Mt Ida & Dargile Forest, Heathcote~Graytown National Park - November 2018

Things were looking pretty dry on this visit up to Heathcote-Graytown National Park.

I was looking for a little bit of a longer walk today and with the weather predicted to be cool and clear I decided to head north up to the Heathcote-Graytown National Park. The main scenic highlight of this park appears to be Mt Ida and most of the walks that I’ve done up here over the years have had me climbing this modest mountain by a variety of different routes. One of the longer ways to the summit is a circuit walk from the Dargile Picnic Area and that’s where I decided to start today’s ramble from.

Dargile Picnic Area

I was using Mr Tempest’s notes on this walk out of his Victoria’s Goldfield Walks and straight up I had a small issue. To locate the Dargile Picnic Area Mr Tempest says to ‘Turn left into Plantation Road and drive 4.8km to Dargile Picnic Area’. Now that all sounds straight forward enough but unfortunately to get to the picnic ground you need to do the above and then also turn left onto Plantation Track and follow that for a kilometre or two to reach Dargile Picnic Ground. Having been here years ago I had a rough idea where I was going, so I nutted it out fairly quickly but if you’ve never been here before it would pay to keep a close eye on the map. When I was there the turnoff onto Plantaion Track off Plantation Road wasn’t signposted to Dargile Picnic Ground either.

I followed Wattle Gully Walk first up this morning.

Leaving the ute at the deserted Dargile Picnic Ground I re-set the GPS and wandered off into the bush. First up today I followed the Wattle Gully Walking Track for a short stretch, now the reason I mention this remarkable fact is that it is really only the first 500 metres of today’s walk that is actually on walking track, the majority of today’s walk is along 4wd tracks. 500 metes after setting off I turned right onto the first of those 4wd tracks, Dargile Track, and another 500 metres later I turned left onto Rodney Track. My writing here is a bit like the country that I was walking through I’m thinking, yep I think dry describes it well. Not only is the bush here predominantly Box-Ironbark forest with a sparse under storey that featured a few Grass Trees, adding to the dry feel of the place was the fact that Parks Vic had done a prescribed burn here a few months ago and the scrub is yet to fully regenerate.

This dry open forest is pretty typical of Heathcote-Graytown National Park.

Once I was on Rodney Track there were no navigational issues for awhile. Rodney Track climbed very gently, slowly arcing around from west to south, on the way passing close by a few private parcels of land off to the right of the track. After gently climbing along Rodney Track for thirty minutes I arrived at my next track. This track heads off on the right, crosses a gully and then climbs steeply up onto the North Ridge of Mt Ida. With the track un-signposted when I went through the best way to identify it is probably by the fact that it was the first major track heading right, off Rodney Track, that doesn’t lead to nearby private property. After a short steep climb I arrived on the top of the ridge and another un-signposted track junction, turning left here I set off along what is the best bit of today’s stroll, the high ridge leading to Mt Ida.

Rodney Track

This is the spot to leave Rodney Track and climb to the ridge.

The climb up onto the ridge is solid, but it's fairly short.

The walk along the North Ridge is around two and a half kilometres in length and there are frequent views through the sparse trees. The ridge walk itself is a little rough in spots, the track climbs over a couple of very rocky knolls as it makes it’s way south towards the Mt Ida car park. With the communication towers of Mt Ida visible through the trees and the water of Lake Eppalock shimmering down on the plains to the west the track dropped through a high saddle and met the access road for Mt Ida. Passing through a locked gate I trudged my way up the last short steep climb to the 450 metre Mt Ida summit…..and kept walking. Yep, with the summit of Mt Ida being home to numerous telecommunication towers and their generators, as well as a large fire spotters tower it’s not a spot for quiet reflection I don’t think. Luckily if you continue on west along the ridge on a rough pad for a couple of hundred metres there is an even better natural lookout, so that’s where I headed this morning.

North Ridge

The views are pretty sweet from the North Ridge.

The final climb to the Mt Ida summit is a little steep.

The go up here is to pass straight over the official summit and head west along the summit ridge to a better lookout.

The view south from the westerly lookout.

Suitably refreshed I retraced my steps back past the towers and then back down along the North Ridge for awhile. After following North Ridge for just over a kilometre I picked up another un-signposted track that dropped off the ridge to the east, this track is identified by a couple of cairns and turns off just over one of the knolls. Dropping down this steep and loose track required all my (dead) cat like Feral reflexes to sty up right today, I was very thankful to have my trekking poles with me that’s for sure. Safely down the steep descent I once again met up with Rodney Track, I even had a signpost at the intersection. Rodney Track meanders around a little, but generally it heads in an easterly direction and I crossed a few ridges as I made my way along to my next track, Dargile Track.

The higher the elevation the rockier it gets on this walk.

The view north from near the fire spotters tower on Mt Ida.

Heading back down North Ridge.

Keep an eye out for this cairn.... it marks the spot to drop off the ridge.

This was a very steep, loose and slippery descent.

Back on Rodney Track everything was pretty easy again.

My ‘paint by numbers’ walk continued as I trudged along Dargile track for a couple of minutes before branching right along the Wattle Gully Walking Track which is another 4wd track in everything but name. Wattle Gully Track headed north parallel to Plantation Road for a kilometre or two and this was a very nice way for the walk to wind down, this section of the stroll probably had the best collection of Grass Trees on the walk and they are definitely a favourite of mine. After following Wattle Gully Track for awhile I turned onto Eatwell Track, climbed easily over a low ridge and met up with my last track for the day, Meaker Track. Some of the area around the Dargile Picnic Area appears to be plantation forest and Meaker Track now passed through part of the plantation. Somewhat unusually, as well as the usual Blue Gum (that’s a Feral assumption) the plantation also feature Box-Ironbark trees mixed in as well. Arriving at the southern end of the still deserted Dargile Picnic Area, today’s walk was now over.

When the private land becomes visible through the trees it marks the spot to head down Dargile Track. 

Dargile Track runs parallel to Plantation Road but it's never actually visible through the trees. 

Dargile Track

Wattle Gully Walking Track was for all intents and proposes another 4wd track.

Have I ever mentioned that I quite like Grass Trees...?

The Dirt.
You certainly won’t be over run with other people on this walk, I’ve done it twice now and apart from a few people up on Mt Ida I haven’t come across another person on the walk. Now there is probably a reason for that I think, in that the scenic highlights of this walk are a little more subtle than on some other walks, things are still pretty sweet but a little more nuanced. According to my GPS I walked 15.6 kilometres and climbed 474 metres on what I’d call a medium grade walk. Like I mentioned earlier I used the notes and map out of Glen Tempest’s book ‘Victoria’s Goldfields Walks’ today and they are all you really need, that said a lot of the tracks aren’t sign posted so you need to keep an eye on the navigation. Also as I mentioned, to get to the start of the walk you need to turn left off Plantation Road onto Plantation Track and follow it for around a kilometre to reach Dargile Picnic Area.

Relevant Posts.
Mt Ida, Heathcote-Graytown National Park, 2018.
Mundy Gully, Spring Gully Nature Conservation Reserve, 2017.
Kilmore, 2014.

The walk passes through a mixed plantation near Dargile Picnic Ground.

The closest thing I had for company today was from the occasional Wallaby.

I've just arrived back at Dargil Picnic Area.