Splitter Falls

After careful inspection of my expensive map of the Hall’s Gap trails, I decided to head up to a place called the Pinnacle. There are nice little trails everywhere around here and they seem to link together well. You can do short 1.5 or 2k walks or you can stretch it out into big loops and walk all the way from Hall’s Gap and around in the bush for 10, 12 or 14k hikes.  I had every intention of running and hiking as much as possible this trip but one can only do so much. I took the car up to the car park near the Pinnacle that was the access to 2 sets of falls as well, Splitter and Turret Falls. Splitter was a nice short jaunt down the trail so I headed that way. The only problem was it was all downhill and before I realized it, I was at the end and had to slog back up. There wasn’t much water coming down the falls but it was pretty. Snapped a couple of photos and headed off to the Pinnacle!

The Grand Canyon

The hike up to the Pinnacle was definitely all uphill but it was the perfect temperature. The sun was out with a tiny bit of wispy cloud and a slight breeze. Just warm enough to hike with a t-shirt and pants. Stand still too long though and you’ll get chilly. The hike up to the Pinnacle was only a couple kilometers but it was really interesting. Some of it was sandy path in the bush and other parts it was out on the open rock. All of it was very dry. About halfway up you go through the bottom of a large rocky section they call the Grand Canyon. The walls rise up 20 or 25 metres above you while you’re walking along the bottom. There is a narrow path at the bottom helped along by railings. Without the railings the path would be doable but tough.

Silent Street

Out of the Grand Canyon and almost to the top there is a very narrow section of rock that you must go through. A small canyon and quite narrow, only a person wide really, called Silent Street. It’s a little creepy how quiet it is in the rocks and all the sound you make comes back quite a bit louder. To get out of Silent Street you must go up a very narrow section with many rocks for stairs and then a few wooden ones. The rock comes very close together near the wooden stairs. I was barely able to get my shoulders though. Not many fat people are going through there!

The Pinnacle

At the top, the Pinnacle was impressive. It’s a large point of rock that they’ve fenced off and made a few stairs up and a platform on top. It’s quite impressive to stand on the edge and look straight down. It goes down at least 200 feet from the edge to more rocks and drop offs. The view was incredible, you could see out onto the plains to the north and east and to more hills to the south and east. From up there, people can hardly be seen down in the city unless aided by binoculars. Definitely exhilarating to be on the edge that high! It reminded me of the Edge cube in the Eureeka Tower in Melbourne but this one was much more work to get to and free.

A horrible dent in my beautiful moment at the top, though. I arrive up there and am checking out the area. The Pinnacle is a popular attraction so there are about 15 other people up there. I’m ok with that. I’d rather be able to enjoy the view alone but with weather like it was, it’s hard to find a prime spot like this with no one around. I’m breathing pretty good after hiking quickly to the top and loving the fresh air. All of a sudden I get a bit breath of cigarette smoke. And now I’d like to throw you off the Pinnacle for smoking, buddy. If there is one thing I’d like to rid this world of, it would be smoking. Now back to your regular programming.

I took a bit of a wrong turn and started heading towards one of the other carparks. The interlinked trails are nice but you do need to have an idea of where you are heading. I have a pretty good sense of direction (don’t ask about Sydney) and headed back down to the proper carpark.

Another short walk from the Pinnacle carpark is Turret Falls. It was pretty but I was disappointed there was no trail to the bottom of the falls. I got a couple photos from the top but was unable to find a trail to the bottom without bushwacking. There seemed to be a packed down spot a the bottom where people had been but I couldn’t find the path there. Had the falls been very impressive I would have found my way down there but I had more hiking to do.

Only a few minutes up the road driving a few more trails lead off Sundial Carpark. My plan was to hit Sundial Peak, head down to Delleys Dell and then be back at the carpark in no time for the quick drive back to the hostel and some recovery from the days exploration. It definitely happened in that order but not in quite the time I was expecting.

Along the trail to Sundial Peak

The trail up to Sundial Peak was a sandy track with gum trees all over the place like so many of the tracks around here. The views south from the peak were beautiful. It’s slightly south from the Pinnacle so the views were similar but a little different. Heading down from the peak into the Dell, it was much more of a drop than I had expected and my knees and feet were aching by the time I hit the bottom. The trail at the bottom was beautiful and well worth the trek down the hill. Amidst the trees, were huge boulders that looked like they were thrown here from the peaks by some giants. I can’t imagine hearing them roll down the hill and being in the way.

