Taggerty River Circuit, Marysville State Forest - June 2022

Conditions were a little grey and underwhelming this afternoon.

Marysville is a spot that I used to visit ever year or so to go walking and maybe stay the night, however since the Black Saturday bush fires ripped through both the town and the bush I haven't been up here very often as I found it to depressing. Looking for a short walk fairly close to Melbourne after finishing work today I found myself checking out walks around Marysville again (well, it's fairly close by my standards!) Initially I looked at Phantom and Keppel Falls however judging by the comments on Alltrails it appeared that Lady Talbot Drive is still closed with storm damage. Looking for plan B I settled on the Red Hill Area in the Marysville State Park. 

Leaving Marysville...

... I crossed the Stevenson River near the caravan park.

Leaving the ute at Gallipolli Park I grabbed my pack and set off on what I've called the Taggerty River Circuit. In reality this walk would follow a series of different tracks as I was making things up a bit on the run. Leaving Marysville I crossed the Stevenson River near the caravan park and climbed into the bush. Instead of climbing Red Hill though I started a bit of a circumnavigation as I climbed a good track around the western slopes of the hill before meeting Red Hill Track on a north running spur. Red Hill Track is a 4wd track and it provided the dodgiest walking of the day as I dropped down the red clay track, walking down this track was like walking on ice and there would be little chance that I would of made it down without going arse over without my trekking poles. 

After crossing the Buxton - Marysville Road I picked up the signposted walking track.

I swung left down the Red Hill Track when I met it on a spur. This is the best spot to get a view across to the Cathedral Ranges. 

Dropping down the incredibly slippery Red Hill Track. Trekking poles and walking on the wet grass  was the go down here. 

Once I was safely down Red Hill Track I turned right down Dickson's Track, this section of the walk had native bush on one side of the 4wd track and the rural Taggerty River Flats on the other side. After passing by a water treatment plant I left the rural land behind and entered bushland again, and a few minutes later I arrived at the signposted turn off for the Taggertty River Lookout. The small lookout was only a five minute side trip and it did allow for a reasonable view of the cascading river, although the thick bushfire regrowth meant that getting a good look at the river was pretty tough away from the lookout. 

Down on the Taggerty River Flats.

 

Most of the higher mountains were cloaked in cloud this afternoon. 

Dickson's Track made for easy walking. 

I took the well signposted walking track out to check out the Taggerty River Lookout. 

The Taggerty River Lookout. 

The thick bushfire regrowth makes accessing the river banks a bit of a mission along here. 

Leaving the Taggerty River I followed Michaeldene Track back towards town, the walking track climbed fairly easily as it passed around the southern slopes of Red Hill. Michaeldene Track was arguably the best walking of the day, although to be honest the bush is still pretty scrappy as it struggles to recover from the fires. After half an hour or so Michaeldene Track suddenly emerged from the scrub and I found myself on the Marysville - Woods Point Road on the outskirts of town and the walk was as good as over. Walking down the road (there is a shoulder on the left) I soon arrived back down at Gallipoli Park, crossed the Stevenson River again and arrived back at the ute.

There was no shortage of signposting in some spots along the walk - I just had little idea on what a lot of them were trying to tell me!

Michaeldene Track has been around for a long time...

... and I thought it made for the best section on this afternoons stroll. 

Reaching the Marysville - Woods Point Road I swung right and dropped down the hill back into town.

The road walk was short however I still found a few things to keep me interested.

The Dirt.

According to my GPS I walked around 6.8 kilometres and climbed about 157 metres on this easy walk. While this walk was easy keep in mind that the red clay surface on some of the tracks (particularly Red Hill Track) can be very slippery after some prolonged wet weather... like say, in winter! Trekking poles were extremely useful this afternoon. While the town of Marysville has been rebuilt and has more or less returned to it's pre bushfire vibe the bush around town is still recovering, while it's getting better it can still be like walking through a wall of green regrowth sometimes. Numerous bushwalking authors have written up versions of this stroll, I used my Alltrails App and my GPS topos this afternoon.

Relevant Posts. 

Steavenson Falls Walk, 2018.

Back down at the Stevenson River at Gallipoli Park.

Rugged up in Victoria's mountains in winter - it seems only yesterday I was sweating my way around the tropical north.

Gallipoli Park wildlife.

Time to climb in and warm up a bit.