On Walkabout On: Mt. Bogong, Victoria – Part 2

Prior Posting: Mt. Bogong, Victoria – Part 1
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As I ascended up the Staircase Spur of Victoria’s highest peak, Mt. Bogong I was beginning to actually get pretty tired because I had now been walking straight up for about three hours on this trail plus I was even beginning to feel the altitude a little bit due to my shortness of breath:

Anyway as I broke through the tree line and was rewarded with views of the surrounding Victorian Alps:

I may have had my first views of the walk, but I now had no trees to block the cool wind that was blowing over the treeless top of Mt. Bogong:

As I walked up the trail I couldn’t help, but imagine the Aborigines long ago walking up here in the summer time to scavenge among the rocks of this large mountain to find the bogong moths they loved to eat:

These moths have a high fat content and thus were very healthy for the Aboriginals to eat who did not have much fat in their diet.  The word bogong comes from the Aboriginal term “bogong” that is used to describe the rocky granite outcrops in the Victorian Alps and is thus this mountain’s namesake:

As I continued up the mountain I could see the summit of Mt. Bogong looming ahead of me, but this final stretch would be the most tiring of the entire hike due to the steep ascent and the continuing effects of the altitude.  Trust me, this is much steeper then it looks, but I do have to say that I liked the red color from the surrounding grasslands as I trudged up this ridgeline:

Often times when walking through the Australian bush like this I see plenty of wildlife and on this walk I had so far only seen birds.  It is not unusual for me to spot a wallabies or kangaroos while walking in the bush, but unfortunately on this trip I didn’t see any.  However, something I hadn’t seen before so high up above the tree line in the Australian Alps was a lizard:

I have no idea what kind of lizard this is, but it was living high up in the cool region of the high country.  I figured a lizard would want to live somewhere warmer, but I guess he has some how adapted to living at such a harsh climate.

Here is the view looking back down the ridgeline of the Staircase Spur that I had just hiked up:

Directly in front me at this point was a monument constructed in memory of the three skiers, George Gadsden, Edward Welch, and John McRae who got trapped in a blizzard on this mountain and died back in 1943:

Here is a closer up picture of the plaque on this memorial:

This wasn’t the first time people have perished in the freezing cold blizzards that hit the Victorian high country every year.  The most well known person to die on these mountains is probably a fella by the name of Cleve Cole who died on this mountain back in August 1936 and a hut on the mountain was constructed in his honor to assist any other skiers that get trapped in the area because of a blizzard.

Cleve Cole

There was no possibility of a blizzard happening on the summer day I hiked up Mt. Bogong, but there was plenty of dark clouds hanging around and the weather was quite cool.  It is not uncommon for snow storms to happen in the Australian high country even in the warmer months.

As I got towards the top of the mountain I actually walked right by a number of springs that had water bubbling up out of the mountain.  That crystal clear water I saw in the creeks further down the mountain all start up here in these springs:

With such springs and a vast grassland it is no wonder why the stockmen used to drive their cattle up here to graze during the summer months.  The stockmen can no longer graze in the high country any longer, which continues to be a point of contention in Australia due to many people thinking the stockmen are part of Australia’s natural heritage and that the grazing reduces the risk of fire danger.  The environmentalists on the other hand say the grazing harms the environment and so far the environmentalists have won out on this debate.

Just ahead of me I could see the cairn that represented the summit of this 1,986 meter (6,520 feet) mountain:

As I trudged up the last stretch of the trail I couldn’t help but be impressed by the rugged scenery around me:

And then finally I was on the top of the mountain and was rewarded with great views all around me.  For example I could see off in the distance to the south the most impressive peak of the Victorian Alps, Mt. Feathertop:

It had taken me about four hours to reach the summit of the mountain and this was actually the most tiring of all my hikes I have done in Australia.

Looking westward I could see the end of the ridgeline that composes Mt. Bogong.  If you look closely in the picture below in the distance on the far right of the photograph is Mt. Buffalo:

As can be seen in the above photograph as well is the fact that the weather was turning colder, windier, and cloudier which was my cue to get off the mountain before some nasty weather struck, but now before taking in one last view of the valley where the city of Mt. Beauty lies that I had saw earlier in the day when crossing over the Bright-Tawonga Road:

Finally something I found of interest on the summit of Mt. Bogong was these unusual yellow flowers I had never seen before on any of my hikes up in the high country:

I have no idea what type of flower this is or even if it is a native Australian species but it was an unusual plant I had never seen before except on the summit of Mt. Bogong.  So if anyone knows what plant this is feel free to leave a comment because I would like to know.

With the poor weather moving I hurried back down the mountain.  It had taken me four hours to get up the mountain and it only took me about 2.5 hours to get back down.  Counting the half hour I spent on the summit it was about a 7-8 hour day on the mountain and incredibly I had saw only one hiker, an older gentleman who had stayed at Cleve Cole Hut the prior night before hiking down today.  He thought I was nuts hiking up to the top of Mt. Bogong and back in one day, but I did it.  I have done tougher hikes before in Colorado so this wasn’t as bad, but I was still quite tired and I still had a four hour drive to get back home.  It was worth it though and I highly recommend everyone into bushwalking to take the time to hike the mountain, but I think next time I do it I will bring my sleeping bag.