With the recent announcement of a new state based public holiday, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to head away for a long weekend hiking trip.

I decided I wanted to explore a place I had not visited for a while and with the recent opening of the first section of the Grampians Peaks Trail. I thought why not! The first section is a 36.6km loop around Lake Bellfield and taking popular viewing spots of The Pinnacle and Mt Rosea. The Grampians National Park is situated about 3 hours drive north west of Melbourne.

I packed my hike pack and headed up to the Grampians on Thursday night with my sister, staying in one of the local caravan parks that night.
On Friday morning we were up early as we had about 5-6 hrs of hiking ahead of us and with a perfect weather forecast of 25-29 degrees celsius scheduled for the weekend, it was going to be warm hiking on the trails. We logged our hike itinerary at the local cultural centre and then we were off!

On Day 1 we started in the town centre of Halls Gap and headed off towards Borough Huts, the first section was along a sealed walking track out of town and then onto Terraces Fireline track, after the initial sealed track the first few kilometres was quite undulating. We decided to have our lunch break beside Lake Bellfield where we looked straight across towards Mt Rosea, where we would be heading tomorrow! We continued along the firetrails down to Borough Huts campsite. This was a beautiful, spacious campsite situated beside a creek. We set up camp and then headed down to the creek. The creek was the place to be, with kids and parents alike enjoying the water. We decided to tip our feet in, the cool water was perfect remedy after 14km of hiking! We enjoyed an early dinner and a few games of UNO then it was off for an early nights’ sleep.

On day 2 we were up early again with challenging day ahead planned for us which involved climbing Mt Rosea. We began through sheltered forest on single track as we began the 8.5km ascent up to the peak of Mt Rosea. After the initial kilometre or so of reasonably flat terrain the trail continued to head up and we kindly greeted by a kangaroo on the path, it stared intently at us for a minute or two then bounded off into the bushes.

The trail became increasingly challenging as we came closer to Mt Rosea which involved several kilometres of rock scrambling and rock hopping, which was challenging with hike pack on your back!

We finally made it to the top of Mt Rosea after our 700m+ ascent from Borough Huts. The views were amazing and well worth it despite the windy conditions, which led to my sister’s hat being blown of the cliff’s edge. We enjoyed an early lunch and took in the views!

It was now time for the fun part of rock scrambling downhill, we took it slow and steady and chatted to quite a few hikers heading up Mt Rosea from the other direction. We continued along the ridge across the sandy track and down into Messmate forest past Rosea car park and travelled the remaining few hundred metres into Bugiga hiker campsite. The Bugiga campsite was quite unique with 12 purpose built camp platforms for hikers to camp their tents upon.

We didn’t enjoy a very good nights’ sleep due to quite windy conditions also losing an hour’s sleep due to daylight savings commencing overnight, we were up at 6.30am (5.30am pre daylight savings time).

Day 3 began with an ascent towards the ridge line as we headed over to Lakeview Lookout. The lookout provided stunning views of Lake Bellfield and beyond! It was great to remember we were on the other side of the lake only a day and a half ago. After Lakeview Lookout we continued our ascend up to the famous Pinnacle Lookout. It provided a spectacular view across the Grampians National Park.

We continued our rock scrambling down the other side of the Pinnacle down through Silent Street and past many day hikers as they headed up to The Pinnacle. It was great to see many family groups enjoying the perfect hiking weather. We continued our descent towards the Wonderland car park and planned to go through the Grand Canyon, but unfortunately this section was closed to track renovations, we went past the car park and followed the path to Splitter Falls and enjoyed the undulations as travelled beside Stony Creek and down to the Venus Baths. The baths were a very popular spot for the nice Spring day we had. We enjoyed the leisurely stroll back into Halls Gap which included going through the local Botanic Gardens.

The only downer for the trip came as we arrived back to the car to find we had a flat tyre, other than that it was a great long weekend.

I thoroughly enjoyed following the Grampians Peaks Trail in reverse to the suggested loop, despite the 8.5km ascent up to Mt Rosea on the 2nd day, I found the 2nd and 3rd days’ scenery and views to be thoroughly more enjoyable compared to the first day along the fire trails and this only happened due campsites being fully booked at Bugiga for the planned first night, so we decided to follow the loop in reverse.

I look forward to heading back to explore more sections of the Grampians Peaks Trail as it continues to be constructed to form the 144km (13 day/12 night) walk across the Grampians National Park, which is due to be completed in 2017.

See you on the trail!