Beeripmo Camp to Richards Camp via Mt Buangor, Beeripmo Walk, Mt Buangor State Park - July 2019.

Mt Langhi Ghiran....another great walk.

My night up at Beeripmo Walkers Camp was a long, damp and cold one, and I loved it! With the camp being just over 800 metres above sea level it was cold enough that I had to wear my light weight thermals to keep myself warm in my sleeping bag, which is just the way I like it…I’m definitely a warm sleeper and overheating is generally more of an issue for me than being too cold is. Thankfully by the time the sun came up most of last nights rain had passed me by so I was able to pack up and eat breakfast without worrying about keeping everything dry, which is always a good way to start the day. Unfortunately there wasn’t much in the way of a breeze blowing though, so it was a fairly wet tent that I shoehorned into my pack after breakfast, not that it mattered much as I was heading home anyway.

The weather was looking up this morning.

The rain had stopped but there wasn't a lot of drying going on.

Leaving Beeripmo Camp at the crack of…9:30am (Yes, I tend to break camp at a similar speed to which I walk…s-l-o-w-l-y) I resumed my journey west along the grassy Firebreak Track. After crossing Freemans Track the Beeripmo Walk started climbing again up to another informal rocky lookout although unlike yesterday, this morning I could actually see a little way into the distance. This lookout gave me a good look back along the range in the direction from which I’d trudged in the gloom yesterday, in the foreground was the broad ridge that Beeripmo Camp is on, in the middle distance was Sugarloaf and a bit further along the range was Cave Hill, it’s amazing how a bit of a view lifts my mojo and this morning was no different.

Firebreak Track first thing this morning.

Climbing up to my first lookout for the day.

The view south....

....and the view back from the direction that I'd came. The ridge in the foreground is where the Beeripmo Camp is, the hill on the left is Sugarloaf and in the distance is Cave Hill.

Typical Mt Buangor State Park scenery.

Soon after dropping down from my informal lookout I arrived at the turn off for the side trip out to Mt Buangor. Now normally I’d stash my pack somewhere and do this substantial side trip without the dead cow hanging off my back (well that’s what it feels like sometimes!), however being in a state park on a Saturday morning I was a little concerned with security. Apart from being a little concerned with the security of stashing my pack here I was also using this walk as a shake down for my up coming walk in Sweden, so I figured that lugging the extra weight a couple of kilometres up to the highest point of the walk wouldn’t do me any harm. Like the rest of the walk the side trip up to Mt Buangor is well signposted and defined..mostly. The walk up to the Mt Buangor Lookout is well marked but from there to the summit things get a bit vague, you could even say it was off piste.

Now normally I would of stashed my pack around here...but not this morning.

Mt Buangor side trip.

While yesterdays mist was OK I'd still prefer todays weak sunlight for photos.

Conditions were pretty damp on this visit.

Mt Buangor Lookout.

Mt Buangor Lookout...looking back along the range towards Cave Hill.

I was feeling pretty chipper after my restful night.

If wanting to visit the actual summit of Mt Buangor the go is continue on west along the 4wd track after visiting the lookout. After a 100 metres or so the 4wd track starts to sidle the ridge a little bit, however to reach the summit cairn requires a short scrub bash up the crest ridge. As far as scrub bashes go this little detour is one of the easier ones, the open forest, native grasses and large moss covered granite rocks made for nice walking. The summit itself is within the forest so the views are pretty limited but there is a nice cairn as well as the remains of an old shelter to check out.

The climb to the actual summit of Mt Buangor is worth the effort I think.

I left the 4wd track here and headed up the crest of the ridge.

It is obviously a cold and damp spot up here.

The Mt Buangor Summit Cairn, there is an old shelter on the left.  At 987 metres Mt Buangor is a reasonably substantial hill.

The view further to the west along the crest of the ridge - there's plenty of country to explore up here.

