On Walkabout On: Mt. Hickey & the Strath Creek Falls

Prior Posting: Mt. Disappointment, Victoria

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After hiking to the summit of Mt. Disappointment and visiting the No 1 Camp, the four wheel drive road we were following then continued on to Strath Creek Falls. The road to the falls was steep and rougher than the main road but still easily navigable in my Jeep:

Here is my Jeep arriving at the end of the road:

The steep dirt road ended at a picnic ground where a trail to the falls began. It was a short, but steep walk to the viewing platform overlooking the falls:

This waterfall is nothing like the much larger Steavenson Falls near Marysville because the drought this past summer had caused the falls the dry up completely. Here is a picture of the gorge the waterfall drains into:

This area would be quite scenic if there was actually water flowing here. We will have to visit here again sometime this winter when the rainy season hits and hopefully regenerates the waterfall.

After visiting the falls we drove back to the main dirt road and drove off the mountain and out of the state forest. Once outside of the state forest we found ourselves on saddle between Mt. Disappointment and Mt. Hickey. From the saddle you have a good view of the surrounding Victorian grazing lands. This view is looking towards the east from the saddle road:

As you can see much of the trees have been cut down on most of the hills to maximize the grazing land. Here is a view looking towards the west:

As you can see even the west has been mostly clear cut to make way for grazing lands. Once we drove across the saddle we could see Mt. Hickey looming right in front of us:

Once we started climbing again on the dirt road up Mt. Hickey we entered another densely wooded state forest land. The summit of Mt. Hickey can be reached by a four wheel drive road. The drive is quite easy, but the view from the summit was even more disappointing then Mt. Disappointment:

I really couldn’t see anything because of the power lines, a radio tower, and high trees. After driving up the mountain we decided to call it a day and drove back down the mountain and back to the nearby Hume Highway which we used to get home.

All in all if you are looking for an easy day trip from Melbourne and you have an off road vehicle, Mt. Disappointment and Strath Creek Falls is worth checking out. Mt. Hickey on the other hand is worth passing up unless you like views of power lines and radio towers. There are plenty of camping areas on Mt. Disappointment if you are looking to spend a weekend up there. Additionally I noticed the mountain was quite popular with motorcross bike riders, so if you are into that and looking for a place to ride, Mt. Disappointment might be the place for you.