TR: Walhalla and surrounding area APRIL 2014

Discussion on what, where & how to get there ...
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TR: Walhalla and surrounding area APRIL 2014

Post by El_Freddo » Mon Apr 14, 2014 4:10 pm

All was going well with the maintenance on Ruby Scoo so this trip was on. I also needed it! Packing Friday after work saw me leaving Shepp at 8:45pm and arriving at the campground in Walhalla at 1:30am.
I was very glad to see that Venom was here too, I thought he had bailed. After an ok night of sleep, once interrupted by a bunch of drunk rednecks being a pack of, well, you can come up with your own word for that one... We decided we'd have breakfast in town and got an awesome bacon and egg muffin with a white chocolate mocha.

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We got the group together and headed off. First place to go was our favourite and really the only places we knew – Coopers Creek:

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Bruntons Bridge:

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Post by El_Freddo » Mon Apr 14, 2014 4:11 pm

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From here we decided to head East to then head North as we didn't really want to back track. Once back in the bush from Seaton we hit up a stretch of “commuter tracks” - old logging tracks where AWD/4wd really is a good bit of fun. Lined up on Williamson Spur Rd to discuss where to go from here:

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Along the way I found this tree in the middle of the burnt out area, to me it looks like it's in shock with what it sees around it:

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From Williamson Spur Tk we headed north onto Army Tk:

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When we dropped into this area via Army Tk we thought we might be in a spot of bother as this track was pretty steep and the weather was still very light rain on and off.

Once at the bottom of Army Tk we decided to hit up Morning Star track – this track started climbing again up the other side of the valley:

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There was a bit of winching involved with my mate's Pajero. I think we had a go at it about 3 times on a very slippery slope. Venom and I got up without an issue. Once the Paj was up Nachaluva was sceptical that he'd make it up – but with his new found “rally style” he had nothing to be worried about. I wish I had my camera for all of this. I also broke a thong while carrying the cable up the hill for the Paj...

From here we hit up the commuter track again to look for a camp site. This was McEvoys Tk where we tried out the Mt Useful 1434 tower and hut site. You beaut, no one here, there's an industrial portable hut with a car port and the communications tower behind it. Once out of the vehicles it became apparent that this was not a suitable site overnight due to the noise of the portable generator powering the tower!

On we went until we ended up hunting around for “Johnson's Hut” off S14 tk. This was all good but there was no hut to be found and some dodgy tracks going in too. Dodgy in the way that they were not “official graded” tracks of any type. We found a little clearing and setup camp.

Nachaluva and I took a ride in Ruby Scoo to find another nearby hut. It too was on a dodgy track but was already occupied by some young kids that were clearly into the country scene but still drank UDLs and the like.

We headed back to setup. This is what camp looked like:

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While out collecting wood I stumbled across the “Johnson Hut” - it was well hidden with all tracks to the hut concealed from the track we came in on.

Sunday we packed up and headed off to find more tracks like what we found late arvo yesterday. It certainly didn't disappoint! We headed west from our last camp site and were well north of Walhalla at this point. Our aim was an intriguing looking track called “Trig Tk” that has marked on the map that there's 12 switchbacks due to the steepness!

So we weaved our way in that direction:

Venom on O'Keefe Tk:

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Nachaluva coming down O'Keefe Tk:

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Post by El_Freddo » Mon Apr 14, 2014 4:12 pm

At the low point of O'Keefe Tk, small river crossing:

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I honestly can't remember where this switchback was!

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We then headed through Aberfeldy on our way to the next track, Dream Creek Tk:

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Once on CMF Tk at the intersection of Trig Tk we had a bite to eat while viewing what was to come:

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Before we heaed off we saw Adrian and Lucy off in their Paj from here. It was great to have an old school mate along for the ride – and to see different 4wd in action. Adrian really wished he'd found the time to fit his muddies! Thanks for coming mate!

We then jumped into Trig Tk!

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You can see the other side of Trig Tk in the background on the other side of the valley above.

