The Grampians Peak Trail is quickly becoming a icon walk in Victoria - it is a stunning 160km through hike in the Grampians. Eight of us planned to hike the first and North section which goes from Mt Zero through to Halls Gap. The first day was a 12.1km hike through to Barigar hike-in campground. The walk took us past the Taipan Wall, where we watched some climbers enjoying their sport, through to Bird Rock where we enjoyed morning tea. Further on, I could not entice anyone to scramble up to Mt Stapylton - we had a few kms ahead of us. We reached the Barigar camp at about 4pm and were amazed at the wonderful platforms and the shelter. We quickly settled in and enjoyed an early night. The walk was a warm up and we all felt a bit tired. Our fearless leader had a fall, tripping over a one inch tree stump (tiny) on a flat bit. She ended up with a shiner and a bruised knee. Lucky this "trip" did not happen on the many rocks we scrambled along.
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Our start time on all the days was set a 9.00am - so after a leisurely morning we set off to Roses Gap Road (a water station) and where we met our Trail Angel Katie, who picked up Michele, who had torn her calf muscle. Kudos to Michele for walking out on a challenging track in excruciating pain. I am pleased to say that Michele is on her way to recovery and hopefully is joining us for the next sections in 2024. We then continued on what is called the waterfall section, however, no water, but amazing rock formations. Our destination was Gar hike-in campground on Mt Difficult. We got there via the route to Briggs Bluff. The views from the escarpment were amazing. The rock scrambling, nooks and crannies - just my kind of hiking. A wonderful day finished off with a "fire in the sky" sunset. Again the facilities at Gar where beautiful, they have provided lovely chairs to watch the sunset in comfort. The camp is on the edge, don't have too many drinks on this campsite, you may fall off the cliff!! We covered 11.2kms.
Day three took us to the Werdug hike-in campsite. This day was spent mostly walking on the edge admiring stunning views. Lots of rocks, uphills, huffs and puffs. Some of us felt it, but our packs where getting lighter and we were more than half-way.... another stunning day. We hiked 14.1kms.
Day four and we were off to Halls Gap and that DREAM - the "ice-cream". We walked across the escarpment and very early in the hike we could see Lake Bellfield, Boronia Peak, Lake Werdug and felt Halls Gap was getting closer.... but..... no, we had to negotiate many, many steps and a steep decline. Once we reached Chatauqua Peak, we took a short cut and high-tailed into Halls Gap and the ice-cream - our whip was dying for a beer:) kms covered - 12.9.
Once in Halls Gap we weighed our packs - Mandy got the prize for the heaviest pack - it weighed 16kgs at the end of our walk, June's 9kgs... the other packs about 11kgs. Mandy you are a legend for lugging such a heavy pack through this challenging hike.
The Grampians make my heart sing and the environment is so stunning to hike through. We learn so much from each other on these hikes - how to economise on weight, how to pack light, light lunches - a challenge - first aid kits and the list goes on. (Jane get's the prize for her rehydrated lunch noodle salad). The camaraderie, caring and silences are treasured and so are the friendships formed on the tracks.
Thanks to Parks Victoria and the local community for such gorgeous, well maintained camps, it makes the hikes comfortable.
Thanks to the hiking buddies who joined us, it was fun. Thank you Katie for being our terrific Trail Angel and organising Kim to give me a full examination after my fall. Hopefully, you'll join us in March 2024. Plans are underway.
Hikers: Ken Moulton (co-leader), Graham Talmage (co-leader), Mandy Pearson, Michele Prentice, Jane Sinclair (guest), June Darley (guest), John (whip extraordinaire) and Patsy Scales (slow leader)
Written by: Patsy
