Monday, April 07, 2008

Blue Mouintain Summit Hike, Toolangi





Blue Mountain is a 615m peak in the Toolangi State Forest, 65 km east of Melbourne.

At the summit is the large Potato Research Farm, operated by the Dept of Primary Industry.

The Weasel Creek Track, 4 km, is the main walking route to the summit from the west, which starts at the Chum Creek Rd, about 10 km north of Healesville.

This is an old logging track, which winds its way up and around the steep western flank of the mountain, through forest and grass trees.

The starting point is at 329m, and the climb is nearly 300m to the top. Good training for Himalayas Trekking!

At the summit, good views may be enjoyed from the perimeter of the Potato Farm across the Yarra Valley towards the Warramate Hills and Dandenong Ranges.

The area has many tracks and is popular with trail bikers and 4WDing.

Weasel Creek Tk is a public 4WD track, not gated, but a chain saw and axe would be needed to remove fallen trees, as DSE patrols are infrequent.

Instead of returning to the car via Weasel Ck Tk, it is possible to continue past the Potato Farm and follow Spud Tk and Ray's Tk back to the Chum Ck Rd. Ray's Tk is almost perpendicular, dropping 300m in 1 km!

An easier option for the summit views is to drive up from Healesville on the Myers Creek Rd and take the turnoff to the Potato Farm near the Mt St Leonard rd. This is about 1 km.

I did this hike on April 6, 2008.

See the Photos

2 comments:

  1. Hi Bob....

    Just want to confirm if there is a cairn of some sort to mark the summit or is the potato farm itself is the summit indicator?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Their is a Trig point marking the Summit near the Seismic Station fence.

    A geocache is also a few metres away.

    ReplyDelete