Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Summit hike to Mt McKay - Bogong High Plains


Mt McKay is in the Bogong High Plains Region, NE Victoria, and at 1849 m is the highest mountain in Australia which can be reached by road.

It is snow-covered in winter, and is about 6 km from the Falls Creek Village via a turn-off from the High Plains Rd along the Pretty Valley Rd.

The actual summit is about 1 km up the maintenance road from a junction, where there is a small car park. This road is extremely steep and stony, and suitable mainly for 4WD vehicles in locked low range drive.

Foot access is up this road, taking about 15 minutes each way in good weather.

At the summit there are communications antennas, a fire spotting tower, amateur radio repeater transmitters, and a roofed observation lookout.

The views are spectacular, 360 degrees, across to the Alps, the Kiewa Valley, the Rocky Valley and Pretty Valley Dams, and to the Mt Buffalo Massif.

On the north flank of the mountain is the Mt McKay Power Station, most of which is underground.

This mountain is adjacent to the Falls Creek ski runs, and was integrated into the Alpine National Park in 2001, following a rejected commercial proposal to develop it for skiing.

We visited the summit on March 8, 2009, walking up the access road.

See the complete set of
Photos of this trip!

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