Half the Beast Howmans Gap, Victoria, Australia
By Rhinogeo on 08-Dec-07. Waypoint GC17W4X

Stopped by on my way out to Mt Jim on a maintenance run, and replaced another broken container with a fresh one that hopefully will last the winter.Placing the rock is much kinder on the container

My last cache find for 2023! TFTC - on top of the world - almost. Found on my AAWT SOBO solo walk. A lovely evening up here today. I walked further than I planned so know I need to find a camping spot.

Heading out to Cope Saddle for day 13 of the AAWT. Weather was turning, getting windy and I was glad this was a quick find. Amazing spot up on the high plains. TFTC.

Long walk in the mist

THIS NEEDS OWNER MAINTENANCE!
Logbook is completely water logged (but still got a bit too sign it) We are out bushwalking’s going to Mount Jim.
Beautiful walk through here we did about 2km of bush bashing to get here as we came from the pretty valley dam. Then we cut across.
This spot has beautiful views definitely needed to do as it’s only about 10km round trip (back to the Pretty valley dam) Thanks for this spot and hope to see maintenance on this cache soon as it would be sad to see this go. It took about 1 minute to find this cache as it was Pretty easy to figure out. Thanks for the cache hope to see maintenance soon.

Maintenance kindly undertaken by Skullracing on 25/04/2023

It was a lovely sunny day so I decided to beat myself to death up in the hills for a change. I came in the hard way from Hotham and made Pole 333 just as Planksconstant was leaving, we said hi then I went about the business of replacing the cache with a nice new container and a “write in the rain” logbook, we’ll see how it goes in the upcoming season, as next time I will try a Pelican case.
Cheers

Day late recoding as no reception at site Log is unfortunately soaked

Beautiful day up in the high plains. Hiking from cope hut to Tawonga huts on a school trip. Stopped here for a break and a chance for the group to catch up. Quick find once at GZ. TFTC and a cool name.
Needs urgent maintenance as log book is really wet and un-signable.

Out for a walk on a lovely day. Always love visiting Pole 333.

Needs maintenance.

Found while doing the alpine crossing walk. Log book to wet to use

Found with Lamby29! This is probably the longest I have walk to gain a cache.

On the 2nd of December Lamby29 and I embarked on an exiting journey which would last 6 days. We went from Diamantina Hut to a car park in Mount Beauty with a group of 16. By the end we were all tired and sore but all thought it was worth it.

Found! Chad and Rhys.

While staying in Falls Creek with my bushwalking club for the week. This was our turning point before we head off to Mt Jim. Nice easy find and fellows walkers were very impressed. Thanks for bringing me here Rhinogeo

Found @1:04 PM #7974
Great spot to stop for a short break with the pack off. A nice view of Mt Jim in the distance, will take a look... On the way to Cope Hut tonight following the pole line on the AAWT. A quick find here, no issues.

TFTC Rhinogeo

Found easily on a short rest break while hiking the Bogong high plains. Thanks for the hide!

With school holidays upon us and the eldest daughter having a holiday at her grandparents until Easter Sunday a spur of the moment plan was hatched to get a good hiking day in since the weather gods were looking favorable. We threw a bunch of kit into the car and headed up to Pretty Valley Campground late on Good Friday, arriving by 8pm. This allowed for an relaxed but early start and by 9am Saturday we were on the trails and it was a perfect blue sky day with not a cloud in the sky. All up 23.5km was logged along with several caches being ticked off as well.

This was the first we encountered and was pleasantly surprised to find it neatly tucked away at GZ. Still in high spirits we pressed on from here.

TFTC

Nice quick find on the way to Mt Jim, plenty of brumbies nearby

got wet shoes

We were up on the high plains enjoying the sunshine and walking around in circles, and we stopped by here and replaced the broken cache with a new container and fresh log book.
It seems that people are putting the rock back upside down that is breaking the lid.
Remember...keep the pointy side up

Cheers

Cache container and logbook very kindly replaced by Skullracing

The second time they have performed maintenance here without being asked [^]

Great weekend out hiking and camping cache found in desperate need of attention

Very water logged needs replacing

Enabled due to changes in COVID-19 restrictions

Disabled due to COVID-19

Visited this cache while i was out on the High Plains ski touring and staying at the Rover Chalet. As the pole was under snow all the way up to the signs. I did not want to dig down over 2 meters to try and find it. I will need to come back again over other seasons.

