Left Right Walks: Alpine National Park

STORY AND PHOTOS BY MAX BLACKMORE

I’ve done a few walks in the Alpine National Park, including to Mt Kosciuszko. For Kosciuszko, from Melbourne, you’d want it to be an overnight or at least stay at the base the night before you head off on a walk. It’s a lengthy 4 – 5 hours drive depending on where you are heading to, but there are plenty of camps on the way. A lot of the roads on this side of the park close for winter so you have to check whether the road to the mountain you want to hit up is open; either the sunshine and blue sky meant we forgot about this crucial aspect.

We initially wanted to get up to Mount Howitt in the Alpine National Park but after an epic and beautiful 4.5 hour drive we found that the road to Mount Howitt was closed. It was a shame – we’d been aiming for the Vallejo Gantner Hut, famed for its naturally composting toilet with a just as naturally spectacular view over the mountain ridge.

Undeterred we instead decided to hit up Mount Reynard, a lesser known mountain in these Alps. Reynard also has pretty much no signage, except for one signpost that has a picture of a car with a cross through, indicating I guess…that it is a walking track not a road.

There seems to be a lot of tracks around Mt Reynard that can end up taking you the opposite direction. You should try to remember the direction you came up so you don’t get too confused on the way back down.
Pictured: Homecamp X Tailfeather Simple Duffle
The track isn’t maintained either so it is really easy to get lost as we did again and again and again. This becomes a little stressful, but manageable with a little common sense and solar navigation.
There is a marsh or valley that is a bit of a picturesque short-cut as you head back down and if you’re game there is a stream running through that tastes as fresh as water can get.
Usually there would be a grill or barbecue but this track isn’t very well maintained so the best you can do is base your fire on a patch of dirt or rock away from dry grass and sheltered from the wind. Giving your fire a rock circle perimeter is a good idea.
Pictured: Camper socks in teal

The Sunsets are spectacular but sunrise is just as nice and other than getting lost it’s a great little trip. You also get to see the tiny one shop township of Licola.

Licola is a typical looking secluded and picturesque mountain town kind of like Halls Gap in the Grampians. It’s very small and as picturesque; as it is it seems to be heavily populated by aggressive sounding four wheel drivers and dirt bikers. The water tastes of earth as they treat it themselves. The river runs right through it and one of the roads out of town acts as a border between pristine national park and a 4-wheel track riddled state forest.

You may notice that the road closure gates don’t seem to stop locals entering, we saw a padlock that looked like it had been shot open by a rifle of some kind…

Pictured: Homecamp Enamel cups

Words and images by Max Blackmore. Max is a photographer and graphic designer from Melbourne Australia, and founder of Left Foot Right Foot walking and outdoor guides.