Just before the end of the trail at the road there was supposed to be another trail that head up to towards where my car was. I sure couldn’t find a trail. The map said it split off the trail at the river and then went back up the hill along the stream. There sure wasn’t any trail where I was. I went to the road, back up the trail, up the stream in the bush a ways. No trail. After giving up my search and starting the slog up the road to the next carpark I find a trail. Oh, this is where the trail was. Good thing the map said it was here.

I cruised up this section of the trail, it was soft and smooth with beautiful lush green foliage on both sides. I got so excited I even ran a bit of it. I quickly hit Rosea Carpark and continued on the next section of the trail up to my car. The incline increase dramatically which halted any running that was happening and left me gulping for air. Remember the huge section of downhill after Sundial Peak? I had to regain all that elevation and the trail decided to do that in rocky uneven switchbacks. This section of the trail shouldn’t have taken that long but after running around the trails all day it seemed to take forever and a day. A few times, what I thought were cars in the carpark turned out to be large boulders sitting among the trees. Eventually my car materialized and I quickly hopped in and thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of sitting compared to trudging up steep sandy switchbacks. I celebrated with draining the rest of my giant bottle of water and then followed the road as it slithered back into town.

[gmap]

So, after a quick stop in Port Fairy, I’m now in the Grampians, at Hall’s Gap. What a beautiful place. The Grampian themselves rise up out of the plains so abuptly they decided to name the first big one Mount Abrupt. Just North of Dunkeld, Mount Sturgeon and Abrupt look over the city. From here it looks to be a gently climb to the top. Nope! It’s not the steepest pitch I’ve been up but it’s certainly not flat. The views from the trail near the top and the summit are extremely rewarding being on the edge of the Grampians. Apparently Mount Zero on the north end is similar. It feels like you can see forever over the plains to the ocean.

Into the Grampians from Mount Abrupt

Further up the road to Hall’s Gap is the turn off to Silverband Falls. Not a bad little set of falls and a welcome sight after the dryness of a lot of Australia, even right now. It’s hard to imagine they are attempting to claw their way out of a horrible drought. The rain in Apollo Bay and here seemed to indicate otherwise but those of the lakes that actually have water in them are at their lowest levels in a long time. The interesting part of Silverband Falls is that the water pours over the edge and hits the ground but hardly creates a pool at all. The majority of the water goes straight into the ground. About 100 metres “downstream” it reappears and forms a small stream with what appears to be all the water that comes over the falls.

Silverband Falls

Further up the road is Hall’s Gap, a tiny town in the valley of the big peaks here. There’s an information centre, general store, a tiny outdoor store, a few restaurants and that’s about it. You could almost drive through and not even notice this place was here. It reminds me of small mountain towns that swell with the seasonal ski crowd but there’s no ski season in these mountains. Just a wet-ish winter and a dry hot summer. Feels like home. With so few people, there is almost a trail in the surrounding hills for each of them. This my kind of place.

With a quick look at the information centre on my way in, I was armed with a few pamphlets and a map that was $3.00. I was getting used to finding all the free information. Apparently the trail system around here warrants a map that you need to pay for. The signs at the parks point out all the trails with good detail but I wouldn’t be able to plan which ones I wanted to hit first or at all so I went for it. Already I’ve referred to it many times in the hostel, in the car and in the bush so it was $3.00 well spent.

After getting orientated at the hostel, I headed back to Silverband Falls to check them out and then to the Nature Centre to go for a walk around Fyan’s Creek. It’s a small 2k loop that circles part of the creek and it was definitely a nice way to end the day. The creek is fairly small but just enough water to keep everything moving. On my way there, I was distracted from the trail by 3 emu’s wandering around the park. I had seen a few from afar at Tower Hill but hadn’t been so close. They were moving pretty quick in the other direction so I didn’t get to close but I was happy at the distance I was at. I’ve heard some crazy near-death (not really) experience with those large birds. Near the end I spent some time with a herd of Kangaroos on one of the fields. They seemed very content with me sitting very near them and just watching. I’m assuming they’re used to people wandering around the park and gawking at them. Even photos don’t seem to phase them much.

Kangaroos by Fyan's Creek

I spent the end of the first day recuperating on a comfy couch beside a nice warm wood fireplace. I’m not going to say it’s very cold here but it wasn’t warm. It can’t get much better than a comfy spot beside a wood fire.

[gmap]