Goin' Feral One Day At A Time: Andersons Peak & Mt McLeod Walk, Mt Buffalo National Park

I enjoyed lunch whilst taking in the view down towards the Ovens Valley from Mt McLeod.

Our sixth Covid Lockdown came to an end 8 hours before I set off on this stroll. Officially the government was saying that lockdown ended a couple of weeks ago, and indeed if I'd wanted to have ten people over to get on the beers then all was good, however I still wasn't legally allowed out of the city to go for walk on my own. When people look up Melbourne's Covid Lockdowns in the years to come they'll see we were locked up for somewhere around 280 days, however that figure isn't even close to the amount of time that people from Melbourne were not allowed to travel outside the city, I'm guessing a little however I'm thinking the amount of time that we've been under some kind of distance from home restrictions would be closer to 330 days (and that's not even thinking about interstate and overseas travel restrictions).

Now all this wasn't one persons fault, our hotel quarantine leaked like a sieve in 2020, Scumo had us at the back of the queue for vaccines in 2021, the South Aussies sent us a present from their hotel quarantine and then we had numerous incursions from the New South Wales outbreak all of which plunged us back into lockdowns. Yes, it is all a bit simplistic to blame one person for all our woes down here... but fuck it was hard! And to top it all off while the vast majority of people did the right thing in Melbourne it felt like we were hung out to dry over the journey by some ignorant minorities and populist pollies (yeah, I'm looking at you Hunt, Joshie and Scumo).

Having said all that I'm still thankful that compared to a lot of other countries that we have (so far) come through all this without too many deaths. On yeah, there is one last Covid related thing that I need to say - I really like to thank my various friends from far and wide (both the online and the flesh and blood varieties) who reached out to see how I was travelling over the last couple of years, a positive comment or just asking if I was going OK never failed to give my metal health a boost during out lockdowns. I'm sitting on quite a few little Covid walks that'll pop up on the blog eventually, however apart from those old posts I'm going to try a let Covid go now!

Anyway, it was a brisk -2˚ when I climbed away from the ute on my first day out of lockdown, the crisp and clear alpine air up here immediately clearing my somewhat foggy mind. The main aim of today's outing was to head north across the Mt Buffalo Plateau up to climb Mt McLeod, and maybe do a little exploring along the way. For most of this walk I was trudging along the Mt McLeod Fire Track so the going was pretty easy as I initially climbed a little to pass by the track out to Og, Gog and Magog before the fire track dropped fairly gently down to pass through a saddle near the headwaters of Buffalo Creek. Passing through the saddle I now puffed my way up hill towards North Buffalo Saddle and the turn-off for Andersons Peak - my first opportunity to explore a bit.

I got off to a fairly early start this morning - 8 hours after our latest lockdown came to an end.

4.5 hours later and I was up at Mt Buffalo and setting off.

The sun had just made its appearance when I set off this morning.

Nice walking on the Mt McLeod Fire Trail.

It was still pretty chilly when I wasn't in the sun.

I dropped down through this saddle before climbing to the Andersons Peak turn off.

I'd never really heard about Andersons Peak and until I noticed it on the map and it wasn't even on my radar for today's outing, however seeing it was less than a kilometre off the Mt McLeod Fire Track I figured that I may as well pop up and check things out...after all, how hard could it be? Well I'm thinking if there's anyone out there that's perused my blog before then they'll know where this is going... yep, it was a bitch. You see having done zero research I hadn't actually clocked the fact that there was actually no track to the top of Andersons Peak, although after climbing away from the Mt McLeod Fire Track for five minutes I was starting to have my suspicions. So that's how I found myself wading through scratchy waist high alpine scrub and climbing narrow mossy chutes between huge granite slabs - yes everything was good in my Feral world for the first time in months! Yes, this little climb (and descent) was a lot harder than I'd envisaged, although I have to say the views from the granite slabs on Andersons Peak, along with the boulders framed by the gnarly old Snow Gums were pretty sweet.

Andersons Peak turn off.

It didn't take long for the penny to drop - yep, there was no track.

Andersons Park boulders.

Mt McLeod still looks a long way away.

Scrambling up Andersons Peak.

There are some nice old Snow Gums up on Andersons Peak.

There was also some sections of scratchy chest high scrub...

... which makes you wonder why I'm almost smiling.

Andersons Peak.

