Mt Buangor Park Hike

Hike no 88

Hike Report by Dick Patterson

Nine walkers met at the Gillies Street Aquatic Centre for the second of the second and fourth Thursday walks led by Gordon. We had Gordon, Andrew, Peter, Robert, Dick, Ian, David (a visitor from Melbourne), Geoff and Frances. 

We drove to Beaufort independently and then in convoy to Richards campsite on the northeast side of Mt Cole where we left half the cars. We then set off along Ferntree Gully Road to the Middle Creek campsite on the western side of Mount Cole. 

After a brief introduction to all for David and a discussion about safety and the intended track we headed north from the campsite across the Waterfalls Road and into the bush that had suffered from a fire about twenty years ago.

The track is known as the Bukkertilbe track. This is the local word for ‘cave’ for the Beeripmo Balug tribe who were part of the Djab Wurrung.

The track heads through the granite boulders that have come to rest on the lower slopes of Mt Cole. We would soon see the cave created by their dislodgement.

The area is dominated by the enormous slabs of exposed granite that formed at considerable depths some 390 million years ago and cooled slowly to form the obvious crystals within the rock.

After about 30 minutes of the uphill track we left our packs for a side excursion to the cave. This formation would be better described as a shelter rather than as a cave as an enormous portion of the granite was dislodged, presumably by an earthquake. The overlying harder shell remained which provided the ceiling of the shelter.

The next section of the track had a marked incline that lifted the heart rate and improved the views. 

When we recovered a degree of composure we stopped for morning coffee on a slab of granite that provided brilliant views to the west and the wind turbine sculptures in the distance.

The hard work seemed to be behind us as we headed east on Cave Hill track and through some increasingly larger trees.

The area had been very heavily logged in the 1860s with up to 30 mills operating in the area. Much of the timber was used in the mining industry for steam engines and shoring up the mine shafts. The growing demand for sleepers meant that timber supplies were depleted by 1918 and the area was closed until 1947. Since then a more managed system of logging has been in place.

Our track continued on a walking track that was relatively lightly used and then on to the occasional road that led us to our lunch spot at Ditchfields Camping ground.

A welcome lunch was made more entertaining by David recounting his adventures through the very western parts of a highly regulated China that seems intent on controlling all aspects of the lives of the locals. From their they headed into Pakistan on the trail of a colleague of Morrison of Peking who had done this trip and written about it in the 1930s. An amazing trip.

After lunch we had time to appreciate the trees, Messmate, Manna gums and Blue gums, the wildflowers and a lizard variously described as a shingle back, stumpy tail and blue tongue. (It was a shingleback) Fortunately he had the temperament to allow close examination. He revealed all characteristics and indicated his interest of us by flashing his blue tongue but fortunately by not clenching his powerful jaws on the delicate fingers that must have looked tempting.

We headed to Archies lookout and down a very heavily eroded and very steep track that has been created by other recreationalists turning logging tracks into some kind have macho roller coaster.

A gentle track then took us to our cars at Richards Campsite. We returned to the starting point and then to Beaufort for a well earned cup of coffee.

A fine day. We were blessed by the weather which was perfect for walking. Thanks to Gordon for putting this walk together.

Photo's by Andrew Parker

Photo's By Dick Patterson