Thomson River Camp to Blue Jacket, AAWT, Thomson Catchment - October 2017

Sometimes on a long walk you get a day that is a little bit average, I call them moving days. Basically the main objective of the day is to get from A to B as painlessly as possible as there will probably be little in the way of interesting attractions en-route. The Thomson to Jordan River section of the AAWT is one of those days I reckon. Being smack bang in the middle of the Thomson Catchment my opportunities for camping were very limited so I was faced with a fairly short day by AAWT standards. So I was in no hurry this morning, waiting for the weak sunlight to reach the Thomson River and dry my tent a little before I packed it away.

I had around twenty metres this morning to warm up a bit before I started climbing what sometimes felt like a wall.

It was well after mid morning when I eventually set off today, the good news was that theAAWT was pretty level…….for about twenty metres anyway, it then proceeded to climb up what sometimes appeared like a 500 metre tall wall in front of me. So in that respects all was pretty normal really for the AAWT. I was slowly (very slowly) inching my way up a spur towards Mt Easton, apparently this use to be a rough walking track but now it’s a wide gravel track, the new track having been pushed down the spur to act as a firebreak I believe. This climb is seriously steep and I found myself looking for something to stop and photograph while I got my breath back, unfortunately the dry open forest wasn’t giving me much in the way of inspiration today.

The climb up from the Thomson River to Mt Easton heads up this fire break, the open track and dry forest allowed a few views through the trees of the surrounding mountains.

It looks like I'm making some progress although it didn't feel that way on the day!

The new track now actually bypasses Mt Little Easton and Mt Easton. Keeping a close eye on the map I dropped my pack and scrub bashed through the light bush up to the cairn that marks the summit of Mt Little Easton, now it wasn’t really great views or incredible height that drew me up here, nope it was really just that I’d seen the cairn and sign on other peoples blogs and I didn’t want to miss out on the milestone (hey, I told you that today was a little short of scenic highlights!) With the 931 metres summit of Mt Little Easton successfully bagged I set my sights on it’s big brother, the 992 metre Mt Easton. Less than a kilometre later I was at the three legged trig on top of Mt Easton, the highlights were coming thick and fast now.

The AAWT now misses the summit of Mt Little Easton so if you want this shot you'll have to make the short side trip.

The AAWT also misses the summit of Mt Easton so once again if you want to bag the summit it'll involve a short side trip.

After taking the obligatory summit photo I headed back to my firebreak which almost immediately deposited me onto Easton Track. It looks like Easton Track has been closed to vehicle for quite a few years so it was pleasant walking for awhile as the AAWT slowly arced around from north westerly to an easterly direction. Once again I was in logging country and Easton Track sidles below a fairly freshly clear felled logging coupe, thankfully blackberries were the only real give-away of the destruction just up the hill. Passing through a gate the AAWT heads east along the crest of the Thomson Jordan Divide, I’m thinking that this was still Easton Track but the signposting is a bit vague along here.

Easton Track has been closed to vehicles for a fair while by the look of it, I'm walking beneath a logging coupe here although thankfully there wasn't a lot of evidence of the destruction higher up the hill above the track.

Notice the pointer scratched onto the sign, remember I did say things were a bit cryptic when it comes to track marking along here.

Once on the crest the track undulates a bit, the wide grassy verges making for some nice walking, unfortunately I was starting to get a few showers scudding through now, enough for me to have to stash the DSLR into it’s dry bag for awhile. After half an hour or so of easy up and down walking I saw my AAWT marker through the gloom pointing me down Casper Creek Track. I was now early afternoon so when the weather cleared a bit I decided that it was time for lunch, turning on the phone I was mildly surprised to see that I had a signal on my phone so I was able to get a message out to Sam. It was amazing how much better I felt after getting these messages out, the last thing I wanted was for people at home to be worried about me, I’m thinking that I may look at a spot tracker or something similar before my next big stroll…we’ll see.

I copped a few showers scudding through as I wondered along the divide. I'm not sure if this is a continuation of Easton Track or the start of Casper Creek Track as the sign posting up here was a bit vague.

Almost as soon as the showers arrived they disappeared.

That's the Thomson River Dam in the distance, I'm now almost around it. This is the spot on Casper Creek Track (I think?) to try your phone for a signal.

Casper Creek Track is another of those fire tracks that characterise this section of the AAWT and like a lot of the other fire tracks there isn’t a lot of flat walking on Casper Creek Track. Instead of climbing it was now time to descend. I was dropping very steeply into the Jordan River Valley and I suppose the good news was that Casper Creek Track has a wide grassy verge for a lot of it’s distance so I was able to get some views across the valley towards the Great Dividing Range as well as down towards my immediate objective, the Jordan River, that’s my ‘glass half full assessment’, my ‘glass half empty assessment’ would be that it was a bit of a road bash. As usual on these descents it was with some relief that I bottomed out at the blackberry infested Jordan River, and with the sun now out and the sky bright blue I meandered my way up Violet Town Track to tonights camping spot at Blue Jacket.

The showers are back and it's time to start dropping down to the Jordan River.

Now this is definitely Casper Creek Track.

That's the Great Dividing Range on the other side of the Jordan River Valley.

Just about to bottom out at the Jordan River.

Apart from the Jordan River Valley being part of Melbourne’s water catchment the other feature of this remote valley is it’s old mining history. The quiet valley has all sorts of mining history hidden away in the scrub, it doesn’t take a lot of looking before you start to notice the history. Blue Jacket is the site of a mining settlement from over 100 years ago, nearby in the forest there is evidence of huge sluicing scars, between the camp and the river there are old water races to be seen. Unfortunately with the valley being able to be accessed in the warmer months by 4wd the place is also over run by blackberries, in fact looking at the wall of prickly weeds I was actually wondering how I was going to get down to the river to get any water, thankfully I found a rough pad that eventually got me to the river bank. Blue Jacket is the only option for camping here and there is enough flattish grass for two or three tents, after that I guess you’ll be camping on the dirt in the rough car park. Being a fairly short day distance wise I was at Blue Jacket quite early so, with sun and blue sky above I was able to get a bit of gear aired out and dry. Arriving early was also good for another reason as, just as they were in the Thomson River Valley, the mozzies were ferocious down here, so once again instead of rain forcing me into the tent early tonight it was the insects.

Like the Thomson River Valley the Jordan River Valley has more than it's share of blackberries.

An old gold sluicing gully, there is plenty of old mining history down here along the Jordan River.

Thankfully the tracks were still closed to vehicles in October.

The Dirt.
I walked 11 kilometres and climbed 675 metres on today's leg, once again I’d have to rate as a hard walk as even though the tracks are well defined and clear they are sometimes incredibly steep. The stats so far after 4 days on my AAWT walk are 74 kilometres and 2840 metres climbed. As I mentioned the camping options on this section across the Thomson Catchment are a little thin, actually unless you’ve got another big climb in you then Blue Jacket is the only legal option. Water is also a bit scarce today, once I left the Thomson River this morning there was no water until I arrived down on the Jordan River almost at the end of the days walking. I got a Telstra signal today from Casper Creek Track but it’s faint, you’ll need to try a couple of the higher open spots and you might get lucky if you need to get a text away. As is usual I was using John Chapman’s notes and maps as well as carrying the Rooftop Walhalla - Woods Point Adventure Map for an overview.

Relevant Posts.

AAWT, Day 1, October 2017.
AAWT, Previous day, October 2017.

The Jordan River near my camp at Blue Jacket.

My Blue Jacket camp.