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Looking down at Venom:

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Post by El_Freddo » Mon Apr 14, 2014 4:12 pm

Nachaluva's foz looking mean at the top of the switchback on Trig Tk:

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Going down:

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Switchback fun:

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Nachaluva has some great shots of Venom and Ruby Scoo heading down the hill at this point!

Nachaluva headed down at the lower end of Trig Tk:

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I got this shot to have a dig at a mate who keeps telling me to get a real 4wd – he's just got himself a landrover 130 long wheel base ute; I'm yet to see it off road. I've also used it to “annoy” another mate who offroads his Range Rover – some of you might remember that vehicle from a trip to Mt Cole.

*Edit* I forgot to drop the image in here, there's eight in this post already so it's below the trip report or you can see that same posting here.

Once back at the bottom of the Valley we headed off to see Venom's end to the trip. The section of Trig Tk above CMF Tk was a good climb too!

Nachaluva and I headed back down the hill to camp where we left his car – it seemed we were racing a group of 4wd's that were coming down the switchbacks. We don't know what they thought about seeing a forester at the camp site but they weren't sticking around for a chat anyway. So we setup and got the fire going, with a little bit of drizzle around at times we knocked this up:

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The next morning this was bliss:

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Post by El_Freddo » Mon Apr 14, 2014 4:13 pm

Once we were packed up we climbed out of the valley to the “main road” - Walhalla Rd where we then hit up Beardmores Tk. This track followed a spurline down the front of the Thompson dam:

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Then to the river where we had a lot of fun messing around in the river crossing:

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I love the lighting and the detail in this image:

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It was now time to head into Rawson for fuel – only to find they didn't have any as their delievery hadn't come through! So off to Tyers we headed, it was about 20 kms down the road and made more sense than heading all the way into Moe.

From Tyres we headed back along some rough old logging tracks to the Old Coach Rd that took us to Bruntons Bridge. We had a quick bite to eat and headed to Coopers Creek crossing where some kids that were camping there took great delight in watching the two vehicles cross the river. Since we'd already crossed it we didn't bother stopping to check it.

From here we took some tracks that we'd only just noticed on the map – they turned out to be a bit of fun with some good climbs in between – there was a 1km long climb to begin with :D

We then aimed for our intended camp ground on Fulton's Creek Tk. We took Dry Gully Tk that ironically followed a spur for most of the time we were on it. Once it started to drop into a valley we were stoked with the terrain! We ended up back at the river to have another look around and a play:

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Post by El_Freddo » Mon Apr 14, 2014 4:14 pm

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We decided that none of the campsites on the river suited our requirements so we headed back up the spur to a bogan camp we passed earlier. And we setup:

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Unfortunately we saw too much rubbish on this trip – empty cans discarded out the window of moving vehicles halfway up tracks, water bottles everywhere and some of the camp sites where people had burnt logs and thrown deck chairs, aerosol cans etc into the fire only then to leave the remains. This camp had plenty of aluminium cans, buried rubbish, broken glass and markings in the bark of the surrounding trees. It's very disappointing to see in this day and age!

Tuesday we decided to follow the full length of Fulton's Creek Tk that we camped on – we were only just below the start of the track. It was interesting to follow as at times it used sections of other tracks to get back onto the next section of Fulton's Creek Tk. Some of the highlights were steep climbs and descents as well as the creek crossing, this one inparticular was a highlight for me – beautiful rock wall and a crossing that required you to head upstream a little bit:

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Post by El_Freddo » Mon Apr 14, 2014 4:14 pm

The next crossing needed a bit of track building on one side, then Nachaluva decided to follow the proper crossing track:

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^ Here Nachaluva really needed a bit more speed as his tyres were fighting for grip as the car started to float at one point, but he got the required grip to keep moving forward and got out without issue. He did have a wet engine though!

I took a different line with Ruby Scoo in the second part of the crossing as I didn't trust Ruby to stay grounded and I didn't want to end up getting the ECU wet if things went wrong in that section of the river in the last pic!

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We continued along until we ended up back on Williamson Spur Tk. So we dropped in on Army Tk that we did the other day back down to Donnelly Creek Tk. Since the hut at the bottom of Army Tk (northern end) was now vacant we checked it out... but failed to take the camera!

