Briggs Bluff Variant, Grampians National Park - November 2019

Well yet another New Years has rolled around, some things never change, hey - I'm still blogging - We are still doing sweet FA about climate change - and our political masters up in Canberra are still fucking useless (for anyone reading this in the future I'm writing up this little preface as people and wildlife are dying and the eastern half of our country is burning - so I'm a bit bitter and twisted!). Somewhat unusually for me I haven't got any big plans for this year (well apart from climbing Mt Woodroffe up on the APY lands in May). I'd like to wish anyone who drops by my blog a happy and safe New Year, hopefully these fires settle down a bit and I'll see you in the bush...

Heading up into the Mt Difficult Range first thing this morning - life could be a lot worse!

On an earlier visit to Briggs Bluff this year I discovered that the good folks at Parks Vic had cut a new track for part of the way up the mountain. I’d assumed that the new track was something to do with the new Grampians Peaks Trail although I couldn’t see where the two tracks actually met up. So to cut a long story short I decided to head back up again 9 months later to see what I could see. With the new section of track I figured that it would now be possible to make this walk into something of a circuit by using the old track as well so I was keen to check out that possibility as well - yep things are pretty exciting in my Feral world!

It was a surprisingly fresh start to the day.

Roses Gap Carpark.

Last time I’d walked up here was at the tail end of summer, so arriving today the first thing I noticed was that the bush was looking a bit fresher than on my last visit. It was also a little colder than on my last visit too, the ambient temperature read out in my car reading 7˚, although that was a lot better than the 1˚ that it had read on sections of my drive up this morning. Heading off along the first easy section of the track towards Beehive Falls the country was alive with wildflowers and wildlife this morning, although with me having set off before 8am it meant that there weren’t any other walkers around yet.

There wasn't any other walkers out and about yet this morning, although there was a few locals around.

This section of the Grampians is still recovering from the last very severe bushfire that ripped through.

It doesn’t seem to matter how many times I do these walks when I arrive at a point of interest I always try and take a photograph - no matter how many times that I’ve taken the same shot - I guess it’s my OCD kicking in! Beehive Falls is one of those spots that I always make a desultory attempt to photograph and this morning was no exception. Apart from apathy one of the reasons that I take a quick photo or two and then move on from Beehive Falls is that this is the spot where the walk gets good. Leaving Beehive Falls the track starts climbing seriously and gets a lot rougher as it makes it’s way through a cliff line, the views now opening up back out over the billiard table flat Wimmera Plains.

The bluffs above Beehive Falls.

Beehive Falls - Mud Hut Creek was still flowing on this visit.

Climbing away from Beehive Falls the track gets a lot rougher.

Once up through the first cliffs the new track climbs up a sloping rocky ramp and then follows a sandy shelf a long way south along the range. Instead of following the shelf I picked up the old route as it crossed a dry creek before scrambling up a dry waterfall. The track markers on the old route were mostly still visible so once I was on the track the navigation was all pretty strait forward. I’m guessing that Parks Vic have re routed this track because of this first section, it is a little rough and scrambly in a couple of spots, over all however the old route is pretty good walking. The old route also follows a sandy shelf south, although it’s a higher shelf than the one the new route uses. 

This is the spot where the two tracks diverge. The old track drops down here to the left to cross a generally dry gully before climbing up the opposite side.

The big one in the back is Briggs Bluff.

I was now climbing up behind this bluff.

The old route climbs this dry waterfall.

As I was climbing at the last rocky ramp before the old track levelled out I dropped off the track and headed south east across a mostly dry gully towards another low cliff line. I was doing this little off piste section because there is a waterfall here that I’d always wanted to check out. The tiny Mud Hut Creek drops through the cliff line here but I’ve never made the effort to check it out before. After a fairly easy walk I climbed up onto a huge flat rock, the small waterfall cascading down right in front of me, now I could tell you how awesome this spot was - but I’d be embellishing things a little too much. The small waterfall was a nice enough spot though, and it would be especially nice sitting here on the rocks in the shade on a hot day I guess. It wasn’t just the waterfall that I’d wanted to check out here though, there is also a big cave that I’d never visited before. The cave is only a few minutes walk from the waterfall so sitting here this morning I couldn’t help thinking that it would of make a great place for the local indigenous people back in the day, although I found no actual evidence of that in the cave.

Dropping off the old route I crossed this dry gully...

....before scrambling up to a cliff line....

...to check out this un-named waterfall on Mud Hut Creek.

Mud Hut Creek generally dries up by early summer. The lush vegetation clings to life drawing moisture from the cracks and crevices.

After checking out the waterfall I followed the dry gully a bit higher to check out a big cave.

The cave was roomy, close to water and comfortable so I guess our indigenous people may have used it over the centuries, my untrained eyes didn't see any evidence of occupation though?

The old route climbs that ridge.

After enjoying the panoramic view in my cave for awhile I figured that I’d better head off again if I ever wanted to get up to Briggs Bluff. Dropping out of my cave I crossed the dry gully again, climbed a little and after a few minutes met up with the old track again. Following the old route I was soon up on the rocky shelf and heading south, this walking along this shelf is sand interspersed with ricky ribs and it was while walking one of these rock ribs that the old route re joins the new track. The new track is certainly a step up in quality from the old route and it makes passing through this rocky and convoluted terrain about as easy as it could be when walking through this type of country I guess.

Looking down the Mt Difficult Range from the cave.

Heading towards Mt Gar along the old route.

I'm about to re-join the new track.

This section of the stroll is part of the Grampians Peaks Trail and has had a lot of money spent on it.

