Spion Kopje to Bogong Village, Bogong High Plains Circuit, Alpine National Park - April 2019

It was worth crawling out of the tent early this morning.

As I think I mentioned yesterday, the main reason for camping on the summit of Spion Kopje, apart from the views, was because it would get me off the high country before some slightly dodgy weather arrived, which was predicted to come in around lunch time. So emerging from the tent this morning I was pretty happy to see a relatively clear sky around me. Last night hadn’t been as cold as my previous two nights and with a light breeze blowing across the summit it meant that I wouldn’t be mucking around waiting for the tent to dry out this morning.

The moons still up.

The view down to the Kiewa Valley.

Here comes the sun.

Today was Sunday and my normal Sunday custom when I’m back home with Sam is to head down to our regular café down in Mornington for a relaxing breakfast (Hi Chelsea and Marco!). Not wanting to miss out this morning I enjoyed a fairly typical Sunday morning meal of a cooked (freeze dried) breakfast, coffee (coffee bag) and orange juice (powder). While it might not have been as tasty as my normal fare the view kinda made up for any culinary shortfall. And what a view it was with a rainbow of colours visible. Whilst cooking breakfast a bit of cloud moved in and by the time I’d packed up some of the higher points were now cloaked in cloud, although the cloud only really added a bit more interest to the scene I thought.

Just like being at home really.

Mt Fainter with Mt Feathertop in the distance.

One last photo looking down to Falls Creek and Rocky Valley Reservoir.

With camp packed up I shouldered my pack again and set off on my journey down to Bogong Village. Having drunk most of my water and consumed most of my food my pack was now as light as it was going to get on this walk, and that was a good thing as the track plunges very steeply down into the trees. I wasn’t quite finished with the open ridge walking though as the track dropped through a high saddle before sidling the 1731 metre summit of Little Spion Kopje. After one last grand stand view down towards Falls Creek the plunging began though.

By the time I'd had breakfast and packed up the cloud had rolled in over Mt Fainter.

Geronimo....down we go!

Yep, only the most flattering photos go up on this blog!

Mt Bogong was also cloaked in cloud now.

I still had a little bit of open walking this morning.

Spion Kopje Fire Track was a little slippery as it dropped down into the tree line, although thankfully with a relatively light pack on my back and fairly dry ground under foot the descent wasn’t too bad, my ageing knees mean that I have to take it pretty easy anyway. Once into the burnt Snow Gum forest the views which I’d been savouring for the last three days were more or less gone, the dense bushfire regrowth creating the effect of the track passing through a green tunnel. The good news going down Spion Kopje Fire Track was that the really steep stuff largely finished as I passed by the turn off for the walking track down to Howmans Gap.

I'm guessing that this is man made?

My last view across to Falls Creek.

Spion Kopje Fire Track sidles around the summit of Little Spion Kopje a bit.

Things got steep and slippery now.

Once below the tree line the views thinned out a bit.

Spion Kopje Fire Track

Once past the Howman Gap Track things eased off a little.

Continuing down the fire track I got a few views through the trees of the surrounding mountains, the tops of the higher ones still cloaked in cloud. Dropping a little further I crossed over the first water that I’d seen since mid afternoon yesterday, this little creek looking like it would be reliable in all but the driest times. It was also about now that I also started to hear the the cascading water of Rocky Valley Creek down in the valley below me. I was still a few kilometres from the spot where I had to ford Rocky Valley Creek when I first heard it, so I was a little concerned that maybe the crossing could be a little dodgier than I’d been thinking that it would be. I’d been assuming with the lack of any substantial rain lately then the crossing of Rocky Valley Creek would be a fairly straightforward, it was around now though that I started to consider that maybe AGL might be letting water out of Rocky Valley Reservoir to generate a bit of hydro power and the crossing might be a bit trickier than I’d thought.

I got a few views after passing the Howmans Gap Track.

Spion Kopje Fire Track.