On the a hike and getting the first snow of the season, I have found it. On our way to Blair’s Hut. Thank you.

Found on a hike with ARPA Bushwalkers after climbing My Jim. Tftc

Super social spot to meet other walkers

Visited a few years ago but didn't log, very social spot

3 years ago I was leading a 5 day hike from Falls Creek to Mt Hotham, across the Razorback to Mt Feathertop and down to Harrietville when lunch for day 2 was spent at this spot. It was then that the cache was discovered by accident by one of my young charges. Back then I had never been caching and just told them to put it back where they found it.

Fast forward to the first week of December 2018 and we are here again, doing the same hike. This time I had been detouring off the track to find plastic boxes and ammo cans stashed all around this beautiful landscape.

Whilst the rest of my crew made a beeline for this pole as a lunch stop, I headed over to Mt Jim to find a couple of other caches. That was quite an exercise, but the mission successful. Now for lunch with the crew.

The half beast was tamed and observation logged at such a recognisable landmark. Thanks for giving us another reason to stop here.

Cold and windy up here today but found the cache so all good. First day of our Alpine Crossing hike....more snow than we had expected

Happy to see 333 boy muggld! Heading to Young’s!TFTC

With it being a million degrees down in the lowlands, we nicked off up into the hills to escape the heat, and as we were walking past this one, we saw the light on and called in and replaced the missing cache with a fresh sistemas and log book.
Lovely cool day up here today.
Cheers

Cache back in action courtesy of the kind work of Skullracing

The Cache is missing.
Checked while in the area and was unable to locate it.
We have previously found it.

Cache is reported as MIA . Disabled until it can be replaced

Has a beast removed the prize at 333? Can’t believe it’s not findable- not many options! Disappointed Long way to come but I’ll be back another time

we've been out hiking the last 3 days around here and was walking back to the car when we headed to find this famous post hubby kept talking about. We lugged our packs moaning and groaning (been 12 years since l've been hiking) and dumped them down at this pole and something to eat. Wasn't till someone said, "isn't this a cache" and lo and behold there it was in our hands. Log signed and happily at for a while longer watching some wild brumbies a few 100 mtes away eating/

Found on the second day of our our epic 4 day Easter hike, a circuit from Loch car park, over 6 mountains, visits to 6 huts and one heritage listed Alpine Gold Mine.

This was a lovely easy find which we felt we deserved after just completing MTMTE 2

TFTC at a very significant intersection from where we headed towards Tawonga Huts in search of `Mountain Cattlemen, Memorial Cairn and that's another story!

Sitting at this sign post on the Bogong Highplains having a break whilst being a Volunteer Track Ranger with Parks Victoria we suddenly thought "I wonder if there's a Geocache around here". Checked the GPS and saw that we were a metre away from one! Very quickly had the cache in hand and log book signed.

TFTC

5 days trekking from Falls Creek to Mt Hotham Loch carpark with purrfect75 and two muggles.
Thanks Rhinogeo for the hunting and cache.

333 a very important junction. We did a 20 km circuit through here today. Fantastic weather too.

Many thanks to Skullracing for the unsolicited maintenance to the cache. The generosity of many members of the geocaching community continues to impress

I was up wandering around and saw the light on so dropped into this one and replaced the container and log book with fresh ones.

Come and get it people.

Cheers

Found cache but very water logged, sorry didn't have new note pad or I would have added it. TFTF did not log as was wet.

Tftc

Great part of the alpine trail

Quick grab with Mrs Mochila. Box was cracked but log is dry. Fantastic day for hiking. Cache returned with better covering camo. TNLN TFTC.

TFTC. Great walk great views. With Mr Magee.

Found on a three day hike of the magnificent Vic High Country. Excellent conditions. Real brumby country. No muggles for kilometres! TFTC

Found during a 3-day walk around the Bogong High Plains with family and friends. We lucked out with great weather. What a wonderful place this is. The cache is in good shape. TNLNSL. TFTC!

Second find for the day hiking in the Bogong High Plains. Arrived at the spot and two packs were left, but no hikers in sight. Found the cache easily. Great spot and fantastic day. TFTC

Find #1433 logged at GZ at 15:39, will update shortly.... T4TC Rhinogeo!

