I recently had the opportunity to visit the Mt Hotham and Alpine National Park over the Melbourne Cup weekend.
Unfortunately, I hoped to be competing in the 4 Peaks event held each year over this long weekend, but a back injury prevented me from starting this year. I wished to still enjoy some of the mountains while visiting the Victorian Alps. I chose to head up to Mt Hotham, as I spent limited time hiking in this area.
I started at the Mt Loch car park, a short distance from Mt Hotham Village. The hike is on a 4WD track with great views across the mountain range especially to Mt Feathertop to the East and offers some short hill climbs on a good quality track.
The start of the Mt Loch hike trail is also part of The Huts Track, at which point you continue on the track to the left until reaching the Mt Loch Summit sign and it’s a short 500m gradual ascent along a rocky path to the peak.
The day I visited the mountain I experienced snow showers and strong winds, which added to the enjoyment of the hike.
The return trip is via the same track back to the Mt Loch car park. The hike is 8km in distance and should take 2-3 hours return.
Charlift anyone :)
When arriving back at the Mt Loch car park I crossed the main road and headed to Mt Hotham summit, a 1.2km distance one way, however the cloud came in and had limited visibility from the top.
I will definitely head back to hike the Huts Track and explore Mt Hotham further.
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