Ritchies Hut Loop, Alpine National Park - March 2019

Up close and personal in the Howqua River on my return journey.

It was a grey kind of morning.

I’ve been looking at walking this loop for a fair while, over the years I’ve walked the ‘High’ route between 8 Mile and Ritchies Hut a couple of times but I’d never walked the ‘Low’ route before. The main issue that had held me back a bit was that I’d wanted to do it on a warm day as I had visions of me spending a relaxing afternoon lounging in some of the beautiful swimming holes in the Howqua River. With numerous bush fires burning in the area for the last month or so access to 8 Mile Camping Area had been a little dodgy so I’d given the walk a miss.

With the Jamieson Fire now contained Brocks Road was opened up again, so I decided to head up and check out the walk. Things didn’t look so flash when I arrived at the deserted 8 Mile Camping Area first thing this morning though. The last hour or so of my drive up from Melbourne had seen me driving into a fairly big storm complete with sheet lightning and reasonably heavy rain. By the time I pulled up at 8 Mile the rain was only light, however turning the motor off I was welcomed by the crash of thunder reverberating through the mountains. Thankfully by the time I’d slowly pulled on my walking gear in the front seat of the ute, the rain had more or less stopped.

8 Mile Flat Camping area was deserted today.

So under a grey, leaden sky I re-set the GPS, picked up the well sign-posted High Route and set off towards Ritchies Hut. Initially the track climbs a little bit before passing the turn-off for the Refrigerator Gap Track (and The Bluff) and then pretty much levelling off. The initial climb is pretty easy really, the main issue this morning though was the encroaching wet scrub which gave me a fair soaking as I climbed.

The High Track climbs a bit initially, I was getting a bit damp pushing through the over hanging scrub.

The track on the right heads towards Refrigerator Gap and eventually, The Buff.

Avoiding the Refrigerator Gap Track I started my journey up the Howqua River towards Ritchies Hut. The walk now more or less contours the extremely steep sides of the Howqua River Valley following a well benched track, this section of the valley has no 4wd tracks running along the river so it feels fairly remote, well until you spy Mt Buller across the river in the distance. I’m guessing that this track was probably cut way back in the gold mining era and indeed there are a couple of mine shafts burrowing into the mountain side just below the track.

I was pretty lucky really when it came to the weather this morning.

The High Track runs a long way up above the Howqua River.

There is a bit of old mining history to be seen beside the track in a couple of spots.

Looking down to the Howqua River from the High Track.

Even with the sound of thunder still echoing around the mountains I was more or less still walking in dry conditions this morning, which always helps my Feral mojo. The grey sky were also giving my photos a bit more of an atmospheric feel to them this morning, not that it worried me too much though as I was still hoping that the storms would dissipate as predicted and my walk back to the ute would be under blue sky.

There was some advantages to the damp conditions.

There was still thunder echoing through the surrounding mountains.

Things feel pretty remote but if you look at the right spot it's easy enough to see the skiing infrastructure up on Mt Buller.

The High Track contours the steep valley.

The Howqua River from the High Track.

I’d thrown my Teva’s into my pack for his stroll thinking that I’d wear them on my walk back along the Lower Route, a track that features 12 crossings of the Howqua River. It was while walking along the High Route that my river sandal plan started to look a bit dodgy though, as not only was I getting some stunning views down to the river but I was also getting a good look at the amount of Blackberries lining the river.

High above the Howqua River, still on the High Track.

I got close to the river once...

...before the High Track climbed again....

...and then finally dropped down to the river flats and joined up with the Low Track.

After around an hour and a half my track started to drop down to the river level, soon after arriving onto the river flats I met the Low Route coming in from my left. With both routes reunited I walked the last kilometre or so up to Ritchies Hut, the track still climbing occasionally to get over some rocky bluffs but generally staying closer to water level. This section of the walk was actually a little overgrown and by the time I arrived at Ritchies Hut I was pretty well wet through after pushing through all the still ringing wet scrub, oh well at least it wasn’t cold.

The Howqua River near Ritchies Hut.

I got really wet pushing through the wet scrub on the last few hundred metres to Ritchies Hut.

