Short Notice -Mt Cole Recon Sat 22nd Mar

[cj!]

Ross,

You might want to have a look around the area to the east of Mt Buangor. I think it was to the south of Little Wimmera Tk that we found the powerline track and off the base of that to the east there were other tracks worth investigating. Have fun

[mightymouse]

Using Vicmap 75232-S 1:50000 Topo

Joey, Andrew and yours truly.

Started off in Beaufort heading North on Main Lead Rd through the State Forest. Lots of tracks off to the right but all 2wd stuff - lots of small bush blocks in lightly forested, gently rolling country.

Drove on to Raglan and then took the Raglan-MT Cole rd and then Frees Pt Rd to the Mt Cole area. Drove South Boundary Track and then a loop of Mt Cole itself ( no track to Summit ) all easy, nice country but not challenging.

Continued up Frees Rd to Dairy Maid Rd and then along Jimmy Smith Rd to Ferntree Waterfalls ( West of Mt Buangor where we stopped for lunch.Again easy country seemingly quite popular with the weekend 2WD campers.

Headed back east on Dairymaid Rd and ended up back on Glut Rd ( only partly intentional ) then did Hutchinsons, Manly and Archies tracks across to Cave Hill. Still easy, but these were 4WD in spots. ( don't trust "Unmaintaied Road" on the map - everything seems to have been recently graded )

Turned north on Frees Pt Rd again towards Mt Buangor and ended up at Lookout Hill and the TV transmitters. Saw power lines and started following them and found "The Hill" on Glut Track. A few 4wd's at the top looking down but no-one driving it. Our excuse was it was 4 o'clock and time to start home.

Back to Beaufort via Glut Rd, Waterace Rd, Raglan- Elmhurst etc.

I can see why the navrun was run in the area, lots of small unmarked tracks and the main map can be a PITA to follow as there are differences in tracknames and some un-named tracks thrown in. Main tracks are well maintained with the tracks generally being the same and no problems for a stock 4WD ( except for "the Hill" ). Still some unexplored area to the north but not worth a trip on its own IMO.

So apart form "The Hill" - nice 4WD touring country without any real challenges - with the roads and tracks generally in very good condition.

Would make a great area for a club Navigation Run - a relatively small area, surrounded by well signposted boundary roads and enough missing details on the map to throw up challenges. Enough blank spaces on the Satnav also - and just at the wrong times.

Thanks to Joey and Andrew for tolerating my "navigation", although I did notice they weren't keen to take over the role when we were in unknown territory

[cj!]

It wasn't a Navrun that was held there but the Piranha Pursuit and by all accounts there are some good tracks in there BUT you need to know where to look. Apparently the Geelong Club have a map they inherited from another club that has some good tracks marked on it that aren't on the standard map or so I have heard. As you discovered in that area the Topo map and the tracks on a GPS and the actual tracks don't always correlate Bill and I had some minor navigational issues in there too

[andrew_wale]

Thanks for a great day Ross.

It was also a good navigation oversize.
Very dusty though...

I have now invested in a UNI Filter pre cleaner from the snorkel.