Goin' Feral One Day At A Time: Whiskey Creek Circuit, Lerderderg State Park

Typical Lerderderg State Park scenary.

I'd originally planned to spend a fair chunk of this weekend sitting on my ever expanding arse, on the couch watching the Melbourne F1 GP....Corona Virus put a stop to those plans. So with the race cancelled I suddenly had a little more time up my sleeve. Looking for a walk that would give me a bit of a workout I decided to head across Melbourne to the old standard, Lerderderg State Park. This state park packs a lot of hard walking into it I reckon, so if I'm ever looking for a walk to raise the heart rate a little it's probably my go too spot, at least close to Melbourne anyway. I settled on re-walking the Whisky Creek Circuit this morning, I've walked it a couple of times before however I've never written it up on my blog.

I headed off this morning from the spot where the Great Dividing Trail (Square Bottle Track) comes out onto Mt Blackwood Road.

It was a balmy 11˚ with the occasional light sprinkle of rain passing through when I set off this morning, hmm where did summer go? Almost immediately after passing the fire dam near the car park I veered right off Square Bottle Track and started the long descent down into Lerderderg Gorge along the Razorback Track. Initially at least Razorback Track is pretty easy walking as the old 4wd track follows a bit of a roller coaster of a ridge top, although being on the top of the ridge meant that I was getting buffeted a little with some cold wind and drizzle this morning. Fortunately for me I had a profusion of Grass Trees to take my mind off the chilly conditions though...oh and another Lerderderg standard, a rusted out abandoned car.

Passing the fire dam less than a minute after setting off (yes, it's going to be one of those walks!).

I went right onto Razorback Track.

Razorback Track

Yes, there was no shortage of Grass Trees this morning.

Another Lerderderg State Park standard.

After a little more Toblerone style ridge walking along Razorback Track I arrived at the signposted turn off for Razorback North Walking Track and the walking improved a lot. I was now starting to drop down seriously and it wasn't long before the country started to drop away beside me leaving me walking a razorback rib of jagged rock. This kind of walking is probably what I enjoy the most about walking out here, some of the many spurs that drop steeply to the river are particularly precipitous, it's quite common to be dropping down spurs with a sheer drop on both sides down to the sinuous river below. After one last steep drop I now found myself standing in the dry bed of the Lerderderg River at the spot where the equally dry Whiskey Creek comes in.

Leaving Razorback Track I dropped down to the Lerderderg River along the Razorback North Walking Track.

I had a fairly overcast day today, there was even a few sprinklings of rain sometimes.

It's a little hard to see however the spur gets pretty acute towards the bottom.

I was dropping through these cliff lines.

To my right the Lerderderg River was down below....

...and to my left I was looking down into Whiskey Creek.

I was now looking for the continuation of my stroll though, I was looking for a walking track that climbed up the bluff on the opposite side of the river to meet Spanish Onion Track. Now I have to be honest here, the next bit of my walk was a typical Feral adventure, yes instead of following some pink flagging tape that marked the route, I decided to rock hop down the river a couple of minutes and climb a loose gully between two huge rock buttresses, how hard could it be? Well it turns out it could be pretty hard! This little variant was seriously steep and loose, throw in a bit of scratchy scrub and it was a tough ten minutes as I made my way up to the crest of the ridge. Once I'd met the correct track on the ridge though things were pretty sweet again, infact the walking between here and Mine Camp was arguable the best walking of the day.

I arrived down in the gorge at the spot where Whiskey Creek comes into the Lerderderg River.

While the Lerderderg River wasn't flowing today there was still a fair bit of water about.

I decided to climb that gully....yes, I don't know what I was thinking either!

Lerderderg Gorge

This was a tough, steep, loose and scrubby little climb.

Once I'd scrambled onto the crest of the ridge I picked up this good pad.

There is a lot of mining history down here.

Nice walking down in Lerderderg Gorge.

Looking down towards the Lerderderg River from East Walk.

After dropping down to cross the dry Cowan Creek the track climbed steeply again to crest of the ridge and shortly there after reached the turn off for Cowan Track. From here to Mine Camp I'd be walking a short section of the East Walk (a walk that I have featured on my blog before). The benched track traverses some very steep slopes high above the river along here and there are many spots to stop and take in the views down into the gorge. Apart from the rugged river views there is also a lot of old mining history on show along here, with everything from old water races to mullock heaps and mine shafts. After spending a few minutes poking around an old mineshaft I was soon at the turn off for Mine Camp, time for the hard work to begin again.

