Northern Grampians, Mt Difficult.

It was the start of Autumn and time for another overnight hike. After spending Friday night in the Dunkeld Caravan Park our plan was to do the Mt Thackery, Fortress walk in the Southern Grampians. Indebted to the park owner on arrival informing us that the area we wanted to walk was closed to fire damage inflicted during an extremely long hot and dry summer that we had just endured. We needed a back up plan so we decided to head north and do an overnighter in the Mt Difficult area.

We arrived at the Beehive Falls Carpark on Roses Gap Rd at 9am after a stop in at the Halls Gap Bakery. The weather was perfect, broken cloud, not too hot, a great day for a hike. By 9.10 we began our walk southward as another couple of cars were arriving.
The track was well defined and with a slow incline, we were soon at the Beehive Falls 30 min after leaving the car,

The falls were nice, a slow trickle down the cliff face into a small pond below, great colors and a nice spot for a quick stop. 

From here the walk started to get tough. We were climbing quite rapidly up the mountain. It was very rocky but the track was still well defined with orange arrow markers guiding the way. 

The scenery was amazing, large rock overhangs with beautiful colors. 

About 45 min of strenuous climbing got us to the top where the terrain flattened out as we were walking parallel to the Briggs Bluff track. It was very rocky but reasonably flat. 

By 10.50 we had reached the well signed T intersection that leads to Briggs Bluff.  We could have dumped our packs as the track to Briggs was only about 1km but was decided to have lunch up there. The walk to the bluff was easy, a little up hill and very rocky but we were on the bluff within 20 min. The views to the east were amazing looking out toward Ararat. A little blowy for our liking so we decided to have lunch just of the bluff a bit in a secluded spot. My legendary peanut butter and jam mix in a soft pitta bread went down a treat before we headed back to the intersection, we were there by 12.15. 

We continued passed the Briggs bluff hiker camp site and pushed on past the turn of to Mt Difficult. The next section surprised us as we were looking at a huge cliff face thinking the track must pass around it some how. After a bit longer we realized that the still,well defined track was heading up and over the cliff face, amazing, We were zig zaging our way along  the cliff face and decided to stop half way up for a breather, it was 1pm.

As we looked below we saw 2 other hikers making their way toward the cliff, gave them a wave then head of again. By 1.30 we were at the top and come across a really good camp site that was located under a huge rock as we got back into the forest. It was only early so we continued on the reasonably flat and well defined track. 

By just after 2 pm we had reached the T intersection, we continued to the right and by 2.30 we were at Longpoint East Hiker Camp site. It was still early but we were all happy to set up camp. There was a stream not even 100mt down the hill from the camp site with nice flowing water, we still had heaps but used it to cook with. As we settled in the other 2 hikers strolled in and decided to set camp aswell. Plenty of space and it was good to chat to others about everything bushwalking. After camp was set, fire was lit I enjoyed fried rice with fried cranksi mixed through it, love it, and finished the night with a nip of port. 

We rose to a beautiful morning, I had some porridge while watching Kev cook up eggs and bacon in that huge fry pan he lugs around. We packed up camp and were on the way by 8.30 with the 2 hikes we had met the night before (Adam and Trav) joining us. It took us about 40min along the 4wd track to reach Longpoint West Hiker site, nice spot to camp also. We were now about to head upward to Mt Difficult. 

The climb up was a little strenuous but not that bad with some nice views and as we got higher. We reached the Mt D Hiker camp site about 10am. We said seeya to Trav and Adam as they were heading down to Troopers Creek, we de-packed and made the 10min climb to the Mt Difficult summit. 

We spent a bit of time on the summit taking in the magnificent 360 degree views. There was a wedged tailed eagle gracefully circling above the untouched landscape. The wind wasn't as bad as the last time we were here so it was a comfortable spot for a break. 

At 10.45 we had made our way down to our packs and headed north for the final stretch of our walk. We made good time as we were walking along the ridge that was reasonably flat with a well defined track. The views were stunning looking toward the Mt Stapylton, Mt Zero direction. 

By 11.45 we were almost at the T intersection, we had found a great spot to stop for a bite of lunch. We were overlooking the huge cliff face that we had conquered the day before feeling a sense of achievement while we refueled

We left our lunch spot about midday with our packs a lot lighter than the day before as we were almost out of food and running low on water. The steady climb down of the ridge was great with huge rock formations and overhangs to amaze us. 

By 1.30 we hat reached Beehive Falls, a nice spot for a refreshing wade into the icy water and refill a water bottle for the final stretch back to the car. An easy walk for 30min saw us return to the awaiting car. 

For a walk that was not planned 48 hours before, it was unreal, up there in one of my favorites. We all agreed that a highlight was the unexpected climb up the cliff face on day one. It was by no means that hard or at anytime dangerous as the track zig zagged  its way up, but just something that we didnt expect when we had set out and enjoyed very much. 

It is always good to meat other hikers, talk to them about what walks they had done and also what food and equipment works well for them. 

I dare say a return trip to the Grampians is in order to complete the walk that we had originally set out to do. This time we wont make the same mistake and find out if the region is open to the public. 

  

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