The Walk into History between Powelltown and Warburton was to be my final multi day hike for the year. About 50 kms with one monster hill. The highlight of the walk for me were the incredible and profuse tree ferns. (The walk has this grand, or maybe silly, name because it follows the route of logging tramways from last century and there are bits of logging paraphernalia around the place.) What an eventful year it had been and I was glad I could tackle this walk with a healed ankle. Before going on this walk I had done a few shorter hikes, my venues chosen by the need to use up various credits and vouchers.
I walked the O’Keefe Rail Trail between Heathcote and Bendigo over two days, a logistical challenge since I wanted to stay overnight in Bendigo, and I ended up walking from Axedale to Bendigo then from Heathcote to Axedale, where I had left my car. It was very hot and a lot of the trail was quite exposed but some parts were pretty.
The highlight of the route was definitely the Campaspe River in Axedale:
I did a day walk from Ballarat to the top of Mount Buninyong and back to Buninyong town, completing the Goldfields Track. The backstreets and suburbia around Ballarat were nothing special but once I got onto the hillsides of Mt Buninyong the walk was very nice, through forest and all really green.
I almost forgot to climb the lookout tower; as I was leaving the picnic area at the summit where there is no view I suddenly decided to see if there was a viewpoint anywhere and I noticed the tower, which gave an excellent view towards Mt Arapiles.
I also returned to Mount Macedon to repeat the route that I ran there a couple of years ago. Luckily for me the trail up to the Memorial Cross had recently been cleared. I was surprised how cold it was up there, and then it was really hot when I returned into town.
So I was all set for the Walk into History. Denis took me to Powelltown because there isn’t any public transport there and it is hard to turn this walk into a loop. We had some difficulty finding the start of the walk but after a while we headed into the forest and located the trail. As soon as Denis left me the trail showed its true colours with short sharp descents to creeks and masses of downed trees and branches. The whole hike was an obstacle course and it was obvious there had been no trail maintenance this (covid) year. There were many creek crossings on log bridges.
It was very peaceful among the tall mountain ash and I didn’t see anyone until my break at the High Lead car park. There I saw a guy just starting out in the same direction as me and looking for the trailhead; initially neither of us could see it and he decided to bush bash until he found the trail while I walked twenty metres up the road and found it.
After an easy few kms I reached the base of the big hill, the High Lead Incline. This was a massive climb, an ascent of 420 metres over 1.5 kms. The trail was dead straight and headed into the sky. I would hate to do it in the other direction. There was no view at the top. Still in forest and with sections of boardwalk by a creek I came to the site of Ada #2 Mill, my campsite for the night. This was a little clearing with a couple of camping platforms. I’ve never used a platform before so this was a new experience and it meant, after my sloping nights on the Hume & Hovell, that I was assured of a flat night. I got there at 4pm and at 6pm I saw the guy from the car park arrive, turn around and leave; he didn’t see me. 18 kms.
The second day I walked to the Ada Tree, one of the biggest trees (mountain ash) in Victoria:
On the way I had to cross the Little Ada River where the stepping stones were under water, so I got wet feet, and I passed another cute campsite at the Federal Mill site. I met some hikers who were doing a day walk but had larger packs than mine. I sat for a while at the Ada Tree then completed the loop back to Federal Mill, then continued towards Starlings Gap. The tree ferns were wonderful all day long and I walked along a ridge for a long time with views of forested mountains. I crossed numerous creeks and negotiated dozens of obstacles. I didn’t see any animals (apart from many leeches) but I heard lots of noisy cockatoos, kookaburras and parrots.
It started raining as I reached Starlings Gap, a large grassy campsite. There were five other tents there. It was early but I didn’t feel like doing much in the rain once I had toured the logging memorabilia and I completely forgot to look for the sawdust heap marked on the map. 17 kms.
In the morning it was raining lightly and quite cold so I walked with all my clothes on. The path through the tree ferns was very damp and I was glad of my rain pants even though the rain soon stopped. I had a gentle downhill with plenty more fallen trees until I came to Big Pats Creek camping area. There was a huge, seemingly permanent, tent there with a lot of coughing coming from the inside and two male voices. I made a cup of coffee, removed an accumulation of leeches, and went on my way. I was soon on a minor road leading to Warburton (no view of Donna Buang due to low cloud) and came to the Yarra River; it is very narrow and full of rapids along here. I took a shortcut over a substantial hill and reached the outskirts of Warburton in sunshine, but five minutes after getting inside the cafe it started pouring. 18 kms.