After climbing again the track arrived at the side track that would take me out to Briggs Bluff. This is the spot where things get a little rougher again, and since the last big fires ripped through here it’s also a little vague across here so I needed to keep an eye out for track markers. The good news is that Briggs Bluff is pretty well in sight for most of the way across here so people shouldn’t get lost I suppose but it’s definitely a lot rougher than the new Grampians Peaks Trail that a lot of people will use to get up here. 

I climbed through another cliff line before arriving at the side track out to Briggs Bluff.

Heading out towards Briggs Bluff (the mountain looks a little less spectacular from this aspect).

Feral goats....

...it would probably pay to treat your water if you draw it from Mud Hut Creek considering the feral goats.

It was late morning by the time I finally topped out on the summit of Briggs Bluff and like the rest of my walk so far today I was on my own up here. The view from the top of Briggs Bluff is one that all Victorian bushwalkers should check out I think, the cliff line on the north east side drop for hundreds of metres down to the flat Wimmera Plains. The incredibly rough and rocky convoluted Mt Difficult Range stretching away before me to the south. The summit of Briggs Bluff is another of those spots where my OCD always kicks in and I always end up taking another photo or two, which inevitably ends up being almost the exact same shot that I got on my last visit. 

The camera flattens out the scenery a bit (well it does when my fingers on the shutter button anyway!) however take my word for it the Mt Difficult Range features some fairly rough country.

Looking down towards Roses Gap (with Mt Stapylton in the distance) from Briggs Bluff.

Mt Gar from Briggs Bluff.

The north east facing cliffs on Briggs Bluff are a little vertigo inducing side.

By the time I left the summit this morning a bit of high cloud was starting to roll in which wasn’t going to help my photos too much, although the cloud didn’t worry me too much as it took the edge off the heat a little on what had become a warmish day. Having spent a fair bit of time recently above the Arctic Circle my skin wasn’t really prepared for any harsh Australian sun quite yet. Leaving the summit I retraced my outward route back down to the spot where the old route comes in and then followed the ‘new’ track back down to the car park. Now I waffled on earlier about seeing the Grampians Peaks Trail but not knowing exactly where they met up, well I now know. After the new track drops down a very impressive long section of dry stone steps it then drops down a sloping rib of rock before swinging back to the north and heading for Beehive Falls. Just as the track swings back to the north the new Grampians Peaks Trail comes in from the south (the Mt Gar direction). I’m totally guessing but maybe the Grampians Peaks Trail crosses Roses Gap Road in the vicinity of Dead Bullock Creek before heading up towards Pohlners Road, although treat that as a Feral fact!

You need to keep an eye on things navigation wise between the Grampians Peaks Track and Briggs Bluff.

Back on the Grampians Peaks Trail the route skirts around this large tarn before dropping through a cliff line on a long and impressive section of dry stone steps.

The new section of the Grampians Peaks Trail.

The new (currently closed) section of the Grampians Peaks Track comes in from the Mt Gar direction.

I was now heading back towards the ute along a what is a very scenic section of the walk, with the track lined on the right by an interesting weathered cliff line and on the left I had pretty well continuous views off the top of another lower cliff line. The convoluted nature of this type of country makes painting a word picture pretty hard (especially with my limited vocabulary) but lets just say it all makes for pretty good walking. Now it was a good thing that the scenery was world class as I was in a bit of pain. I’ve been experimenting with trail runners a bit since I got back from Sweden and slowly ramping up the degree of difficulty of the walks that I do in them. Well it appears that an off track, rock hopping walk in the Grampians is the upper limit that my ankles can handle at the moment, both my ankles where by now giving me some grief but my left ankle in particular was in a lot of pain.

It's a nice walk along this shelf, although the overhead conditions are a little on the monochrome side.

Looking back over my shoulder towards Mt Gar.

The view north from this new section of track are pretty extensive.

After re-joining my outward route where the two tracks meet up I gingerly dropped down through the last cliff line back down to Beehive Falls, once again not being able to resist taking another photo. Hobbling down the last short section of todays stroll with my tender ankles I was pretty happy that firstly, the track was now very easy and secondly, it wasn’t very far back to the ute. Arriving back I pulled off my trail runners and socks and surveyed the damage, my right ankle wasn’t too bad but my left ankle was very swollen and sore. The postscript to this story was that my ankle came better after a couple of days of me wearing a compression bandage, however I need to temper my ambitions a bit and ease into wearing trail runners with some easier walks on better tracks.

Dropping back down to Beehive Falls - the old route negotiates that cliff linen the right...maybe that's why Parks Vic closed it?

Beehive Falls

Beehive Falls...like I said, OCD!

The Dirt.
I walked 13.2 kilometres and climbed 620 metres on what I’d call a medium-hard grade walk. I used a combination of Tyrone Thomas’ notes and mud map, SV Maps Northern Grampians 1:50,000 topo map and the topo maps on my GPS. If anyone reading this ventures up here then stick with the new track unless you have some experience in off track walking, the old route was still easy enough to follow when I visited today however things will obviously deteriorate over time. Just as a bit of a footnote I have to say that the Grampians Peaks Trail looks like it’s going to be a stunning walk when it’s eventually finished…although I’ll have to still be walking when I’m in my 80’s if I want to walk it judging on the speed that it’s being constructed! Obviously there are some walkers out there who don’t like the new track going through areas that have until now required a bit more skill, fitness and experience to visit, however I’m thinking that the track may provide access spots where it will still be possible to disappear into the bush and be alone if you can read a map and have the skills.

Relevant Posts.
Briggs Bluff, Grampians National Park, 2019.
Stapylton Ampitheatre, Grampians National Park, 2016.
Flat Rock to Halls Gap, Grampians National Park, 2003.

My ankles were pretty happy to finish off my stroll on this gentle section of track.

Spring is the best time in the Grampians I think.