After taking in the views from the Mt Buangor I dropped back down to the Beeripmo Walk and set off towards Mugwamp Camp…arriving approximately three minutes later! Mugwamp Camp is a car camping area complete with a rustic old hut and I suppose this would make an alternative to Beeripmo Camp if the need arised. For me this morning the deserted Mugwamp Camp was a comfortable spot to sit for awhile and have a drink and a bite to eat while I checked out the map, the good news being that it is mostly down hill from here. Mostly down hill, well except for the next few minutes as I climbed around Dawsons Rock.

Dropping back down to the Beeripmo Track.

Mugwamp Camp

Back on the Beeripmo Track and heading for the ute.

Dropping down to Mt Cole Road.

Crossing over Mt Cole Road I started the descending that I was waffling on about. The Beeripmo Walk now started a long and fairly gentle descent down Long Gully. This area is a working forest and has been logged before and it’s interesting to see the diameter of some of the stumps left over in the forest, some of those old trees must of been absolutely huge. My gently descending track stayed on the southern slopes of Long Gully, occasionally contouring in and out of side gullies, some of which had good water flowing down them this morning.

Dropping down Long Gully.

The old trees here must of been huge.

Long Gully

After crossing over Long Gully Road the Beeripmo Track started descending a little more seriously, I think that this is probably the best section of the whole walk, although that’s just a Feral opinion! Ahead of me I could see the country dropping away very steeply, cloud now capping the higher peaks around me as I continued to drop down. There’s a small cascade just off the track along here just before the Beeripmo Track swings south-east away from Long Gully, although the lush bracken and ferns make it a little hard to get a good photo it’s worth dropping off the track to check out this little cascade. The Beeripmo Track now heads down some pretty steep slopes although the well benched track makes things pretty easy…mostly. It wouldn’t be a Feral walk without a bit of hardship thrown in and along here I encountered my favourite thing, big blow downs across the track. Being fairly old and decrepit I never enjoy clambering over or around these obstacles with my overnight pack on, and along here it was made a little harder by the steepness of the terrain.

Long Gully

This is about as overgrown as the Beeripmo Walk gets.

There is a nice cascade just off the track towards the bottom of Long Gully. They are a little hard to photograph but still worth checking out I think.

Somehow I managed to successfully negotiated the downed trees without mishap and I continued shuffling along the track towards the ute. My walk was now coming to it’s conclusion though. After avoiding Grivillea Track (another walk that I did years ago) off to the left I soon met up with my outward route above Richards Camp. Retracing the last 100 metres the cars at Richards Camp soon came into view, oddly enough no one was camping at the well appointed camping spot but there were now 4 or 5 cars parked in the car park with walkers out enjoying the park (I assume).

Mt Buangor State Park.

Hmm, a Feral favourite...

The weather was starting to close in again.

The Dirt.
According to my GPS I walked 13.9 kilometres and climbed 284 metres on this easy-medium grade days walking. Over the two days of my complete Beeripmo Walk I walked 24.5 kilometres and climbed 919 metres on what is a nice little walk…perfect in fact for what I needed it for, which was as a bit of a shakedown stroll. The walking infrastructure and facilities on this walk are very good, especially considering that the walk is in a state forest and not a national park. If big trees, granite rocks and nice lookouts float your boat then this is a walk to consider, come in the wetter months and waterfalls and cascades are also a feature. I used a set of notes put out by the House of Chapman from the 2003 edition of Bushwalking in Australia.

Relevant Posts.
Richards Camp to Beeripmo Camp via Sugarloaf, Mt Buangor State Park, 2019. Langhi Ghiran Visitor Area to Mt Langhi Ghiran via Easter Creek Track, Langhi Ghiran Walk, Langhi Ghiran State Park, 2018.
Mt Langhi Ghiran to Langhi Ghiran Visitor Area via Link Track, Langhi Ghiran Walk, Langhi Ghiran State Park, 2018.

The last section of the Beeripmo Walk is very nice walking.

The track is well benched and fairly easy...the views through the trees to the west are very good.

Arriving back at Richards Camp, there were a few cars but no one camping here.