U3A Ballarat Hikers

 U3A Hike No. 181 ARGYLE DAM Hike Report by Joan Despite the threat of the heavens opening up and “raining on our parade” along the Boden water races and Surface Hill, the Scrub Busters Six stepped up to meet the challenge! We arrived in very mild and sunny conditions at the Argyle Dam off Surface Hill Rd near the town of Smythesdale. This area is located in the Surface Hill Heritage Reserve and on into Ross Creek State Park. Gordon gathered us together to give a bit of background information about what we could expect to see on the day as well as mentioned any dangers such as deep mine shafts, dense undergrowth and uneven rocky/fallen trees terrain. Boden’s Water Race was a network of channels dug out by hand around 1860’s by the miners. This was usually done during the summer months to be ready for the autumn/winter rains when mining was resumed and water was needed for sluicing which was the main method of gold mining in this area. Thomas Boden headed this venture and was fortunate

 U3A Hike No. 180 Hike Report by Anne 12 hikers met for this walk in the Glen Park area west of White Swan Reservoir. Our 11.2 km walk started at the intersection of Codes Forest Rd and James Hill Rd, on a section of the Goldfields Track. It was a sunny, blue-sky day with a freshness in the air that was just perfect for walking. Andrew soon announced that we were at the watershed of the Great Dividing Range, with the Yarrowee/Barwon catchment to the south and the Loddon/Murray to the north. Amazing to think of the very different paths water might take from this location! We were following a circular route around to Dead Horse Gully and back – we smelt a dead roo at the start and passed a dead burnt out car along the way, but thankfully found no dead horses. We walked on tracks and dirt roads, occasionally crossing major roads, through attractive open forests and formerly mined areas. Mostly the walk was gently undulating with two short sections of steep, deeply rutted road. As the su

 U3A Hike No. 179 Hike Report by Martin It was a small group for our first non-core hike for 2022, we numbered seven, including our leaders Gordon and Andrew.  Our starting point was a small parking area at the intersection of White Swan and Glen Park Roads (south side). Once loaded up with our packs and provisions, and after our pre-hike briefing, we set off south along Glen Park Road for a short distance, then veering off to the right along a vehicle track which linked up with another track that took us west towards Frenchman’s Gully.   Along the way we noticed a number of historical water channels (races) that crisscrossed the area and was possibly used to supply water to the sluicing operations at Frenchman’s Gully.   The evidence of the impact of the sluicing could be easily seen on arrival at the gully of the Frenchman. Gordon had warned, as part of the pre-hike briefing, that this area was heavily favoured by “mountain bike” riders and as we continued south along the track,