Howqua and Jamieson Rivers - January 2022

 I got into my head that it would be fun to make a loop route out of walking along the river trails beside the Howqua and Jamieson Rivers in the high country using dirt roads to link the trail ends; the west-flowing rivers run parallel, roughly ten kms apart as the crow flies, on these stretches. This looked an irresistible four-sided shape on the map: four sides, four days. The forecast was for much heat.

January 8  I parked near Running Creek campsite and set out on the Howqua Feeder walking track. It soon climbed high above the Howqua River and stayed up there for a while with intermittent river views. I was hot almost from the start. Occasionally I had a view of forested mountains. I saw plenty of crimson rosellas and was startled to see a small brown snake on the trail. There was an awful lot of blackberry by the river but fortunately not on the trail. The trail was a mild roller coaster and came down to the river bank a few times. 

After crossing pretty Ware Creek I was at Tobacco Flat where I planned to camp. The campsite was at first disappointing, lots of litter and horse poo and virtually no grass, and vehicle marks suggested that camping by the river would put me in danger of being run over, so I settled on a patch by the creek where it made pleasant noises. I went around the site to clear some of the litter. I was initially alone then the campsite was visited by several groups of jeeps and trail bikes, and a group of utes came in to do doughies where I had thought it unwise to camp, but by the evening it became nice and peaceful, tall stringybarks and one 4WD. 11.8 kms

January 9  Mist was hanging over the river when I got up then within half an hour the sky was completely blue. I crossed back across the creek (ankle deep) and soon commenced steep climbing on a dirt road heading away from the Howqua in the direction of the Jamieson River. Today’s section of my route was one part I was uncertain about because I had picked dirt roads off the map that went where I wanted to go without knowing anything about them. They turned out to be quiet (2 vehicles only) and scenic. I went up 600 metres in under 4 kms, so reasonably steep, and with nice window views of mountains. Lots of rosellas. I came to the first junction and continued climbing but more gradually. I was just below the ridge line with great views first on my left and then on my right. 

Shortly after the next junction I came to an old slate quarry with the best mountain views yet and beyond there I walked a ridge with fab views both sides.

I figured I had to have a long steep descent to Mitchells Flat and in the last 2.5 kms I got it, very steep but not too loose and I almost didn’t fall over. I had lunch by Mitchells Creek in a grassy bowl beneath the mountains. Then I started on Mitchells Bridle Track and walked two kms of grassy wooded hillsides and crossed the Jamieson River, my focus for the second half of the route. I didn’t enjoy the river crossing - the pebbles hurt and it was fast moving water. I camped in a clearing above the river and spent a hot afternoon resting. 18 kms

January 10  I rejoined the bridle trail and went into light forest; soon I was high above the noisy river with good views of it and the mountains.

It was clearly going to be a really hot day and was already much hotter than yesterday (which had been forecast to be my hottest day). The trail wound in and out of gullies and there was plenty of blackberry near the tiny creeks. I came right back down to the river, noticing an old iron hut close by, and as I left the river bank I was looking around for the hut; I had my closest ever call with a snake, a big black one, when I felt something moving by my foot and then saw it. 

Then the trail was mostly high up and all I could see was forest in all directions with the occasional glimpse of river although I could usually hear it. The terrain was more open and grassy than where I walked above the Howqua. I saw another black snake and surprised a fat lizard. A section was beside the river but without access to the water due to vegetation.

The last part of the trail was well away from the river, up among the gum trees, and I was getting really overheated. I stopped for a coffee by a little creek and then slugged it out to Grannys Flat camping area on the river (with ducks). I need to cross the river here tomorrow and I had not been totally confident that the tracks leading to the river on each side met up so I was pleased to see a ford and a road on the far side. 18.6 kms

January 11  At 5am a thunderstorm started with a lot of lightning although the rain wasn’t heavy. The rain stopped conveniently around 8am and I waded the knee deep Jamieson to begin my return on dirt roads to the Howqua River. I was in for a difficult walk, a seemingly endless succession of really steep hills going ever skyward. Although hard it was a beautiful walk: I had plenty of views through the trees of mountains with mist hanging around them. 

I was dreading the descent because I hate going downhill on slippery loose dirt, and the descent was quite frustrating because after many steep sections I would again have to go up steeply so my efforts in going down felt wasted. But I didn’t fall. I did not see a single vehicle until I was down and I wasn’t surprised because I can’t imagine who would want to drive on such a road. It was very muggy, overcast and I was drenched in sweat. Most of the time I had views of the mountains as I was usually following a ridge line. The last part coming down was in regenerating forest with views towards cleared land. 

At the end I had a couple of kms on the road I had driven and I finished with a coffee by the Howqua at Running Creek campsite; it was packed. As I sat by the river 15 horse riders came past. 12 kms

I had expected this to be a moderately flat hike but I climbed over 2700 metres, only 400 metres less than on my recent hike where I ascended Eagle peaks and Mt Buller from the Howqua over a slightly bigger distance.