Dropping lower Spion Kopje Fire Track heads through some sections of old growth forest.

Spion Kopje Fire Track

The first reliable water since leaving my camp up on Spion Kopje.

Zig zagging my way down Spion Kopje Fire Track it was another half an hour before I eventually caught sight of the creek below me, I was still around 50 metres above the water but from up here it all looked doable. Dropping down to water level I arrived at the crossing point to find…a pretty strait forward crossing. After taking a few happy snaps I managed to rock hop my way across Rocky Valley Creek without even getting my boots wet, I don’t know what I was worrying about! After fording Rocky Valley Creek I now followed the mostly contouring fire track down the steep valley in the direction of Bogong Village, thankful that the track wasn’t particularly arduous as the temperature down here in the valley was pretty warm.

The trees are slowly coming back.

There are a lot of switchbacks near the bottom of Spion Kopje Fire Track.

My first look at Rocky Valley Creek - doesn't look too bad.

Rocky Valley Creek

The ford of Rocky Valley Creek on Spion Kopje Fire Track wasn't too hard this morning.

Rocky Valley Creek

Breaking out onto the Bogong High Plans Road for about 20 metres I picked up another old, closed road down to Bogong Village. Like my drama getting out of Bogong Village a few days ago I again followed a track that was signposted as ‘Authorised Personal Only’ although at least on this one it was easy enough to get around the locked gate. This last short section back down to the picnic area at Bogong Village was actually along an old sealed road, no doubt put in during the hydro construction. It was around 11am when I arrived back at the ute this morning and I’d well and truly arrived before the predicted rain (actually the rain only arrived when I was half way through my long drive home). After stripping off and tipping a bucket full of cold water over me, I pulled on some clean clothes, threw all my smelly gear into the back of the ute and headed home, once again with that euphoric feeling that finishing a good walk gives me.

After crossing the creek the track mostly contoured.

I touched the Bogong High Plains Road for a few metres....

....before dropping steeply down this old sealed road down to Bogong Village.

The Dirt.
I walked 11.6 kilometres and climbed 41 metres on what I’d call a medium grade walk today. If camping up on Spion Kopje the night before then I’m guessing most people will be keen to drop down to get some water, there is what looks like fairly reliable water around 20 minutes after passing by the Howman Gap turn off. While the track is fairly clear today, the descent from Spion Kopje to Rocky Valley Creek is steep, the upper section being particularly steep. Not only is it a bit of a knee trembler (knee trembler has a completely different meaning for me now days!) but it’s a little slippery and loose as well, so walking poles are a definite advantage dropping down here. The ford of Rocky Valley Creek was pretty straight forward for me this morning but this crossing has a bit of a reputation as being difficult, I thinking that recent precipitation might not necessarily correlate with high water as I’m guessing that if AGL release water from Rocky Valley Storage to make a bit of hydro power then the creek could be quite high…although that’s a Feral assumption! Mr Chapman and Mr Thomas have both written up this section of the walk (more or less) but both sets of notes are more than a decade old. I used Rooftop’s Bright-Bogong-Hotham Forest Activities map today as well as my GPS maps.

Over the 4 days that I’ve been out on this walk I’ve walked 78.9 and climbed 2612 metres on what is a pretty hard stroll. Once out of Bogong Village the navigation on the walk is pretty easy, even the off track stuff I did on day 2 is pretty easy really, although things can change very quickly up here if the weather closes in. I did this walk over the Easter holiday period and while sections of the walk were busy with day walkers, mountain bikers and horse riders I was still able to slip away and find camps by myself every night, there are a lot of wide open spaces up here.

Relevant Posts.
Day 1 of this walk, Alpine National Park, 2019.
Day 2 of this walk, Alpine National Park, 2019.
Day 3 of this walk, Alpine National Park, 2019.

The old road wasn't without it's charms.

Hmm, indeed!

Time for a quick bush shower and then the long drive home.