I walked out from Hotham via Spargos and Dibbins Huts. I left my pack at the latter and ventured up here. For January it is not summer-like at all. What a surreal place.

Found it! Every year my bushwalking club spends a week in the Australian Alps alternating between Hotham, Falls Creek and Perisher Valley in Kosciusko National Park. It was Falls Creek this year! A walking trip to Falls Creek is not complete without walking across the Bogong High Plains and visiting pole number 333! The plains were beautiful with many plants in flower and little creeks flowing between the mossy bogs and grasses! As we sat at Pole 333, the clouds above gathered ominously and the raven gathered on nearby Mount Jim cawed loudly! Time to move on! TFTC SL Favourite from me!

Found it hiking with my sons.
TFTC.

No one comes for months then 2 visitors in one day! Day 1 of a 3 day AAWT expedition. TNLNSL thanks whoever left the pencil because I didn't bring my own. TFTC. Log was nice and dry.

This entry was edited by jonnosan on Tuesday, 30 December 2014 at 20:09:30 UTC.

Very windy

It was like Bourke Street, but Bingley3683 and I were the only ones geocaching. Bruised my finger retrieving this one. TFT bruise...

3rd and last cache in our triangular daywalk from Pretty Valley. This one was interesting because we passed two bushwalking packs piled up about half way up from Tawonga Huts, then saw two people heading for 333 from Youngs Hut, after we'd left this one - wonder if they were geocachers.
No logbook or sheet in this one - just someone's printout with a few signatures, so I placed a small logbook in the container, which is actually a 100ml Sistema, but still going well after nearly 7 years.....
TFTC! Small mob of feral horses several hundred metres away.....

This entry was edited by Bingley3683 on Sunday, 18 May 2014 at 10:46:55 UTC.

was out on a one week hiking trip with my outdoor education class and i insisted i take along the old GPS

our first day was a 15 km hike from a group of campsites close to falls creek to Ryders hut on the bogong high plains.


found this one as a whole group and was my first find of the week, thanks very much for bringing me here as it made me feel really small and insignificant, kind of eerie considering how far away from civilisation this spot makes you feel!

these hiking tracks certainly take the breath out of you!

Apologies for the late log. I was looking at the cache map around Falls Creek and remembered that I had found this one with Mtn Rangers and 3 work colleagues almost six months ago now. We headed this way via an equipment drop at Youngs Hut and a quick trip to cache Young at Heart.

The reason for coming this way along the Alpine Walking Track was to investigate potential Hawkweed sightings along the track. There were indeed some distinctive flowers along the way but these were paper daisies, rather than the dreaded Orange Hawkweed. Still, someone has to go out and have a look to make sure [:;]

Cache was a bit wet but we managed to sign it. Good to see fellow cachers have provided a bit of tlc since our visit.

It's always great to visit Pole 333. It is a bit of landmark on the Bogong High Plains. TFTC

[font=Georgia][green]Little detour needed?[/green]

From Mt Jaithmathang I pointed out two more caches so we decided to go for a little detour to get this one. Arriving at GZ the girls obviously weren't in for the detour from the detour so they left it here Cache content was a bit mushy but I didn't have any replacements - sorry.

Thanks and cheers
Philipp
[font=Verdana]

I found this cache as part of an awesome weekend out caching with friends. I was attempting to get 15 caches, all over 1700 meters in elevation as well as the local challenge cache that relates to this feat.

After a gruelling day out yesterday, followed by an awesome meal, a few sips of port and a nice sleep in our camping spot we gathered the troops for another hike. I needed 7 more caches today to complete the 1700+ challenge and I was keen to get it done. We packed up camp and headed into town to stock up on some supplies before heading out for more adventures.

After two previous finds at Mt Mckay and Mt Jaithmathang we headed down towards Mt Jim to try our luck there. We got to this cache easily, found it, signed the log and replaced it. º and I elected to go after the cache at Mt Jim whilst the girls headed back cross country to the car-park to begin preparing lunch.

