Trip report and images by Ryan Reynolds – July 2024
Our Grampians Adventure
My little brother (14) and I (19) decided it would be a great idea to do this hike during the school holidays break in July this year. Coming from Melbourne, it was about a 4-hour drive, and we were on the trail walking by 11 am. The first obstacle was a bridge a mere 100 meters from the car park. This was the most slippery bridge I have ever seen, so it’s safe to say my butt was very bruised. Other than that, this section, not part of the Grampians Peaks Trail, was littered with slippery rocks, limbs, and occasionally a fallen tree. The trail is defined, and it was possible for us to get through.
Reaching Mt William
Our walking pace was relatively slow, but we had three phones between us, all with the GPX file, which was incredibly useful. After about two hours of mostly being on the colder side of the mountains, we finally got some sun near the Mt William car park at roughly 1 pm. From the car park to the summit seems like an easy bit in comparison, but it should not be taken too lightly; there are parts of it that are quite steep, especially for an asphalt road. Luckily, I had done this part of the walk previously and knew what this ascent was like, but it was a bit harder with a pack on.
From Mt William to Wannon Camp
The next stage of the hike was from the summit of Mt William to the first Wannon hike-in campsite. It began by leaving the road and the towers and switching to a proper walking track with a boot cleaning station. By this time, the sun was setting, and we were about 5 km from the campsite. After a couple of stops to take in the view and the amazing sunset, the torches came out, and so did the jumpers. Overall, this section had a mixture of stairs, steep descents (not the most fun in the dark), and the occasional boardwalk before the campsite. By this stage, the morale of my not-so-motivated brother dropped a bit, but eventually, we made it to the campsite at around 6:30-7 pm. As I was still in shorts and the temperature had dropped by about 10 degrees in a matter of hours, the setup was swift, and dinner inside the tent was much needed. The ‘last straw’ for my brother was probably the little native mouse who visited us midway through dinner, reminding us to seal up our packs and hide our boots inside the tent.
Chilly Morning and Scenic Views
In the morning, we woke up to a real feel of -1 degree and quite a bit of ice on the tent. We packed up quickly and hit the trail by 9 am. This day of walking was easily the best of the whole trip. With many boardwalks, good weather for the season, and spectacular views, we ended up having lunch on the top of Banksia Hill. This marked the end of the plateau and the end of any major uphill sections. Between Banksia Hill and Durd-Durd hike-in campsite, there was a nasty little descent with loose rocks and a well-defined trail followed by a relatively fine walking path until maintenance-type tracks. We had our second lunch at Durd-Durd at around 1:30 pm.
Note: Durd-Durd campsite surprised us with its amenities. It offered tables, tent platforms, and even a luxurious solar-powered ‘million-dollar toilet’! This was unexpected and a complete opposite to the first Wannon campsite, which had a clearing for tents, creek access, and a nice rock to pack your bag on.
Descent to Jimmy Creek
From Durd-Durd to Jimmy Creek, you head towards the helipad and begin descending the well-constructed stairs. This was easy sailing in comparison, and with good weather, quite relaxing and enjoyable. Eventually, you’ll reach a fork in the trail (marked by a Y). Here, you’ll officially leave the Grampians Peaks Trail. You’ll notice a few fallen branches and even a large tree blocking the way. Thankfully, previous hikers have kindly created a path around, or even over, these obstacles to help you continue your journey. Eventually, you meet the road, walk along the road for about 300 meters, and turn off onto the dirt road towards Jimmy Creek campground, 200 meters with fellow campers, fires (seasonal), active wildlife, and drop toilets.
Rainy Forecast and Tough Decisions
The next morning was supposed to include a little more bushwalking back to the car, but it was forecasted to rain 6 mm overnight and roughly 8-10 mm during that day. So, the tough decision was made to walk back along the side of the road for about 13-14 km. Very annoyingly, we barely got any rain the entire walk back to the car and likely risked our lives for nothing. In hindsight, I think the best decision would have been to walk along the road for a mere 3-4 km and hop on Serra Road, walking on the marked track all the way back to Sheep Hills car park. Additionally, we were wary of the Teddy Bear Gap section of the track in less-than-ideal conditions with likely minimal sanctuary locations. But I was not alone; we decided the road was the best option for the time and conditions. For your information, it did rain a lot on the drive home back to Melbourne, returning at around 5 pm.
Tips for Future Hikers
My suggestions for anyone thinking of doing this hike would be to go early, anticipate the climb of roughly 8 km uphill on the first day, keep up to date with the weather, anticipate unusual weather, and last of all, be prepared (better prepared than we were).
Overall, I loved it. 5/5, can’t wait for the next adventure.
More pictures of adventures on @ryan.ph0t0graphy on Instagram.
For those interested in the Major Mitchell Plateau Circuit, you can find more details and download a GPX file here.
Received this trip report today. Great to see a couple of young blokes getting out there during the school holidays. Awesome effort.
Great write up Ryan. I began hiking at around your age, also with my younger brother. We were hiking partners for years after that, until illness unfortunately prevented him from doing more.
The Major Mitchell Plateau is a favourite of mine. Last time was in March 2015 (too long ago). At that time the First Wannon Creek was practically dry, so water collection was limited to a few puddles.
Wow only a few puddles I can imagine that would have changed things quite a bit in terms of access to water. Also 2015 was likely before most of the current amenities were there which would have made things a little more intresting and wild. Our trip was centred around 1 day of good weather with an alright day before that and a pretty average day after the good day. Additionaly the previous week before the trip majority of Victoria was having peak rainfall for winter so our access to water on the hike was pretty plentiful. I feel like this is one of those hikes that is heavily determined on weather, season and temperature. I am not saying any of these would bad but it would end up with a different trip.
Sorry to hear about your brother and thank you for the support it is very appreciated.