The idea for this trip came from an article in Wild from summer 2021 which said that "this is undoubtably one of the best bikepacking routes Oz has to offer". Now that's a pretty big call given the rides I've done in Tassie, but it did get my attention. When the opportunity arose to visit some friends as well, I decided it was time to make plans. As I was travelling with a bike, and starting and finishing in different remote places, the plans ended up being quite complicated, but with a bit of help from my friends (and friends of friends) it all came together in the end.
This is the original route, although I started in Eucombene, finished in Jindabyne and made a detour to Khancoban (mainly for ice-cream) from Geehi. All up it was 302km with 7480m of elevation which makes it the steepest long ride I've done.
Mt Jagungal is Australia's seventh highest mountain at 2061m but it's a doddle when you're passing by on the Australian Walking Track. An easy walk but still very snaky, like the rest of this trip. I don't think a day went by when I didn't see at least one snake (red bellied blacks mainly but also copperheads). It certainly kept me on my toes.
O'Keefes hut was burnt down in 2003 and was rebuilt in 2008. The O'Keefe family have supplied some new furniture from their property and the caretakers have re-papered the walls with donated newspapers from the 1940's. I camped here on the first night and had the place to myself.
The long and winding road of the Grey Mare Fire Trail contains plenty of steep pinch climbs which required quite a bit of hike-a-bike.
The warm weather (even at 1000m elevation) meant that the march flies were ferocious whenever I stopped until the sun went down. I detoured to Grey Mare Hut for lunch and for some reason the march flies didn't follow me into the hut, even with the door open. It was a welcome break and I made the most of it with an extended lunch break.
Valentines Hut is a distinctive hut nestled amongst the snow gums and close to Valentines Creek where I had a swim. I camped nearby on the second night and fell asleep under a clear sky full of stars.
There were a lot of river crossings, including this one at Geehi. With the warm weather it wasn't a problem having wet feet most of the time but in colder weather this would be more of an issue. The next section of the route followed Boardman's run, which is part of the Bicentennial National Trail. Unfortunately it seemed a bit disused as it was overgrown with long grass and fallen trees.
This is me looking pretty pleased with myself after the brutal 1300m climb up to Dead Horse Gap. It was worth it though to reach this campsite at the Cascades in the Pilot Wilderness Area. At 1500m it was cold enough to have ice on my tent in the morning, which was a huge change from the heat of the previous afternoon.
The last section around Lake Jindabyne should have been straightforward, unfortunately the lake level was very high resulting in the trail being underwater. There's a bridge in the photo above which wasn't much use. Eventually though I rolled in Jindabyne after four and half days. So was it "one of the best bikepacking routes Oz has to offer"? I'll let you decide.
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