[url=http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=1566cd2d-720b-4f3f-9334-9ed160fb64e5]My Next Log[/url]

Tftc

Found on an overnight walk out to Young's Hut from Langford West. A beautiful day but a mite windy. Had this part of the Bogong High Planes to ourselves apart for 2 brumbies in the distance. Found at 10:55. TNLNSL. TFTC

Easy find along my AAWT walk, today from Dibbins Hut to Ropers Hut. The weather was still great at this time, but it ended up raining later in the afternoon

#2544 It was our intention this summer to hike the Hotham and Falls caches....this was our last hike of the season and quite a long one. It was another one of those ungodly 3.30am starts as it was a good 2.5 hours drive from home to the Pretty Valley car park. This was our first cache for the day found at 8.55am - it was a bit of a slog to get to GZ as it was snowing & made for slow going. The high plain was also shrouded in cloud which didn't make for great sightseeing, on the return journey it lifted enough to see the high plain in all its glory. The cache was found safe & sound & in good condition although future cachers will need to bring a pen (what cacher doesn't carry some sort of writing implement ). TNLN our thanks to Rhinogeo for the cache, now on to Young Hut. We'll upload some photos shortly (when we have more energy )

Easy to find, quite a busy intersection. Needed my own pen. Left a 5 cent coin as there was nothing in the box except for the log.

found whilst hiking high plains style. ditto the last entry re paper and pen {couldn't find mine in backpack }. no geocoin either.had camped the night at youngs hut then out this way for cache, mt jim and lots of brumbie spotting. headed back down cobungra and up to mt loch carpark before storm set in. tftc rhinogeo

Lovley location amongst the brumbies!

Found in conjunction with other members of the Benalla Bushwalking Club, while on a 4 day hike from Harrietville to Pretty Valley Pondage, via Mt Feathertop, Blairs Hut, Dibbins Hut, and Youngs Hut. Thanks Rowan for an easy find, as I did not take the GPSer with me.

Found on a trip instructing Chisholm Institute Diploma Outdoor Education, 1st year students. Cache was soaking, replaced zip bag and left paper for log, removed old bag and log, no longer ledgable. No pen as well. Great cache on a lovely day. We had snow on Monday, then warm weather til Saturday. TFTC. Left GC.
Bushwalkingbandit.

Checked on this cache on way to Young's Hut. The container was full of water emptied but log book soaked needs replacing. Didn't have a spare with me

3.20PM.
Found this accidentally on the way to my campsite for the night. It was exposed by a muggle who decided it would be funny to place some horse manure inside. They wrote a note inside stating they were surrounded by 21 Brumbies. I Have removed the manure, logged my find and re-hidden the cache.

TNLN, TFTC

Very easy to find.
Someone was here in November or December and left a yellow whistle, which I took and I left a tumbled stone.
Walked from here to Mt Jim (rocky place) saw three brumbies close by, and met water-carriers back along the snow-poles track.
The big race (see Allancodans log) is on again tomorrow!

I have been at this pole many times before, walking from Hotham to Mt Bogong, Falls Creek to Tawonga Huts and return, Mt Feathertop to Falls Creek, etc, but this was the first trip since this cache was launched. Walked in from Bogong Village over Mt Fainter and on to Mt Jim and Wallaces Hut. For those touring across the High Plains I highly recommend a side trip to the waterfall off High Plains Creek at S36 56.372 E147 14.860 - a great place to swim and there are plenty of nice areas for the tent in there as well. While approaching this cache we saw a mob of 20 brumbies nearby. A great location. Dropped both Chomper TB and Globe-Trotting Smilie GC in and retrieved so they weren't here too long. TFTC

Nice walk out from Pretty Valley on a great day in the high plains. Left Sylvester the Cat and took travel bug dog tag. Had hoped to leave a beast I had but couldn't fit it in!

Found in the company of AussiePuschaks on a 3 day walk starting at Bogong village, over Mt Fainter and ending at Wallaces hut. Fanatstic weather for the labour day weekend and a great spot for a cache. We spotted about 15-20 wild brumbies in the distance which added to the high plains atmosphere. TFTC

I was on a five day bushwalk with freinds but after a minor injury to one member along the Razorback the chances of looking for this one dived somewhat. However some of us continued our walk and on day three we walked right up to this one on the way from Tawonga Village to Young's Hut. All members were by now in on the fun and the cache was of course an easy find. Thanks Rhinogeo for putting one out here. Love these more remote ones.

Those with keen eyes will see the weird thing that happened to the image!