Climbing out of Cowan Creek the sun came out for awhile.

East Walk.

Just before arriving at Mine Camp I checked out this old mine shaft.

The extensive mullock heaps approaching Mine Camp.

Mine Camp.

Before starting the climb out of the gorge though I had a bit of a smoko at the old Mine Camp. There is nothing really in the way of facilities at this bush camp, well apart from some flat dirt to pitch your tent on and some fallen trees to park your arse on, which was just what I needed now. Suitably fortified for the climb ahead after scoffing down a couple of bananas and having a swig of water, I shouldered my pack again and set off to find Kenworthy Track. Finding Kenworthy Track is a little tricky from Mine Camp as the walking track really only becomes obvious once part way up a steep spur, the navigational trick is to pick the spur. From Mine Camp I headed down the river for a few metres until I arrived at the swimming hole, once on the opposite bank near this fairly permanent pool I found an opening that would take me up though an area that was heavily mined. After picking my way through the mullock heaps and water races, heading generally westerly, I was soon on my spur. Even better news was that after a few minutes steeply climbing I found the start of what would soon become the defined Kenworthy Track.

Leaving Mine Camp I headed downstream a few metres to this swimming hole before making my way west....

... to pick up the crest of this spur.

Once on the spur Kenworthy Track gradually became more defined.

The climb up this steep rocky spur is another good one, once again I had sheer cliffs dropping down on either side of me at one stage. After climbing the rough walking track for around twenty minutes my walking track topped out on a bit of a knoll and morphed into a 4wd track, the walking now got a lot easier although maybe not as much fun. After climbing the old 4wd track for twenty minutes Kenworthy Track arrived at T junction, to my right was Whiskey Track and my left was Vodka Track (the old miners must of been quite partial to a bit of grog I'm guessing). Turning down Vodka Track I'd now be following the Great Dividing Trail all the way back to the ute, although while navigation would be pretty straight forward there is still some tough walking.

The views back down to the river compensated somewhat for the steep climb.

I was also getting some more distant views as I climbed higher up Kenworthy Track.

Kenworthy Track

Vodka Track starts off as a 4wd track although as I dropped down towards Whiskey Creek the 4wd track turned into a walking track again. Actually the first time that I walked this route many years ago the steep sections that drop into and climb out of Whisky Creek which are now part of the Great Dividing Trail were totally off track, back in those days this was just a route with no semblance of a walking track. Things are easier now with a lot of steps although it's still a very steep descent into Whiskey Creek. Once in the dry bed of Whiskey Creek I headed down stream to pick up the signposted track at the head of a spur, this is the start of Square Bottle Track and bugger me it's a steep climb.

On meeting Vodka Track I joined the Great Dividing Trail.

Hmm, looks like there is some more weather heading my way.

I got some glimpses of Mt Blackwood through the trees as I walked Vodka Track.

I've just dropped into Whiskey Creek.

Thankfully I once again had some sensational views as I climbed the many steps of Square Bottle Track so I needed no real excuse to stop and take things in. Once again as the climb stature to ease off a little the track turned into a 4wd track. From here back to the small car park beside Mt Blackwood Road, Square Bottle Track climbed a lot gentler as it passed over a series of knolls. With the Grass Trees starting to appear in numbers again I crested one last high point to see Razorback Track heading off to my left, a flash of white paint through the trees in the distance signalling that I'd arrived back at the ute....time to head home:)

Starting the climb up Square Bottle Track.

The climb up Square Bottle Track is steep.

Yes, like I said steep!

The really steep stuff up Square Bottle Track is almost over.

The Dirt.
I walked 12 kilometres and climbed 702 metres on today's hard grade walk. The walking today was a good mix of closed 4wd tracks and walking tracks, interspersed with a couple of short off-piste sections. Apart from the mining history this walk would also be a good one for some wild swimming down in the Lerderderg River if the weather was cooperating. I used Glenn Tempest's notes out of his book Melbourne's Western Gorges as well as Meridian's Lerderderg & Werribee Gorge topo map. TyroneThomas has also featured this walk in some editions of his old books I think.

Relevant Posts.
East Walk, Lerderderg State Park, 2018.
Bears Head Circuit Walk, Lerderderg State Park, 2020.