King Valley to Mt Buller via Craig’s Hut Queens birthday weekend

We have been waiting so long to get away again due to the Covid19 and when was the Government going to let us hit the tracks and open the National and State Parks. As soon as we got the notice we could go, two trips were organised one to the High Country and one to the Little Desert.
I took the trip over to the High Country leaving on the Friday night heading for Edi Rest area for our first night, we stopped at Glenrowan BP for fuel and as they didn’t have Alpine diesel we had to put a Winter additive into our fuel to stop diesel freeze on those freezing cold mornings. We had 7 vehicles all up 5 travelled up Friday night and 2 came up Saturday morning.

Saturday

As we woke to a frosted morning we got the fire going and got a hot coffee into us to warm up, we managed to pack up and get away at 9.00am. Leaving Edi Rest area we turned right onto the Edi-Chestnut rd going past all the farms with their dams frozen over with ice we went through Edi Upper then onto Black Range Creek track, a left onto Lake Buffalo-Whitfield rd then about 1.7 km we turned right up Porters track. Porters track has a gate across the track, as you are able to go through we closed the gate behind us and headed up through travelling through Private Property and taking it easy we came to another gate going through and closing the gate we got into the Black Range State Forest. We aired down as the track turned into clay and we engaged Low Range. The tracks winds around to Black Range track over looking the Valley down into Whitfield. We then got onto Smalls track which just took us out to Rose River rd, we turned right then in 800m we turned left onto the Paradise Falls rd to the Paradise Falls. This road is very well sign posted, we got there and it was fairly busy, we had a break and something to eat before we headed down for the 500m walk. The walk down was easy as it’s straight down, when we got down there I can see why it’s called Paradise Falls absolutely amazing with the rock formation that looks like a massive wave with two water falls coming off the top. We then had the walk back up, wasn’t that bad. So we jumped back into the vehicles and headed off down about 2.5km and turned right onto Wabonga track easy at first as we were in 2wd then the track becomes very slippery and into Low Range, the track starts to head down and we turned left onto Sandy Flat track which is Very Steep and slippery, not to bad going down would be fun to climb. We got to the bottom to the King river and the river crossing was deep and flowing fast so we gave that a miss and went down the track a bit to a lot shallower section. We all went across with ease getting some good photos. We were going to see Top Crossing Hut but we were told it was really busy and gave it a miss, so we headed the other way towards Lake William Hovel, nice easy drive around then we had lunch on the banks of the Lake. After lunch we headed off again back around the Lake a bit then a right turn up Evans Creek track. It’s a great track to drive we came across a bog hole and I went through and slipped into the deep bit and got hung up and had to be Snatched out with a gentle pull I popped out and Tim also slipped in as well and he had to be Snatched out, as everyone else made it through. The track keeps on going around to Evans Hut where I was hoping to get a campsite, it was busy but we managed to get a spot a little further up, we got wood for the fire and lit the fire and had a really big fire as the weather got really cold that night.

Sunday
In the morning I slept in to about 8.00am as I’ve bought myself a new bunker stretcher bed it was that comfortable and dark inside, everyone else was up and had their breakfast and started to pack up. We headed off about 10.00am, just out of camp along Evans Creek track we had a very steep slippery section to get up, so with plenty of momentum we all made it easy. The track takes you around to Tomahawk Hut, with a quick stop and some photos we headed off to Carters rd and a sharp left up Carters rd we turned right up No3 track and a fair bit of traffic. It was the vehicles that were stock standard, road tyres, highway pressures in their tyres and not really ready for High Country tracks. They managed to pull over and let us through, then we started to get bits of snow and the track was really slushy, the view out towards Mansfield way was amazing. We got up to No3 Hut and we stopped for a while taking photos up in the snow. After a break we headed along No3 track to the Circuit rd, we tried to get down to Telephone Box Junction but they closed Mt Stirling, so we headed along the Circuit rd all the way around to Clear Hills track and up to Craig’s Hut. Up to the hut is an easy drive, when we got there the car park was full so we went back down to the camp spot and had lunch. Some of us walked up to the Hut for a look and more photos. Walking back down I spoke to the Rangers in the area about what tracks are open and closed and they said all tracks are open down to King Hut, so we got back to the vehicles and headed towards Monument track, as we got to a small hill climb we had a vehicle rollover and those stock standard vehicles trying to climb a hill which was completely not for them as we climbed it with no problems. It actually was mayhem just a huge traffic jam trying to get past each other. As we headed down Monument track it wasn’t to bad then we turned left down Circuit rd and then right down Speculation track into King Hut, we managed a spot right beside the Hut and on the river, everyone set up and I went to get firewood, I actually found a log already cut up so all I had to do was split the wood and throw it on the roof rack. When I got back the Fire was lit and we had a very cold night around the fire. The fire actually struggled to get going as it was that cold the wood was freezing in the stockpile. So most headed of to bed early to keep warm.

Monday
In the morning we woke to about -4 degrees and with a struggling fire still we had a quick breakfast and packed up, but as we started to start the vehicles we had two with diesel freeze, so we had to just wait until they started before we took off. It was about 9.30am so we headed along King Basin track going through the river crossings which were very shallow, we came out to King Basin rd and 5 headed for home back up to the Circuit rd to No3 track down Carters rd to the Mansfield rd. While Myself, Andrew and Steve went right down towards Pineapple Flat through the river and into the campground, there wasn’t really many camped in there, so we continued along Burnt Top track which is Low Range but easy then at Burnt Top Hill the track changes to Wild Horse Gap track, which is a really great 4wd track, plenty of great views and steep rocky climbs and as we drove through the sun glistening through the trees onto the tree ferns. We stopped at Rose River for a break then headed off along Wildhorse till we got out to Lake Cobbler rd we turned right hoping to get across the Dandongadale State Forest but we had track closures at William Logging track so we turned around to a campsite along Lake Cobbler track and had lunch then decide what to do next. We looked over the map to see where to go over a beer then we decided to stay there for the night on the Dandongadale river as there was wood already cut for us. So we had an afternoon around the fire and set up camp having plenty of time to cook our lamb shanks in the camp ovens we had a sensational dinner. Heading of to bed about 10.30pm.

Tuesday
We woke to about -2 degrees we had a nice fire going so we cooked up omelettes with the rest of the food we had, and Steve slept in this time we had packed up ready to go and Steve had to pack up quickly and we got going. We traveled back along Lake Cobbler rd past Bennies Campground which was still closed and we were going up Basin track to look at Ryans Hut on Wabonga track but it wasn’t even there anymore, so we kept on going along Rose River rd, we aired up as we hit the asphalt and went through Chestnut and Whitfield, then Steve went on his own way to Mansfield to get supplies and Andrew and myself headed for home through Benalla.

Participants
Russell. 105 LandCruiser
Andrew. Triton
Dale H. 105 LandCruiser
Seb and Makayle Colorado
Tim Mc. BT-50
Brett and Doug. Hilux
Shannan C. 76 LandCruiser
Steve. Prado