Gilbert's Gully Track, Marysville State Forest - June 2022

Gilbert's Gully Track. The bush here's slowly returning to its pre Black Saturday best.

The Gilbert's Gully Walk popped onto my radar when I was browsing through walks around Marysville on AllTraills. I was looking for a short walk that I hadn't actually done before, which cut down my options a little bit in this area. Spotting an icon on the outskirts of town I clicked on it and up popped the Gilbert's Gully Walk, and at under 3 kilometres it seemed about the right length, and in even better news according to the reviews the track was actually open. Arriving at the low key trail head on Barton Avenue I parked the ute on the grass outside a church and set off to see what I could see.

Look for the trail heading into the bush on the side of the quiet Barton Avenue.

Sections of this walk were pretty slippery. 

Initially the track walked a narrow section of bush between Aubrey Cuzons Drive and Marysville Road which was a little underwhelming, although after a couple of minutes the roads started to diverge and I found myself walking through a mostly peaceful bushland setting. When Gilbert's Track split I took the left (southern most branch) and started a mostly contouring walk to eventually cross Wilks Creek on a substantial bridge. After crossing Wilks Creek my route slowly arced around and I started heading back towards the ute. The red clay base of the track along here was incredibly slippery today as we'd had a fair bit or rain lately, and as I'd left my trekking poles in the ute I had to be a little cautious along here. 

I was able to get some glimpse through the trees towards the surrounding mountains. 

My first crossing of Wilks Creek on Gilbert's Gully Track. 

I was able to do a bit of foraging on this stroll - afternoon smoko was sorted now!

Gilbert's Gully Track.

With the track dropping a little, it suddenly almost doubled back on itself and I found myself somewhat unexpectedly walking a very nice ferny boardwalk section. This boardwalk and the second crossing of Wilks Creek a few minutes later were probably the highlight of this little stroll, and I'm thinking that most children would enjoy the boardwalk and bridge. Once back on the eastern side of the creek my track soon climbed a little to re-join my outward route. Now back on the familiar track it was only 5 minutes before I arrived back at the ute and set off for home.

Gilbert's Gully Track dropped down this hill and swung back towards town.

There was a nice boardwalk section along here.

Crossing Wilks Creek again.

I'm about to re-join my outward route.

The Dirt.

According to my GPS I walked around 2.4 kilometres and climbed about 49 metres on this easy stroll.  Once again this isn't walk that I'd travel too far do, however if anybody out there finds themselves in the area then it's worth considering. The bush is still recovering from the Black Saturday Fires however it's getting better every year, and I'm thinking now that a lot of people may not even realise the extent of the bushfires back then. One thing to consider on this walk is that the hard red clay surface can be very slippery when it is wet. As far as I know no one has published notes for this walk either online or in print. I used my AllTrails App and my GPS topos on this stroll.

Relevant Posts.

Taggerty River Circuit, Marysville State Forest, 2022.

 

Walking the last few metres of the stroll - Marysville Road is up to the right.

Time to head home.