This walk was through private property, so don’t try to repeat it without getting permission first. Our thanks to the property owners and to Peter Davis, who organised everything but had issues which prevented him from taking part in the walk.
After a bit of a car shuffle, and a brief exposition on how eucalyptus oil was distilled, eight of us crossed a creek and began the hike to Mount Roberts. Easy going through open country at first, them it got steeper and more vegetation for the long climb to the top. It was said that the rise in elevation was 320m and the top was at 1496m, whatever, it was fairly hard work.
Lots of communications towers at the top, and lots of excellent views in all directions. We could just make out Murrumbucca Pinnacle through the trees.
We descended Mount Roberts first by following a power line and then along what appeared to be a maze of fire trails. Met a few horses which came across, no doubt we had brought them apples or other interesting food. At times the fire trail was lined with small snow gums, and there were other gums that we did not recognise along the way. It was fairly flat after the initial descent, until we came to a bit of a hill (1200m) which again offered excellent views. By then it was time for lunch.
After lunch we left the fire trail and were soon on a track, not shown on the map, which led down to the foot of Murrumbucca Pinnacle. From where we were it was about 500m to the summit, however this required a climb of about 170m, so was pretty arduous. Plenty of loose rocks, fairly thick Cassinia scrub with a few prickly Bursaria to spur us on the way. Had 2 rest stops on the way up, enough for breathing to return to normal but not enough to fix those overextended calf muscles.
At the top there was a rock cairn with a decrepit trig station, some of us with a bit of energy left climbed the cairn, guess it’s just a human thing to get as high up as you can. The scrub blocked most of the views, but there was an excellent one across the plain towards Michelago.
The descent from Murrumbucca Pinnacle similar to the ascent, for much of the way steep with lots of opportunities for incidental short rests after slipping and sitting down, further than the ascent with about 300m fall in elevation before the slope levelled out a bit. When not concentrating on your footing, there were even more great views, though by then the shadow from the ridge behind us made for dark foregrounds in any photographs that were taken. After that it was a saunter through paddocks back to where the cars were waiting for us.
As for many of our walks, the two climbs and that final descent were things we were (at the time) glad to see the end of. Nevertheless, it was a good walk through country we hadn’t visited before, with fine weather and good company, yet another great day.
