Length: 8.5km
Duration: 4hrs
Grade: 3-4
Style: Circuit
Start: Blackwood Hotel
End: Blackwood Hotel

Location: Wombat State Forest
Closest Town: Blackwood
Distance from CBD: 89km
State: VIC
Latitude: -37.46689382
Longitude: 144.310574

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Wombat State Forest...

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Yankee Creek is a 8.5km, grade 3-4 circuit hike, located in Wombat State Forest, Victoria. The hike should take approximately 4hrs to complete.

Hike Summary

The water races surrounding Yankee Creek, on the northern edge of Blackwood, bare witness to a much busier gold rush past. This hike will take advantage of the water races to explore one of the lesser known tributaries of the Lerderderg River. The hike passes through Mineral Springs Reserve and visits Shaws Lake along the way.Most of this walk follows water races and foot trails but there is the occasional fallen tree to scramble over. There is also a section of off trail walking down an open spur and along Yankee Gully, which will require basic navigational skills. One short but very steep hill is also encountered.

Getting there

From Melbourne follow the Western Freeway for 67Km and take the Greendale exit. Continue on for 6.5Km to Greendale. Turn right along the Greendale-Trentham Road and follow it for 11Km to Blackwood. Park near the hotel.

Tips

Be careful of mine shafts in the area. Walking Poles are useful. Carry water.

GPX File

Total distance: 8509 m
Max elevation: 649 m
Min elevation: 524 m
Total climbing: 342 m
Total descent: -342 m

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3 thoughts on “Yankee Creek (8.5km)”

Antony Boxall says:
11/06/2018 at 15:25
We did this hike with 20kg backpacks load with water.
The 2 km riverbed section is very slippery when damp. The sky was blue but everything was damp which made it interesting. I would save this section to last as it takes it out of you climbing over slippery rocks and fallen trees. Lots of blackberries when you have to climb out of the riverbed and pass sections blocked by trees or full of water.
We had great fun (My wife, 11yr old daughter and myself) and enjoyed every bit of it but is hard going when wet and I wouldn’t do it if it is raining!
10/10 walk.
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Amanda S says:
15/07/2018 at 21:02
We did this circuit today, starting from the marker for Great Dividing Trail off Whalebone Road. For some reason we had a lot of trouble finding the trail after the lake – shortly afterwards, it kind of petered out and we didn’t see a clear trail again until the northern-most section where you cross the creek with a steep downhill/uphill. From there we followed the track to the end of Moonlight Trail but again lost the path and ended up wandering around down in the gully for a while until we gave up and made our way back to Moonlight Trail and walking back to town via Old Blackwood Road. Not sure where we went wrong considering we tried to match our Google Maps location to the OCM marked trail exactly but still managed to do a whole lot of off-trail hiking that we probably weren’t supposed to do! In any case, the terrain is not too difficult although everything is damp/wet and most of the logs are very slippery, so caution must be taken when climbing over them.
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1. Darren Edwards says:
  15/07/2018 at 21:20
  Yeah. It is a difficult trail to follow. It is not a commonly hiked trail so does become overgrown quickly and is a challenge to find the Trail again. It follows old water races at times too but even they can be overgrown. I generally drop down into Yankee Creek and just follow the creek. There are also a handful of animal trails and motorbike trails that can be misleading. Glad you enjoyed the day all the same.