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360. Mollonghip-Barkstead, Wombat State Forest, 13km, circuit

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 U3A Hike # 360 Hike Report By Leona Ryan One misty moisty morning when cloudy was the weather.... * 12 hardy hikers clad in beanies, gloves, toe socks, sturdy boots, various woolly layers, coats and scarves set off on icy roads from Kirks Reservoir to Mollongghip. Once arrived we parked behind a farmlet and managed to stand still long enough for a short briefing before setting off up a foggy, treed track. (There was every chance we could be convincingly lost in that fog)  Ably led by Kim Radenic, we headed in a clockwise direction around what became a 13km loop. (figures accurate at the time of writing)  Along the way Andrew filled us in on the remains of the logging tramway, initially, horse drawn and later purpose built locomotives and used to transport logs to Anderson's Sawmill in Barkstead.  The recent rains had encouraged the growth of various coloured fungi, lots of moss and tree trunks festooned with lichen. After negotiating soggy bush tracks, sections...
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359. Henderson Spring - Boots Gully - Charlesford Mine 11km

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 U3A Hike # 359 Hike Report By Chris Charleson Eleven hikers congregated at Henderson Spring for a walk featuring lots of U turns and dry creek beds and dams, ridges to clamber up and some amazing water race constructions. Our hike introductions were interrupted by complaints from the locals - a small herd of cattle hoping that we carried fodder. Henderson Spring has a plaque remembering Gordon Henderson who “stoned” or lined the spring for easier access in 1925. He was later to meet his demise on the Thai- Burma railway. Here we walked part of the way along the water race cut into a steep ravine. Soon we came to our first quarry cut into the ordovician rock which was laid when the region was a sea floor. The rocks have been compressed into a series of ridges which were quarried for their slates and shales back in the day. We visited the site of the Charlesford mine which operated up until the 1950’s near Dead Horse Gully. The  extensive scarring of the landscape by high pres...
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