Spent 5 hours at pole 333 today doing comms for the Roof Top Run. The 60 odd K race from Mountain Creek to Mt Hotham Via the Alpine walking Track and naturally Pole 333. It was a freezing windy day to stand around so signed the GZ and found enough room for a simple TB, so thanks for adding extra color to an exciting day.

Found this cache with Westy. We had an easy arvo run to go on so headed out from Pretty Valley Pondage. After the big climb up the hill, then a decent and a finally the accent up to the cache past awesome views of Feathertop we arrived at the cache. The climbs and 5km trip back were avoided by running straight back to the Pondage cross country for 2km. We both managed to avoid broken ankles which was a relief!

Awesome cache to start my tally for 2009. The plain out there is amazing.

Thanks for getting us out to these trails

It's Friday morning and feeling a bit lethargic after the Christmas break.So at 6.30am I took off from Albury for a walk to Young s Hut, good opportunity to bag The Beast on the way, I have past the Beast many times over the years. On one occasion in a blizzard, the Beast was a welcome sight .I was alone on the High Plains and just about to recover the cache when when a muggle approached a female solo walker who was walking the Alpine Track from end to end good on ya girl.
On to Young's Hut for lunch, one of the best Huts on the High Plains and a cache close by , returning (passing another female solo walker) to pick up the Beast on the way back. The High Plains is a great place to be this time of year
Thanks Rinogeo

Today was the chosen day to collect this cache and Young at Heart. It was overcast all day and at times, looked like it was going to rain, but it didn't. The walk here was nice and easy, as was the find - there weren't many places to hide it. No exchange was made. I knew what half the beast meant, but only when I arrived did I actually see thr proof of it. Thanks for the cache.

Found with other Rover Scouts in pox weather on a day trip from the Bogong Rover Chalet.

Taking advantage of the snow falls over the previous night/day we set out for this cache. Participants were Maelgwn, K8eus, FatNat, FatTamra FatDylan and myself from South Australia, and FatGordon from Victoria.

Visibility was around 50-100m, so we followed the pole line. Going into the wind on the way there so progress was slow. Much digging was required to retrieve the cache but fortunately it was where I expected it to be The ski back was much faster, having the weather behind us. After a late lunch at Cope Saddle Hut we returned to the Chalet.

A very enjoyable experience for me, a bit further from the Bogong Rover Chalet than Coping Well and Outdoors Type Point, so a definite 5 star terrain at this time of year

TFTC

Found with justcameron and K8eus on pox weather day. TFTC

Found with Phanton51 on an easy trek for a change. Have not walked for a fair while so it was an nice re-introduction. Took a short cut (which really was a short cut!) but waist high long grass without gaitors was a little unnerving. Took the longer way home the next day. Cheers

Well finally made it to the High Plains and after one of Sticklers famous shorts cuts through LONG grass and up the hillside (not quite as steep as the fire trail) it was good to sit and relax and fill in the log.

Was a great day for walking and the weather was perfect.

Found with Hiker3 on a day walk out from Youngs Hut. I also have been past here many times, including one memorable occasion whilst walking the Australian Alps Walking Track.

The cache location was quite unexpected! Dropped in a Geocoin. Thanks Rhinogeo!

Found on nice day hike from Young's hut where we camped after hiking from McNamara Hut on a great weekend hike and camp. Have been to this point many times as some many tracks come through there. TNLN

Found at 10.05am on a very warm day,
We were returning from Mt Feathertop via Westons hut after a 4 day walk across the alps,
Great scenery from GZ, You can see snow poles as far as the eye can see
If you walk 600m further west the Feathertop panorama will unveil itself, stunning.
TNLN
Thanks
K&M

Rated: for Overall Experience

Missed the FTF by 1 day. Was a very easy find, the blue on the container was visable to anyone standing on the north side of the pole. Tried to cover it best I could.
Amazing how many people turned up whilst I rested here, both on the way to Youngs hut and on the way back.
Picked up Geocoin to move on.

Cheers, TFTC.

Found! Woohoo! It's great to get a first to find!!! I spend the Xmas-NY doing day walks from Falls Creek. It's a very easy find. Thanks Rhinogeo! I took the coin...

Do it in Summer then [:p]

Under a rock? Sounds pretty hard in Winter :s

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