319. Whipstick & Ridge Loops-Wombat State Forest 9km

 U3A Hike No 319




Hike Report By Chris Charleson

The day began with an early morning light show and storm towards our destination.

However we avoided the recent crazy weather conditions and a dozen of us were able to enjoy the valleys and ridges on either side of the Garden of St Erth in pleasant conditions.

An early section of the walk took us up a hillside with masses of flowering hakeas. Wattles, bush peas and heath also captured our attention.

The second loop took us further along the Whipstick Creek. Tall messmates and tree ferns provided a canopy as we were accompanied by lots of birdsong along the valleys.

Old water races, many originally constructed by Pauline Bonford, a French  contractor, made the trail easy to navigate. We made use of several older bridges across the creek as well as a new one recently installed by Parks Victoria to facilitate the re-opening of this section of the track.

Following our walk- on the happy side of 10k- we enjoyed a lunch at the picnic area.

Terry was found to be hosting a hitch hiker on the way home but we dealt with it quickly with hand sanitiser.


Photos By Andrew Parker






































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Comments

  1. Anonymous8 September 2024 at 15:14

    from Mark - I also picked up a 'hitch-hiker'. Only realised that after getting back home

    ReplyDelete

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