Getting off Andersons Peak was really only marginally easier than the climb, so by the time I re-joined the Mt McLeod Fire Track I was well and truly warmed up on what was now a beautiful sunny spring morning. I now continued my journey north along what is a fairly undulating journey up towards Mt McLeod. For the most part there is little in the way of long range views along the Mt McLeod Fire Track although there are spots where it's possible to glimpse the surrounding peaks through the trees. A lot of the walking up here in the Mt Buffalo National Park features small snow plains interspersed with sections of alpine forest and that was what I was thinking that this track would be like, however in reality it was only when I made it out to the Mt McLeod Remote Camp that I was able to enjoy my first snow plain... and the long range views they allow. This bush camp would make a nice spot to spend the night I'm thinking, there is a good grassy flat area, a creek five minutes down the fire break to the south, and a long drop a few minutes up the track towards Mt McLeod.

I'm about rejoin the Mt McLead Fire Trail after my Andersons Park side trip - I wish all the off track stuff was as good as this photo makes it look.

Easy going again on the Mt McLeod Fire Trail.

Mt McLeod Fire Trail, Mt Buffalo National Park.

I got glimpses back through the trees to Andersons Peak a couple of times.

The Mt McLeod Remote Camp Site.

There is even a long drop out here - very civilised indeed!

After passing by the bush camp the real climb of Mt McLeod started. Almost immediately the fire track finished and I found myself climbing a nice walking pad as I made my way up to reach a north-south running spur that I would climb up to the summit of Mt McLeod. Once I'd shuffled my way up to reach the spur the walking track pretty well faded away and I suddenly found myself back climbing over and around the huge granite outcrops that this park is famous for. While there was no actual track up the last climb there were enough cairns around that progress was reasonably straight forward - well apart from the fact that I was pretty well shagged out by now and the going was fairly steep. By the time I reached the trig on top of the 1529 metre summit of Mt McLeod I was more than ready for a decent break... and what a place for smoko. The view from Mt McLeod not only looks back south over the Mt Buffalo Plateau in the direction from where I'd come but my rocky perch also provided a grandstand view down over the Ovens Valley to the north, Myrtleford easily visible over 1000 metes below me in the valley.

The fire track pretty well ends at the campsite - and the climbing begins.

The Mt McLeod trig has just come into view.

Here is a closer view.

The view north from Mt McLeod.

Looking south of the Mt Buffalo Plateau from Mt McLeod.

I was getting happier with life by the minute!

Mt Buffalo National Park from Mt McLeod.

It was early afternoon when I shouldered my pack and set off once again to retrace my steps back to the ute. After carefully negotiating the rocky descent I once again picked up the fire track and headed south, my progress slowed more than normal by numerous stops as every incline seemed to take it out of me. Soon after passing by the turn off for Andersons Peak the Mt McLeod Fire Track dropped down to cross a saddle where I picked up a sign posted short cut walking track. This walking track keeps east of the fire track and while only around 500 metres shorter than my outward route it ended up featuring a fair bit less climbing, and I was pretty happy about that. After crossing a couple of creeks the walking track eventually climbed to once again rejoin the fire track - although thankfully when I rejoined my outward route again I was pretty well within sight of the ute. A few minutes later I arrived back at the ute with virtually nothing left in the tank, after so long locked down it was nice to finally be able push myself a bit however I'm going to be suffering for awhile while I harden up a bit I think. Pulling off my sweaty boots I took the time to soak my tired feet in the beautiful Crystal Brook for a few minutes before setting off for my 5 hour drive home.

Dropping off Mt McLeod - there are a few cairns to follow along here.

More slab walking dropping off Mt McLeod.

After crossing the snow plain near the camp...

... I set off back along the Mt McLeod Fire Trail again.

You've got to take your long range views from the Mt McLeod Fire Track when you get them...because they are a little thin on the ground.

The Dirt.

According to my GPS I walked around 20.2 kilometres today and climbed about 915 metres on what I'd call a medium-hard grade days walking. This walk featured quite a bit of fairly easy fire track walking, interspersed a tough off track section and a final easy rocky scramble up to Mt McLeod. The off track climb of Andersons Peak should be avoided unless you are happy pushing through scratchy alpine scrub and negotiating steep granite slabs. The Mt McLeod part of the walk has been written up by various people both in print and online, the Andersons Peak side trip is un published as far as I know. I used SV Maps 1:30,000 Mt Buffalo sheet today along with an Alltrails map and my GPS topos.

Relevant Posts.

Mt Buffalo Circuit Walk, Mt Buffalo National Park, 2020.

Lake Catani Walk, Mt Buffalo National Park, 2020.