. The fire track gets steeper the closer to the river you get, eventually turning into a faint walking pad ten minutes or so before the river and siddling the left side of the spur down to the river.

My return route would be along the track on the left, Lerderderg No.2 Track.

The fire track has finished and I'm heading down to the Lerderderg River.

Lerderderg has a series of these emergancy markers, good luck trying to get a mobile signal though.

I met the river at a small grassy terrace which would make a great campsite. Now I just had to make my way down stream for a couple of kilometres, quite often in summer the Lerderderg River is dry and the normal go is to rock hop down the dry bed of the river. We have had a fair bit of rain in the last couple of weeks and the river had a good flow today, and while making it aesthetically more pleasant, also made it a tougher walk as I was forced to push through the scrub on the river banks which consisted of Scottish Gorse among other prickly relatives.

I've just got to the river.

There are a few signposts, just not many marked tracks.

The pool in the Lerderderg River where the descent spur meets the river.

It's sometimes hard to believe that you are less than an hour from the CBD in Melbourne when your down in Lerderderg Gorge.

There was a good flow in the river which isn't always the case in summer.

By crossing the river occasionally I made my way down to where Clearwater Creek enters the Lerderderg River without too much trouble. Identifying the major gully that is Clearwater Creek I started to rock hop my way up. Initially I was  accompanied by feral goats but after a little while they thinned out, they probably stay near the reliable water in the Lerderderg. My next wildlife encounter was a Red Bellied Black Snake, something that I'd expected a lot sooner on my walk, its unusual to do a walk along the Lerderderg River in summer without seeing a snake. Clearwater Creek was around a four kilometre rock hop up stream, the walking was generally easier than along the Lerderderg but there were also a lot of fallen trees to negotiate in the small side gorge.

Heavy going along the Lerderderg River.

Another beautiful swimming hole in the Lerderderg River.

Feral Goats at the start of Clearwater Creek, the things you see when you don't have a gun, hey!

This is the start of Clearwater Creek at the Lerderderg River.

It took me around an hour and a half to negotiate the 4 kilometres on Clearwater Creek, passing by some beautiful pools in the creek and enjoying the wild terrain. I was looking for an old fire track which crosses the creek and would mark my exit out of the steep side gorge, I'd marked it as waypoint on my GPS where it met Lerderderg Track but wasn't exactly sure where it left the creek as it wasn't on any of my maps. I was watching the GPS and starting to think that I may have missed the old track when it appeared to my left heading steeply uphill. I was glad that I didn't have to climb the very steep sides of the gorge 'off track', and I followed the incredibly steep and loose fire track up to Lerderderg Track. The climb was steep but fairly short, and with the fire track fading in and out, it only took me twenty minutes or so to make my way up.

Clearwater Creek even had some flowing water.

Creek bed walking up Clearwater Creek.

Occasionally I'd have to skirt around some pools.

The late afternoon sun lighting up the Eucalyptus above Clearwater Creek.

It was now early evening as I made my way back to the ute along the undulating Lerderderg Track, the low sun casting a warm light over the dry eucalypt forest making for a pleasant ramble. The easy walk was enlivened by two Echidna sightings, however I'm buggered if I can ever get a good photo of an Echidna as every time I get close to them they bury themselves head first in the dirt. After unsuccessfully stalking the Echidnas I was soon descending the last section of Lerderderg Track, my ute in the distance providing a welcoming sight.

If my talent matched my ambition I could probably work with this.

This is the old fire trail that I was looking for that marked my exit point from Clearwater Creek.

The Dirt.
I walked 17.3 kilometres and climberd 559 metres according to the GPS.
I used the notes out of Daywalks around Victoria by Glen Tempest, its walk # 17 in his book. I also carried Meridian Maps 1:35,000 Lerderderg & Werribee Gorges.
I spent around four and a half hours on the walk and would rate the walk as hard. About 6 kilometres are off track and the country is very remote considering how close to Melbourne it is. The scrub is prickly and scratchy so gaiters are handy (handy also for the almost inevitable snake sighting!). Reading this it sounds pretty miserable but the rewards are good too, the scenery is very wild, your unlikely to meet anyone, the swimming is great, and you get to practise your navigation skills. The camping is also great if you want to spend a night in the gorge.

This is the best I seem to be able to do with Echidnas.

A welcome sight.