409. Ingliston Gorge - Falcon Lookout Werribee State Park 7.8 km

 U3A Hike No 409




Hike Report by Lyn Hooper


WOW is the word I would use to describe this hike.

WOW - The Weather - It was incredible for a winter's morning. As we headed down the highway towards Ballan, the sun was shining with lots of clear blue sky and for this time of the year not too chilly. ( What a difference a week makes!! )

WOW - The Hike - It consisted of two parts (3.8 km and 4 km respectively).
The first part was a visit to Falcon's Lookout. Leaving the cars at the Ironbark Gorge carpark we headed down the path into a shady gully concentrating on our foot placement as the track, rocks and logs were all wet and slippery. However needless to say there was constant chatter as Leona and Geoff had just returned from their trip and we were all eager to hear about their exploits. 

Then, as with most downhills there was an uphill. As we were nearing the ridge sunlight dappled through the trees. Just before the lookout we took a short side trip to enjoy the vista over farmland and heard a story about Gordon's previous rock climbing adventures in this area. 

A little further on we came to the lookout where a lone abseiler was preparing for a descent. The view from here was amazing, looking over the gorge in an easterly direction was The Island and the Western Highway where cars and trucks were in a mad dash. How lucky were we, standing on the edge of the world surrounded by nature on this beautiful winter's day? 

Unfortunately, no falcons were sighted soaring above us. We continued to the base of the rock climbing wall and set up for morning tea and this is where all the superlatives were heard from "this is the best ever morning tea spot" to "ooh ahh" to "this is truly amazing" to "wow". 

The skyline of Melbourne was easily seen around 55-60 kilometres away as the crow flies or should it be as the falcon flies?  Retracing our footprints we returned to the cars to proceed to Part 2 - Ingliston Gorge.

The second part of the hike involved a short car shuffle to Ingliston Gorge carpark. A gentle introduction walking down the gully was a nice respite but we soon were heading uphill to a lookout looking over the gorge and beyond to the relatively quiet windfarm. 

From here the dry track headed down, down, down towards the creek. Fortunately, the creek was dry and we were able to continue, crossing the creek many times before we had to head uphill again. 

A huge variety of fungi was noticed from tiny white, yellow or tan versions not much larger than a pinhead to the more common forms. There was even one with a beautiful golden colouring . It was also interesting to note that in several spots we were walking on a carpet of beautiful cream and even pink fallen eucalyptus flowers.

WOW- We all reached the cars (in one piece although a little puffed), we collected our breath, had a bite to eat then headed home. 

A huge thanks to Gordon, Mark and Andrew for a truly amazing (WOW) walk.

Photos by Andrew Parker
























LINKS

INTERACTIVE MAP

HIKE START POINTS FALCONS LOOKOUT INGLISTON GORGE

DOWNLOAD GPX FILE

THESE HIKES IN 2022






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

362. Lookout Hill Track, Mount Cole State Forest, 11.3km

Image
 U3A Hike No 362 Hike Report By Jan Herperger What a perfect day for a hike: brisk at the beginning and turning bright and sunny along the way. After carpooling our way to Richards Campground in the Mount Cole State Forest 16 rugged up  hikers set off along the Beeripmo walking track for a short way before turning right onto The Glut  Road. I think this road was thus named because of the Glut of hills along it. No, it was actually one  big uphill for 1 ½ km and really had our lungs working hard. There were several very welcome  stops to, ahem, “look at the views”. Fires had burnt through this area in February 2024 and so it was very heartening to see the bush  regenerating with gusto. The black trunks of the mighty eucalypts were covered with bright green or bluish new growth, bracken was growing thickly, tree ferns were abundant, and there were tiny  grevilleas and gums popping up all over the forest floor. The many different shades of green were...
Read more

287. Frith Gully - Mt Misery Loop. Enfield State Park

Image
 U3A Hike No 287 Hike Report by Colin Fraser Eight hikers assembled outside the Marty Busch Reserve in Sebastopol for an 11.5 km hike on the Frith Gully-Mt Misery Loop in the Enfield State Park. We travelled in two vehicles to the start of the walk at Bald Hill on Incolls Road, Enfield. The walk was graded as moderate, and described as continuously hilly. We walking paths and rough bush roads through isolated parts of the park. There were deep gullies with lush vegetation, high ridges with open scrub, and areas that still bear the scars of extensive surface mining in the 19th century. We followed Misery Creek Road south then the Misery Creek and Forest Park walking tracks to Surface Point Picnic Ground, where we had smoko. Before arriving at Surface Point we were accompanied overhead by the raucous alarm calls of a group of cockatoos warning of our intrusion into their forest. Coincidently this occurred just near Mt Cockatoo!! We shared the picnic table with a man who was camping t...
Read more

368. Vaughan Springs - Helge Track 11.8km

Image
 U3A Hike No 368 Hike Report by Deb Karmouche The sun, scenery and picnic stop made this walk perfect for this weeks assembly of  9 hikers . When we gathered at the start and commenced the walk the track was icy and beanies and gloves were needed, but we finished the day in sunhats and shirts. The walk started and finished at the beautiful picnic area of Vaughan Springs with mineral water that only Colin was game enough to sample. We followed the river which we crossed before climbing up into more forested areas and very early on we were all shedding clothes and donning sunglasses and hats   Forest tracks led us past several very deep mine shafts and then to the morning tea stop at the top of the hill surrounded by remnants of the Cornish chimney associated with the Tubal Cain Mine. The walk then looped back through forest roads and along a section of the water race. Along the way we passed structures associated with an old shale mine and an old fruit orchard with ...
Read more