Following along Donnelly Creek Tk I developed a knocking noise with a distinct clunking through the steering system. After two checks we discovered that my wheel nuts on the front left were barely on anymore. I don't know how this happened so quick without any noise with any of the ascents or descents we had done earlier. All of my wheel nuts were tightened!

We checked out O'Toole's Flat – a large open and well groomed campground. We then decided that Flats Tk was the go to get us to where we wanted to be. It was a bloody rough track with mutiple options in several sections. Ruby Scoo certainly worked hard to get to the top – where I found that the track became well graded and did a hair pin turn to head down hill, while it continued up in the direction I was travelling! Ruby Scoo at the top:

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The problem here was that Nachaluva couldn't make it up, so I headed down on foot to help guide him, then it was decided that the winch was needed (turfor). I headed back down in Ruby Scoo, parked up, go the gear together then headed down on foot to Nachaluva. It must have seemed like an eternity to him while waiting for me!

We ended up getting Nachaluva off the track without the use of the winch, there were some hairy angles his foz saw in the process which he didn't really enjoy, but we got him down safely. Both vehicles headed back down to find the new “official” start of the track, only to eventually end up passing where Ruby Scoo was parked in the above pic.

We travelled some good tracks from here, checked out Merringtons Flat Campground and ended the 4wd'n part of the trip via Sullivans Tk. We aired up and hightailed it to Walhalla via Walhalla Rd – we passed the start of Fulton's Creek Tk where I had a bit of a chuckle as we looked DOWN this track a few years back thinking “that's epic” only now to have done it up and down in that section!

Once in Walhalla we pulled up as I was keen for a White Chocolate Mocha. I ordered two white mochas (with a different girl to Saturday morning), Nachaluva and I were stoked when we got them. The first sip was awesome until the brain kicked in and said this isn't white chococlate! Anyway it was a good coffee none the less.

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We travelled home along the freeway together talking on the radio – I enjoyed that part of the trip, it was a good end instead of travelling all the way home on my own.

Thanks to Venom, Nachaluva, Adrian and Lucy for coming on this trip. I'm looking forward to our return to this place as we now know where to go! There will be “requirements” for this trip so that everyone has a chance and it's an enjoyable experience :twisted:

Cheers

Bennie
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Post by rubisubi » Mon Apr 14, 2014 4:25 pm

Awesome.

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Post by El_Freddo » Mon Apr 14, 2014 4:58 pm

One of the missing images - the one that I've used to annoy a mate with:

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;)

Cheers

Bennie

PS - Track list to come later (Looking at you Yarney!)
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Post by yarney » Mon Apr 14, 2014 6:16 pm

El_Freddo wrote: PS - Track list to come later (Looking at you Yarney!)
With a big smile on my face you never know^ ;)
Love the report Bennie and great pics i wish i was there well done

PS Some of those tracks are the ones i had picked out on the first trip down there:)

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Post by El_Freddo » Mon Apr 14, 2014 7:36 pm

Ok tracks:

Old Coach Rd - headed out of Walhalla it really only takes you to Brunton's Bridge which is a great sight to see, but other than that there's not a lot that's obvious as you continue away from Walhalla.

Cooper's Creek Crossing - another good river crossing that's a bit of fun. A number of historical sites in this area and a camp ground. Again, good if you're headed into Walhalla from the East.

The "good" tracks - challenging for the right setup, impassable for a stocker:

- Army Tk

- Morning Star Tk

- S16 Tk

- Mt Selma - the little bit we did between S16 and McGuire was good

- McGuire Tk East of Mt Selma Tk

- O'Keefe Tk

- Dream Ck Tk

- North East Tk - South West side of Dream Ck Tk

- Trig Tk - EPIC on either side of the valley. Seasonally closed from June to November

- Mormon Town Tk, just after the bridge on the left (headed into Walhalla) near the railway station

- Dry Gully Tk (off Binns Tk)

- Fulton's Creek Track - pretty epic over all. A good long track with much of the same sort of challenges that doesn't become boring IMO.

