299. Ben Major State Forest and Flora Reserve 10.6km

April 21, 2024

U3A Hike No 299

Have you tried to Google Ben Major? Maybe it was named for Major Mitchell but the early hits seem to be various TV identities, sportsmen and businessmen named Benjamin Major. Not a lot anyway about the area northeast of Beaufort to which 14 of us travelled and parked near the intersection of Granite Track and Ration Track.

A hundred metres of so of bush bashing took us to Cosmopolitan Track. It had been recently graded, probably to give better access to fire trucks during the recent summer fires in the area. No sign of those fires on our walk but glimpses of nearby hills towards Mt Cole showed blackened areas. A wallaby near the track allowed us to get close enough for photos before it limped away.

Light scrub surrounded our walk as we headed NW, along pleasantly named Grevillea Track then S around Ben Major Floral Reserve. Only one hill before morning tea but it was a good one!

Morning tea was at an intersection of the aptly named Big Hill Track. Indeed it did take us uphill before turning south along Charlton Track..

Fortunately reaching Vegemite Track inspired Leader Gordon to break out Vegemite sandwiches for everyone which charged our batteries. He assured us he’s not a man from Brussels. I suspect there will be more information later about Vegemite’s developer being from nearby Chute.

Vegemite Track didn’t dirty our boots much. It did take us to a couple more connecting tracks eventually back to the cars and lunch.

The walk was mostly gravel paths through light bushland and scrub with a couple of hills to test the cardiac function. Some wildlife, like kangaroo and wallaby, and springtime would produce enough flora to brighten it up. Good hike planning resulted in cloudy, cool but dry weather for the morning.

Good walk thanks Gordon!