We have all heard of the Great Dividing Range, it is the 4th
longest mountain range in the world, it holds all of Australia's
mountains over 2000 meters and is probably the most geological area
in the entire country!
Here is some more geological information about Mount Howitt and
the range it sits in.
The Great Dividing Range has it origins many millions of years
ago when the continents of earth were fused together as the
Gondwana land mass. A huge uplift in the earth's crust occurred
over millions of years, during the Pliocene and the Pleistocene
Epochs (between 5.4 million to 10,000 years ago). This was just
after the extinction of the dinosaurs and during the time that
modern humans first appeared. This uplift created a super long
mountain range. The mountains of the Great Dividing range might
have even been hundreds of meters higher, but during the time of
the first ice age, hundreds of glaciers replaced the calm streams
that run down the mountains, these glaciers carved out all the
ridges and rocky walls that we see today, take Mount Kosciuszko for
example, its a very flat area, scared with glacial lakes, these
lakes are all that are left of the glaciers that carved the
land.
There are no remains of the glaciers in the Victorian Alpine
regions, these glaciers carved out the land but after they melted,
they just left the small streams.
Where you will be standing when your GPS reaches 0 is the summit
of the magnificent Mount Howitt, Mount Howitt is your classic
location of geological activity, rocky ridges, flat plains, rocky
out crops, carved out valleys and much more features, take the
Devils Staircase for example, a massive ridge, at times, almost
impossible to climb with out ropes, though a few have probably done
it, this was probably there before the glaciers, but it would have
been a lot less extreme than what it was today.
**PLEASE CHECK THE WEATHER BEFORE
ATTEMPTING THIS EARTH CACHE!**
Alpine weather can change at any time, even during summer,
always come prepared You can check the weather in the region here
Mount
Howitt Weather Make sure you have a plan! Be sure to
take
1. Water, water is key, when hiking in the alps, make sure to
always take a few liters, there is NO water sources until you reach
the hut where there is a spring, this water is good to drink, but
is not treated so boiling it first would be a good idea.
2. Food, like water, food is key, there is no food feast
waiting for you on the mountain, so weather doing a day hike or an
over nighter, make sure to take some food.
3. Warm clothing, even if the weather is clear sky's, warm
and sunny, make sure to take a jacket, alpine weather can change
without warning, and snow storms can occur at any time, even in the
middle of summer.
4. Be prepared for a night in the alps. Weather your camping
or not, make sure you are ready for a night in the alps, if your
not planning on camping, but extremely bad weather is holding you
down, make use of the emergency shelters, if you are planning on
camping, make sure to take a tent, do not go relying on staying in
the hut. All though it is very unlikely this will happen, it is
still a possibility.
5. Always tell some one where your going and fill out the
book at the car park, its vital that some one knows where you are,
in case you were to have an accident.
Windy with snow showers, these are not ideal walking conditions,
the summit will be covered in clouds, and it will be hard to
navigate, this will also mess with your GPS.
Snow Showers, these are bad walking conditions, and sometimes
deadly, in winter, a snow shower can turn into a white out, and up
on an exposed mountain, you can get stuck, and freeze, when the
conditions are like this, please use your brain.
Sunny conditions, sunny conditions are perfect for walking, in
both winter and summer, there should be full visibility and the
temperatures just right, however make sure to take sun screen.
Cloudy weather is ok for walking in, so long as it is not going
to rain or snow, it can be hard to see at times, but the
temperature should be fine.
How to get there.
If coming from Melbourne, there are 2 ways that are good. You
can go around through Traralgon, then to Heyfield, from there up to
Licola. From Licola you take Howitt Road, this road will take you
all the way up to the car park where you can start your walk to
Vallejo Ganter Hut and the Mount Howitt summit.
The 2nd way is to drive up to Mansfield, from Mansfield you
drive over to Jamieson, from Jamieson it is 90kms along a unsealed
dirt road which will take you to Licola, from there you follow the
same route as the one above from Licola. The road is however in
good condition when you take into account how long it is and the
amount of work they have to do to keep it in good nick, however,
this road will be closed in winter, and you will have to take the
other way around.
Walking Tracks
The easiest way in is to walk from the car
park at the end of Howitt Road. From the car park it is 5kms to the
Vallejo Ganter Hut, from the hut it is 3kms to the summit, the
track is in good condition, however in winter, to get to the car
park, you will most likely have to ski along Howitt Road, plus the
distance to the summit. Please note that in winter, this will be a
5 star terrain walk.
The Cross Cut Saw, this is quite a difficult
track, you can start this walk at the Bluff Car park, then walk a
long way along the Saw to Mount Howitt. This will take a normal
person a few nights, so come prepared. This is also a 5 star
terrain track.
Make it hard, there are a number of
different ways you can take to get to Mount Howitt, you could take
a number of tracks from the Mount Buller ski resort, and make your
way to the Howitt area, you could even walk the Zeka Spur track,
even this would lead you to Mount Howitt. this will increase the
terrain level, and in winter it will be 5 stars.
In order to log this earth cache, you must
email me this information:
(1) Describe the colour of the largest rocks on the summit. If
the rocks are completely covered in snow during winter, you will
have to dig.
(2) Look directly NORTH and describe the features of the ridge
you should be looking at. NOTE, this question might be
unanswerable, it could be too cloudy to see the ridge, if this is
the case, let me know in the email.
(3) There is a trig point on one of the largest rocks right on
top of the mountain, please say in your email exactly what it
says.
(4) In your log please include 2 photos one of you and your GPSr
on the summit and one of your GPSr displaying the height of the
mountain.
All this info must be provided as well as the pictures.
Good luck and have fun on Mount Howwit!
379Jonti379