From west of Melbourne myself, Brent, Kev and Jonah drove up to Tawonga on Thursday night and stayed at a mates van at the caravan park.The forecast for the weekend wasn't great but but as we rose Friday morning it looked fine and I just wanted to reach the summit before the clouds rolled in.
After gearing up we left Camp Creek Picnic ground at 8am and made our way along the 4WD track until we had reached the start of the Staircase Spur at 8.40. We were at approx 600mt above sea level, knowing that the next 5km we had to climb another 1400mt. We removed clothing as it was starting to heat up and was very humid.
As we started the 5km climb to the summit the sweat started to pore out. We had a quick 10min breather before continuing to Bivouac Hut where we rested for 30min. It took us almost 2hours to reach the hut which is half way up the Staircase Spur. The views from here were starting to open out as we were now well over 1000mt up.
We left Bivouac Hut at 11.05 and continued up, passing through the beautiful snow gums with great views all round.
We had a clear view of the Eskdale Spur and could see the Michell Hut amongst the trees. Brent found the going difficult up the staircase but dug deep and pushed on. As we broke through the tree line light cloud started to roll in but nothing serious. The track was still well recognizable specially with the snow poles beside it.
Passing the memorial the temperature dropped as we climbed higher, reaching the summit at 12.45pm.
Lunch on the summit was great, the cloud cleared and the views were amazing. I didn't realize how much space there was up here, easily fit a couple of footy ovals and except for the summit cairn, it was hard to tell we were at the highest point in Victoria.At 1.30 we decided to start our 6km trek down Quartz Ridge. Two km along the ridge we were at Hooker Plateau and to look out to the west and back toward the summit was something that we just couldn't walk by. We spent about half an hour just taking in the breathtaking views.
Still above the tree line we continued over quartz knob with clear views of the fast flowing Bogong Falls.
The section after Quartz knob was really cool. The cliff faces and rock formations were great. We started to drop rapidly from here on and were soon back amongst the snow gums. The scenery was great but the ants a huge problem. We couldn't stop for a minute without being covered in ants. Plenty of good camping from Quartz knob to the bottom but on this day there was no way we could stop for a second, let alone set camp, without being eaten alive.
Bit later than expected but we reached the bottom of Quartz Ridge at 4.30pm, 2km to go to Cairn Creek hut. There was a sign pointing to the hut and a faint walking track. I had read that the track was overgrown so I estimated that the final 2 km should take no more than 2hours and we would be at the hut at 6.30.
We hadnt been able to fill our water since Bivouac Hut and with a hot humid day we were all running low. We started the slog toward C.C.Hut and a couple of hundred metres in realised that this was going to be a struggle. The track was really hard to follow, the only thing keeping us from loosing the track was the orange arrows on the trees. These soon disappeared as the undergrowth was over our heads and visibility was zero. This soon become the hardest 2 hours walking Ive done as we had to carve our way through thick shrub, shimmer down fallen trees and be cut to shreds. We were now clearly off the track and fighting a lost cause. We could hear the river below so decided to try and make our way down to it and set camp. We finally found a clearing down to the Big River and the relief was amazing as we were done with fighting with the bush.
As we stepped into to clearing with the river now in sight, our enjoyment was short lived as within a minute we saw 2 snakes basking in the sun, the last thing we needed. We finally made it down to the Big river, crossed it and set camp at 7pm. We had travelled about 1km in over 2 hours and were glad relax around the fire, thinking of what to do tomorrow. 
With steady rain all night the decision was easy, return to Quartz Ridge and camp at Michell Hut. At 9.30 we left the Big River and climbed back up to the ridge. We actually found the track on the ridge but it didn't look any better and we were done with fighting the bush. It took us 2.5 hours to get to the base of Quartz Ridge as we were constantly burning leaches off each other.
We had a break, de-leached and took off up the ridge at 12.15pm. The weather was OK, the rain was holding off and we stopped for lunch on Quartz Knob at 1.30. Again the views were unreal across the valley and toward the summit. 
The clouds were blowing in, and out just as quick as we left at 2pm, heading for the summit. The rain started and continued to get heavier. It started to become very windy as we climbed to over 1800mt. We reached the summit at 3.30, the clouds cleared briefly as we hid behind the summit cairn for 10min just to get out of the wind. From here it was down the very steep and rocky Eskdale spur.
The hour walk from the summit of Mt Bogong to Michell Hut was the worst for weather, the wind was appalling and the rain really heavy. It was a cautious walk down Eskdale and a huge relief to arrive at the hut by 4.30, soaked to the bone. Time to dry out.
The rain didn't seem to ease all night and was still lingering when we woke the next morning.We got our stuff together and by 9am the rain seemed to clear so we set of. The walk down was very misty but no rain. It took us an hour to reach the bottom where we had a 10min break before continuing on. The last section of the walk along camp creek road was great, very green and easy going with giant tree ferns and fast flowing water, it was a great way to finish off our trip. We were back at the car after a few river crossings at 12.30.
The 3 day trek was great even though we didn't achieve what we set out to do, find Cairn Creek Hut. I have contacted Parks Vic to make them aware of the state of the track. If time was up our sleeve and we didn't just climb up and over Victoria's highest mountain, we would have found the hut, but not this time. 