- Flats Tk - the closed bit is epic and a step up on Trig Tk, it's not marked as closed! Even then the open graded section is still really challenging above Trig Tk spec in sections

- Williamson Tk - commuter to a degree, depending on which way you go as it seems there are two different ways to go with the same name. Epic scenery!

- Sullivan's Tk

- Beardmores Tk - another good one for descending or climbing. Thompson River crossing at the bottom below the dam is always good fun!

It doesn't sound like much, but packing all of that into 4 days was awesome. I'd like to run the full length of these tracks to know what it's like from one end to the other ;)

Cheers

Bennie
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Post by Tigger » Tue Apr 15, 2014 7:08 am

Wow! What a great trip report and what a beautiful piece of the world for you to enjoy :)

There are some really awesome photos there and it's great to see that you had such a good time :)
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Post by El_Freddo » Wed Apr 16, 2014 12:54 am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JliYxHH7MYI

Fulton's Creek Tk - the video doesn't show how steep it really is, but you get the idea from the noise of the EJ22 at work :twisted:

Cheers

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Post by pezimm » Mon Apr 21, 2014 10:30 am

Absolutely amazing! Looking forward to the next outing there so I can come along!

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Post by El_Freddo » Tue Apr 22, 2014 7:49 pm

Tigger wrote:Wow! What a great trip report and what a beautiful piece of the world for you to enjoy :)

There are some really awesome photos there and it's great to see that you had such a good time :)
Thanks Tigger! You should look up the previous ones you've missed out on :rolleyes:
pezimm wrote:Absolutely amazing! Looking forward to the next outing there so I can come along!
There will be another one mate! Hope you've got a good trans cooler, you'll need it!!!

Cheers

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Post by NachaLuva » Wed Apr 23, 2014 1:40 pm

The switchbacks on Trig Track:
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Subaru Forester on the Switchbacks, Trig Track 02 - YouTube

Look for the falling rock at the 2min mark:

Subaru Forester on Trig Track 04, Rock Misses Car - YouTube

Crossing the Thompson River:
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Campsite next to a fallen tree (this area was devastated during the 2009 bushfires)
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Fultons Creek Track was very steep with a loose gravelly surface & ruts, plus some awesome water crossings :biggrin:

Subaru Forester in Fultons Creek Crossing 02 - YouTube

Subaru Forester on Fultons Creek Track 05 - YouTube

Flats Track pushed both me & the Foz to the limits. Here the track runs out lol:

Subaru Forester on Flats Track 01 - YouTube
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Post by Proton mouse » Wed Apr 23, 2014 8:43 pm

Well done boys!! Fantastic write up, pics and vids...I thoroughly enjoyed!!!
Its a shame the area has been all but annihilated by fire, but good to see it making a recovery though :)
Benny, in your 1st vid @5m.30s was that you off camera flailing away at a pesky Lyrebird with a light sabre? :rolleyes:

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Post by NachaLuva » Thu Apr 24, 2014 12:13 pm

Proton mouse wrote:Well done boys!! Fantastic write up, pics and vids...I thoroughly enjoyed!!!
Its a shame the area has been all but annihilated by fire, but good to see it making a recovery though :)
Benny, in your 1st vid @5m.30s was that you off camera flailing away at a pesky Lyrebird with a light sabre? :rolleyes:
In some areas the recovery was very slow, the trees are recovering but the ground was mostly bare. Not good for erosion.

I think the lyrebird count was 3, incl one in Walhalla itself! Cant see the one you're referring to at 5min30 though. We also had many micro bats at 2 of our campsites, though not much other wildlife
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Post by subaruby » Thu Apr 24, 2014 1:21 pm

Another great trip report and photos.
Location and conditions looked fantastic, a bit of light rain to keep the dust down.

Nachaluva your forester is looking very tough.
There was a bit of winching involved with my mate's Pajero
was it just the slipperiness that stopped the Pajero and not the subies?

The problem here was that Nachaluva couldn't make it up
with the big muddies on what was the problem here?
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Post by Proton mouse » Thu Apr 24, 2014 1:22 pm

Its horrible to think how much wildlife would have perished in those devastating fires, just would have had no where to go :(
5 mins 30 was just an audio likeness of a star wars light sabre made by Bennie's brakes :)

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