Ritchies Hut is a nice spot, the grassy surrounds make for very good camping and it’s not overly hard to access the river. Ritchies Hut is actually a new hut, the original hut that was burnt down in the big 2006/2007 bushfire. The original Hut was built by Fred Fry and Bob Ritchie back in 1940’s and if you travel enough around this part of Victoria you’ll see those names crop up occasionally. Last time I’d passed through here the original hut still occupied this spot so I had a bit of a poke around this morning checking things out while I dried off a bit, being a reasonable walk from the nearest 4wd track the hut is still in pretty good nick by the look of it so that was good to see.

Ritchies Hut

Thankfully Ritchies Hut is far enough away from vehicle tracks that it's in pretty good nick.

I've worked out how to use the self timer....yep, it doesn't take much to make me happy!

Ritchies Hut would make for a nice spot to camp I think.

Thankfully my cunning plan started to pay off now too, the grey cloud that had accompanied me all the way in had now more or less burnt off and by the time I set off heading back towards the ute I was mostly walking under a blue sky. While that part of the plan worked well, the Teva sandels part of my plan came unstuck as soon as I reached the first river crossing. As I’d guessed the river flats were over run by Blackberries, so not wanting to cut myself up too much I gave the Tevas a miss. Not wanting to muck around pulling my boots on and off at 12 river crossings I decided to just wade in, boots and all. Jumping forward a bit it would be possible to walk the Lower Track in Sandels but you’d want to carefully pick your way along some sections.

Heading back down stream....

...I took the Low Track (on the right).

The Low Track is also used for horses (which I’m thinking probably doesn’t help with the Blackberry problem) so the crossings and the entries and exits can be a little on the rough side along here. Apart from the Blackberries the other issue with Tevas along the river flats is the snakes, I saw 2 Copperheads today (I’d made sure I had my snake bandage in my pack before I’d left).

Crossing # 1, notice the Blackberries.

Howqua River 

Blue sky was a feature of my return walk.

With 12 crossing of the Howqua River in around 4 kilometres I didn’t have to walk far before I found myself back in the water today. I suppose the good news was that the Howqua River was running fairly low at the end of our long summer, the deepest crossing that I had today didn’t come up over my gaiters. While the crossings were all fairly shallow they are also fairly rough, the bed of the river consisting mostly of rounded river rocks that were extremely slippery. This would be a perfect walk for walking poles so it shame that I’d broken another set this morning and mine were sitting in the back of the ute.

There are quite a few nice swimming holes along the river.

This was probably the deepest crossing today.

The best photos were taken mid river I'm thinking.

The middle of the numerous river crossing were also the best spots to take in the views, both up and down the river as well as the gorge like sides of the steep valley. Speaking of gorge like sides, if I looked carefully I could see my mornings track contouring around the steep slopes well above me. Back at water level things were progressing nicely, every time I made a crossing without going arse over was a good good thing as I counted down from 12. Apart from checking out the river for likely swimming holes (there were plenty) I was also interested in how many big trout I could see, I’m guessing these fish must be smarter than the average angler to grow this big as they certainly weren’t hard to spot.

The High Track contours around these steep hill sides.

Howqua River

It wasn't all Blackberries and river crossings along the Low Track.

Eventually I emerged, boots squelching, from crossing number 12 and shuffled the last few hundred metres back to 8 Mile Camping Area and the waiting ute. Somewhat ironically, instead of wanting to stay in the ute to avoid the rain like I had this morning I was now keen to jump in a crank up the air conditioning on what was now a pretty warm afternoon. Pulling off my wet boots I was a contented walker who settled into the drivers seat and motored off towards my next little adventure.

These guys must be pretty smart to get this big....they certainly weren't hard to spot.

This is arguably the best swimming hole.

The Dirt.
I walked 12.9 kilometres and climbed 258 metres on this medium grade walk. Really if it wasn’t for all the river crossings I’d rate this walk even easier, however if the Howqua River is up then the rating would go up as well. I used Melanie Balls notes out of her Top Walks in Australia book along with the relevant Rooftops Map on this walk and either or both will do. The walk has also been covered in some form or another by old timers like Tyrone Thomas and John Siseman in some of their old books. It’s a bit of a shame about the infestation of Blackberries along the river flats as they really detract from what is a pretty good walk, the views on the walk in from the High Route are quite spectacular. If anyone out there reads this and considers the walk then consider taking walking poles as the river crossings are rough and slippery.

Relevant Posts.
The Bluff, Alpine National Park, 2014.
Mt Buller Traverse, Alpine National Park, 2015.

Approaching 8 Mile Flat the great scenery continued.

Back at 8 Mile Flat Camping Area, believe it or not it was getting pretty hot by now.