MOUNT BEAUTY to the MITTA MITTA VALLEY
(www.northeastvictoria.online - smartphone site)
TRAVELLING TIME: About two hours.
DISTANCE COVERED: 45km.
OVERVIEW MAP: Spatial Vision, Touring the Victorian Alps.
DETAILED MAP: VicMap 1:50 000 Mitta Mitta.
SUPPLIES / FUEL: Mount Beauty has a good range of shops and services as well as several fuel outlets. Mitta Mitta has a general store and a fuel outlet.
CAMPING: Mount Beauty has a good range of holiday accommodation, including a riverside caravan park. En route (just out of Mount Beauty) there is good camping at Tawonga South (on the Kiewa River) and at Mountain Creek (within the Alpine National Park). At the finish there is an expansive caravan park at Mitta Mitta.
WHEN TO GO: Anytime outside of the winter months. Seasonal closures from mid June until the end of October close many roads in the area.
TRACK DETAILS: This is a trip for 4wd vehicles only, but the route generally has a good gravel surface, albeit rocky in places, with some steep sections. If your 4wd has low range, and plenty of low speed grunt, this route is suitable for a 4wd rated camper-trailer.
OTHER INFORMATION: A straight-forward route for all 4x4 vehicles in dry conditions, with tall timber and some good views. See also the alternative route via The Hollow Way.
This is the very scenic, very back route from Mount Beauty to the Mitta Mitta Valley, utilizing some infrequently used bush roads.
Mount Beauty is located on the Kiewa River, set in a beautiful valley, with excellent views of Mount Bogong. The township has an array of shops and services, as well as motels and some restaurants. Like many other towns in and around the high country this one was purpose built as part of a hydro-electric scheme, the Kiewa Scheme in this case.
One of the main attractions of the area is the Alpine National Park, Victoria’s largest national park. The Park covers 6460 square kilometres of high country, stretching along the Great Dividing Range, through to the New South Wales high country. Here it links up with Kosciuszko National Park and then Namadgi National Park.
Overlooking the township, Mount Bogong, at 1986m, is one of the highlights of the Alpine National Park. It has the distinction of being the highest point in Victoria. This scenic tour, which basically follows an old cattle droving route, starts at the gateway to the Alpine National Park, at the Mountain Creek Picnic-Camping Area.
Access to this area is from Mountain Creek Lane (via Ryders Bridge) off the Kiewa Valley Highway junction, adjacent to the Bogong View Hotel in Tawonga South (about six kilometres north of Mount Beauty).
Mountain Creek Lane is sealed for much of its distance, but the last few kilometres are gravel. At the Mountain Creek Picnic-Camping Area your route heads off into the forest and is sign-posted Trappers Gap Road – summer route only (that is, a dry weather route only).
Wet conditions, including snowfalls (see photo) can occur at any time of the year.
Trappers Gap Road meanders for nearly 50km through the forest, generally heading north-east, to pick-up the Omeo Highway just out of Mitta Mitta township. This is quite a scenic byway with many tantalising glimpses of nearby Alpine peaks.
Trappers Gap Road is shown on some maps as Mountain Creek Road for a short distance from the camping area, being renamed at Trappers Gap (20km from town).
Shortly after Mountain Creek there is an intersection with four choices; Eskdale Spur Track is a sharp left (see separate description); Trappers Gap Road is a direct left; Trappers Creek Track goes more or less straight over and Trappers Gap Track is a right turn (confusing!).
The one you want is Trappers Gap Road which now swings to the north-east on its way to pass under the powerlines that link the Dartmouth Power Stations with the Mount Beauty and Dederang Switching Yards.
Dorchap Range Track is the next landmark (28km) and the route continues north-east, following Scrubby Spur, which begins a gradual descent to a small camping area (36km); the blacktop at 45km (where the road is now called Scrubby Creek Road) and finally the Omeo Highway a few kilometres later.
From here you need to turn right (south) to Mitta Mitta township, just a few minutes away, or left for Eskdale (see separate descriptions of each township - link below).
Alternative route via The Hollow Way
This is a pleasing optional route to Mitta Mitta township, and has the advantage over the main route (as described above) in that it offers many excellent views of the Mitta Mitta and Snowy Creek Valleys on the final descent to the township.
The route starts off as before, up until the intersection with four choices referred to above. However, this time you need to take Trappers Gap Track (also known as Camp Creek Gap Track) off to the right.
Trappers Gap Track/Camp Creek Gap Track leads to an unsignposted track (off to the left) and then a sweeping bend cum t-junction, where a side track (to the right) leads to one of the walking track routes to the summit of Mount Bogong. This sweeping bend is about 5.7km from the four way intersection, and is at GPS 36.42.129s : 147.18.873e.
Continuing on, it is a further six kilometres to where Granite Spur Track heads off to the right at GPS 36.42.393s : 147.20.200e. Granite Spur Track is one of the high country’s many seasonally closed roads, and provides bushwalkers with yet another alternative walking track route to Mount Bogong.
It is now a short drive to The Hollow, where there is a pleasant clearing with plenty of flat ground for camping, with The Hollow Hut being a stone’s throw from here.
A nice ridge line run now leads to another intersection where Rootsy Spur Track heads off to the right. This is at GPS 36.40.084s : 147.22.466e, and is about 19.7km from the four way intersection.
The route now continues to follow a ridge line before encountering an unsignposted y-junction at 23.8km (GPS 36.38.674s : 147.23.867e).
Keep right at this junction, and get ready for one of the most scenic descents in the Victorian high country, an eight plus kilometre descent to the floor of the Snowy Creek Valley, with many great vistas to stop and enjoy. This is a good route for the autumn, as the autumn colours, and the patchwork created by different land usages are clearly visible.
Once down on the valley floor, you need to make a left turn for Mitta Mitta village, a nice 11.5km away.
This last part of the route is on the Omeo Highway, and has many pleasing contact points with the alpine stream known as Snowy Creek.
As with the main description, the VicMap 1:50 000 Mitta Mitta will be a useful asset on this optional detour.
More details of the Omeo Highway can be found in the separate description of this scenic route.
WODONGA to OMEO (via Mitta Mitta township, Mount Wills, Glen Valley and the Blue Duck)
Mitta Valley Website - camping
Mount Beauty Visitor Information Centre
COPYRIGHT © 1995-2024, Chris McLaughlin.