Day 1: Cobungra to Dargo High Plains Road 10/04/22 24.3kms

We drove from Sydney to Mt Hotham yesterday ready to start my big walk today. The fog was insane at around Mt Hotham – terrible visibility for driving. After a massive dinner at Dinner Plains (I was full after the entree, but needed to do justice to the vegan pasta the chef had specially made for me!), we got ourselves ready and had an early night.

This morning we were totally fogged in and there was rain in the fog. All the way to the start of my walk at Cobungra I was fingers crossing for no rain. And there was none! It was the perfect hiking day – beautifully overcast, not too cold or warm.

The first couple of hours were pretty cruisy along a 4WD track. I even found myself wondering how much of the walk was going to be on such defined tracks. I needn’t have worried. After missing the turnoff from the 4WD track and having to double back about 10 mins, I was definitely off track along Mayford Track. Apparently it used to be a 4WD track but had been bulldozed to create a fire break and now it’s a spur strewn with dead trees, rocks and lots of super slippery dirt and loose pebbles. It was also extremely steep! It was pretty hard going getting all the way down to the flats.

The flats were a very welcome relief. So nice walking on a soft, flat grassy track. I took my shoes off to cross the Dargo River. Normally I don’t go barefoot, but it was crystal clear and I could see the pebbles were smooth so I decided to risk it. Mayford Flats was quite pretty and I came across 3 of the total of 4 people I’d see today (the first was a hunter I met early on heading back to his car with his gun slung over his shoulder after an unsuccessful morning of deer hunting). They were settled into a camp site with a fire going.

After passing the flats it was straight back up another spur (Treasure Spur). I wonder if when designing this track they looked for the steepest spurs deliberately. It was not the steepest I’ve climbed – my feet didn’t slip backwards with each step – but it certainly had me working for the hour and a half it took to get to the top. There was a faint track to follow where thankfully someone had cleared some of the bushes along the spur (thank you to the group that maintains this track!!!). If not for that it would have been extremely hard going. Towards the top the vegetation changed to long grass, with vehicle tracks through it thankfully.

Finally at the top I met a muddy 4WD track and followed that through until I met Jubbie and not too further along, camp Jubbie. We’ve upgraded this time and have a ropf top tent and a shower/change room tent! While I sat in the car feeling tired, Chef Jublé whipped up a tom yum brown rice noodle soup with veggies – so good. By 7pm we were in our nest. I was too tired and cold to start outside. I tell you what, sleeping on a foam mattress with proper pillows, flannel sheets and a warm doona definitely beats tent, blow up mattresses, sleeping bag with inner liner and blow up pillows! Funnily we did have to sleep with our sleeping bags and liners at the apartment we stayed at in Hotham because there were no sheets! So we upgraded as soon as we got into the track!