This years Easter trip was planned to be very "HUT" heavy. There have been a number of hut rebuilds recently, so we wanted to head off track and find the newest work, and also some of the non-burnt huts. It also took us to the North Eastern section of the park which we have not been to in the past.

Day 0 – Thursday (3.2 kms)

As usual, we arrived late at night at Round Mountain car park. The trip down had been quite uneventful, unlike last years drive! We left the car park at around 11:00pm, heading for Round Mountain hut, or perhaps even the Tumut river depending on our energy levels.

It took us about an hour to get down to the Tumut River, where there was a heavy mist already settling in the valley. With the moon being full and overhead, it made for an amazing view along the valley. We quickly set up camp and hit the tents for a late night around 12:30am. It was quite cool, around -2 degrees so we were expecting the night to be a long one!

Day 1 – Friday (12 kms)

I was up early, but had to wait a while for the rest of the crew to surface. I was a little concerned that they had both frozen to death over night as it was very cold, and there was no movement from the tents! Eventually the others rose from their slumber, possibly woken by the sound of the billy boiling up the mornings caffeine hit.

We ate, packed up camp and then started walking at 9:30am. Our trail was not marked from this point as we headed down river following the Western side of the Tumut River. The walking was relatively easy, until Eddy decided we should cut out a large corner of the river by climbing 30-40m up a cliff and down the other side. We reached the junction with Doubtful creek at 11:30am where we stopped for morning tea.

From here, we headed up to the ridge line above us, searching for a trail all the way. We found small signs of it half way up to the ridge, and eventually stumbled across the main fire trail.

The day was running away from us by now, so we made the decision to not climb Far Bald Mountain. So about 2km short of the peak, we once again left the fire trail and headed down hill through the forest towards Boobee Hut.

We were very surprised when we found the hut as it was just days away from being completed. The workmanship on the rebuild was first class, with even some authentic furniture being built within the hut! We debated for a while and then all decided that we would be best off camping here for the night, so we pitched tents around 4:00pm.

The evening we all thanked each other for making such a good decision on camp site, as the heavens opened up and we were provided an amazing lightening storm which was striking enormous bolts of electricity on the ridges all around our camp. Of course within the dry confines of Boobee hut, we were very safe and dry :) The storm didn't last long though, so we soon returned to the warmth of the fire for the rest of the evening.

Day 2 – Saturday (15 kms)

The next day we were slow to get started again. By the time we had finished all our morning duties, we had been joined by Craig Doubleday, who we seem to bump into every Easter somewhere in the park! After exchanging a few stories, we all head off in the same direction, heading for Cesjacks hut in the South.

We cut across Happy Jacks plain to what Craig informed us was an old water race, built back in the farming days. We followed this to the south, until we headed up over a ridge towards Mackay's hut. The hut is an original, and a very nice place for a morning tea. We rested here before following the Grey Mare fire trail a little, and then turning south again up another ridge.

This next track was quite a difficult walk, but we kept on going over several ridges and through a couple of grassy valleys. We stopped in the shadows of Spencer Peak for lunch before pushing on to find the old ruins of Moulds hut (thanks again Craig). From here we continued up to the top of the last ridge line, and then dropped down into the valley towards Cesjacks hut.

There were a number of people camping here already, so we stopped for a few minutes rest before pushing on across Doubtful creek. We left Craig here too, since he had already walked 7kms before he met us at Boobee hut!

We crossed the river and then traversed around the next hill until a good location was found just above the creek. We set up camp and got dinner underway, just before the rain started! We did manage to eat before we were too wet, but it was looking like an early night.

Shortly after hitting the tents, the rain seemed to stop so all of us but Eddy got up to try and get the fire going again - to no avail! And of course after re-entering our tents, the rain came down again anyway! It rained most of the night, but the morning brought with it yet another perfect day for walking :)

Day 3 – Sunday(12 kms)

We finally got away from camp at a respectable 8:30am, and tried to find the easiest trail up to the Jagungal Saddle. Despite the theory that this side of The Big J was an easy walk, there was still a lot of effort required! It was very windy as always, and there was also quite a bit of flora growth so we had to spend a bit of time walking around this.

We made it to the peak of The Big J by midday, where we took the obligatory group photo and then found some shelter for a quick lunch.

From the peak, we headed to the South West to find the "track most trodden". There was a well marked cairn that we found at the tip of the Southern ridge, and then followed the trail down the ridge to the Tumut river at the bottom.

We had a well deserved rest here, before heading off along the Tumut river just after 2:00pm. The plan was to traverse most of the way along the valley, but we were prevented on a number of occasions due to the tough terrain. There was a fantastic waterfall that we found only a few hundred meters down river that should be a good diversion for anyone walking the Grey Mare fire trail. We eventually gave up the valley walk and headed back up to the top of the Toolong range were we eventually found a decent camp site.

On the way up to the top of the range, we found some amazing rock formations that had probably been here for thousands of years created by the glacier activity through here in the past.

On this final night of our trip, we were finally presented with a perfect night. We had a great camp fire where we watched a so-so sunset, and a sky full of stars.

Day 4 – Monday (12 kms)

Of course with a clear night, comes a thick frost and this morning was no exception. It got the team up early though, and we were packed ready to go at 8:30am again.

While having breakfast, we spotted two emu's running across the valley floor which is something that I've never seen around here before.

From our camp site on Toolong Range, we headed down into the valley and then up to the Round Mountain fire trail. From here, the walk was relatively event free all the way back to Round Mountain car park.