Snowy surprise
We had to abandon a planned hike along the “Big Walk” today from the Mount Buffalo National Park entrance station to The Chalet.
The day began with heavy rain and the forecast of more to come. The Weather Bureau was predicting snow down to 1500 metres in the morning and 1000 metres in the afternoon.
The people I would have been walking with come from southern New South Wales and had travelled several hours to get here. The forecast earlier in the week, when we made our final decision to hike, was much more promising (isolated showers and 21 degrees).
It was disappointing for them, but the decision had to be made for safety reasons. The start of the track is very steep and could have been dangerous in wet conditions, likewise the rocky section near Marriot’s Lookout.
We didn’t want the weekend to be a total wipeout though, so we decided to drive up the mountain and walk to The Horn regardless of conditions. It’s less than 2km from the picnic ground to the summit, or if the weather was reasonable we intended to walk 5km from Buffalo Lodge.
It was with some surprise we checked the Suzuki’s inbuilt thermometer at the base of the mountain and saw it was just five degrees. By the time we were halfway up the temperature had dropped to three degrees and it was starting to sleet. This turned to heavy snow before we reached the Chalet turn-off.
We reached The Chalet about 8.30am and it was a glorious site covered in full snow. One of the visitors, a 16-year-old, had never seen snow before. We admired the scene and continued on towards The Horn.
The snow fell more heavily and became deeper on the road, but caused no problems for the Suzuki.
Nobody minded walking in snow, except the tracks were covered and hard to distinguish, so we parked at Buffalo Lodge and followed the road about 3.5km to The Horn picnic area.
There was snow falling as we walked and it piled up three or four inches along the road, dry fresh snow. It was unexpected and great fun, leaving us all with a wonderful memory. Snow doesn’t normally fall in this area until June or July.
As we arrived at the picnic area and lookout the clouds parted, as if on cue, to reveal the majesty of the ranges beyond. My guests were very impressed!
The snow was already starting to melt and turn to slush as we headed down the mountain. We stopped and walked the short section to Eurobin Falls, where the Upper Deck viewing area has now been re-opened after bushfire damage last year.
We avoided the crowds in Bright and went to Myrtleford for a farewell lunch.
I'm a 41-year-old father of four working as a newspaper editor at Mount Gambier in South Australia.
