Ropers Lookout Walk, Alpine National Park - March 2021

It was a slow walk back to the ute tonight.

In late March Sam and I decided to head up to Falls Creek for a weekend away. After our overnight Covid evacuation from Canberra at Christmas we'd been a little reluctant to book any accommodation in advance up until now. Chewing on a few brave pills I pulled out the credit card again and booked a couple of nights at the QT in Falls Creek, and thankfully we made it up here without having to negotiate any Covid lockdowns. After checking in and grabbing a bite to eat we decided to head out to do the nearby Ropers Lookout Walk for sunset. 

This short walk shares the Hotham to Falls Carpark.

After crossing the Rocky Valley Dam Wall we pulled up at the car park on the other side of the dam wall and set off into the late afternoon chill towards Ropers Lookout. This track shares a trail head with the Heathy Spur Track which is also the route of the Falls to Hotham Alpine Crossing, however the different tracks diverge almost immediately. Our route headed north along an old aqueduct initially so it was a pretty easy start to the walk as we ambled along taking in the view back towards Rocky Valley and across towards Falls Creek.

The walk starts off pretty easily...

... with some long range views.

There are a lot of these old aqueducts up here on the High Plains.

It was reasonably chilly up here this afternoon so it wasn't a really much of a hardship when we left the open country around the aqueduct and started climbing up through low alpine heath, the alpine scrub giving us some protection from the chilly wind and the climb warming us up a bit. This is really a tourist walk so the climb was never really too tough and the track had a lot of dry stone action going on. After fifteen minutes or so of solid climbing the track broke out into a beautiful snow plain and the climbing was more or less finished. These snow plains are what makes walking up here so enjoyable in my opinion so it was nice to be able see one with Sam with me - she gets to hear all my boring stories from my alpine walks but rarely gets to see the best of the alpine country that I walk through.

After leaving the aqueduct the track climbed through some Snowgum re-growth...

... before meandering around some small snow plains.

Looking towards Rocky Valley dam the weather was looking a little ominous.

Things were looking a little better in the Mt Beauty direction.

The weather was now starting to look fairly ominous as we made way out onto the rocky outcrop that is Ropers Lookout. There was no rain forecast today however the clouds certainly looked fairly threatening as they came towards us across Rocky Valley Dam. The thing up here today was that there was so many prescribed burns going on at the moment up in the hills it was sometimes a little hard picking the clouds from the smoke, especially as the sun set and things started to get fairly dark. Not being too sure about the weather we didn't linger too long up on the lookout tonight, after getting a photo looking down to our hotel back in Falls Creek we headed off back down towards the ute.

Looking down on Falls Creek from Ropers Lookout.

Ropers Lookout.

Rocky Valley Dam from Ropers Lookout.

The walk back to the ute was in an interesting light.

Looking across Falls Creek to the west the setting sun was trying to put on a show.

While our walk back was beneath a brooding sky it also provided the best photos I think. The setting sun occasionally basking through the fast moving low cloud. With a soft bed waiting back at Falls Creek we didn't linger too long on our descent, my day had started at 4am this morning and had included a thirty kilometre bike ride, four hours at work, a five and a half hour drive into the mountains and now a four kilometre walk... yes, I'm getting too old for this stuff!

There is a fair bit of rubber matting and dry stone work on this stroll.

We are about to re-join the aqueduct. 

Ropers Lookout Walk. Alpine National Park.

The Alpine National Park.

I'm slowly shuffling my way back.

Sam was keen to beat the weather back to the ute.

The Dirt.

According to my GPS we walked around 4.3 kilometres and climbed around 112 metres on this easy stroll. This walk would be a good one for people who are staying at Falls Creek and are looking to stretch their legs a bit I'm thinking, the track is well built and pretty easy so it should be within most peoples abilities - if anything did get too hard then it is easy enough to turn around and head back to the car park. Also I'd recommend sunset as a good time to do this walk although make sure you take a torch incase you get caught on the mountain in the dark. This walk has been written up in Craig Sheather's book Best Walks of Victoria's High Country and is also mentioned in Glen Van Der Knijff's book Victoria's Bogong High Plains, also I'm thinking that Mr Thomas may have written this walk up at some stage too. I carried Rooftop's Bright - Dartmouth Adventure Map (although I only used my GPS topos on the walk).

Relevant Posts.

Heritage Huts Circuit Walk, Alpine National Park, 2021.

Pretty Valley~Mt Jim Circuit Walk, Alpine National Park, 2021.

Mother Nature turned it on a bit tonight.

Ropers Lookout Walk.

This photo doesn't really to justice to just how dark it was when we got back.