Trip report ----
Departed Walhalla at 11 and headed up Happy go lucky rd and wound our way along Maiden Town Trk. Unable to find neither a single maiden nor a town we turned off onto Gladstone Trk which has some great views along the ridge line before dropping into a valley that lead us to a little creek crossing that had a 3 point turn to drop into. At this point Gladstone becomes Deep Creek No.2 Trk. WHOOHOO. Steep climb up on clay and shale. Nothing too difficult just real good fun with several switchbacks. The switchbacks make driving interesting when all you can see is sky above the bonnet and you have to negotiate them. Deep Creek No.2 runs into a T intersection with Deep Creek No.5 where we stopped for a breather, did some tyre kicking and let the dogs out for a pee and a run.
Deep Creek No.5 was sensational with a steep descent back into the valley and an even steeper climb back up the other side.
No.5 leads back onto the main drag - Binns rd - where we turned left and headed for Army Trk a short distance away. I was concerned about some dark clouds starting to gather and decided that the head of Army Trk should be a lunch stop to see if the weather would change - it didn't fortunately as these tracks would not be possible after even a short shower, let alone if we got stuck in a downpour.
Off down Army Trk and turned left down Fultons. Now both Jason and myself had heard that Fultons was a difficult track. Turned out that it was no worse than what we had already been up and down. Steep in parts but a dozer has been down there in the last 12 months and so there aren't any perilous ruts. Lots of low 1st and loud pedal getting up in parts and once again great views from the ridge - we could see the back side of Baw Baw with snow atop. It was interesting to note too the climatic change and the vegetation along this ridge with snow gums in places and grasses as opposed to the rocky scrub over in the Deep Creek area.
Getting late and many KM's to travel we looked to an escape route back to a main rd and decided on one last fun run to get there - Pheasant Creek Trk. Bloody cracker of a path to take. The DSE (or someone ) has taken to afixing little signs to the road signs to indicate the difficulty of the tracks. It was with a little trepidation that I noted that this Pheasant creek Trk had been marked as a black diamond. I called it over the radio and didn't get any response to the negative so off we went
. Steep and rocky descent all the way down to the Abberfeldy river. The track is once again in good condition, just steep. Crossed the river and made our way up the otherside. Near to the top were 3 other vehicles coming down and were just negotiating a fairly tough set off ruts. There was none of the rock and shale that had been everywhere else but just clay. I had a go at getting up the main route before losing forward momentum in a deep rut on the very steep incline. Backed it up and we all walked it and decided that the chicken run was definitely the better way to go but just a little tricky to enter. This was only 200m from the top before it joins up with Walhalla Rd and the way home and so it was a great way to end the day with a small challenge.
High speed run down to the tarmac, aired up and run for home.
Really good day. The weather was magnificent and there was more dust than there was mud.
Great to meet another forum member in the form of Ridgie and his better half Trish.
Good luck with your Shindig tonight Jase and staying awake
Ian......Sucks to be you cause you would have loved this one
. Spud Spur looks like the Monash compared to some of these tracks.
Pics to follow
Sorry if that sounds like a grade 5 essay "what I done on me hollydays". I'm tired and I never did pass grade 5 engrish anyhow
