Michell Hut Mitta Mitta, Victoria, Australia
By Bingley3683 on 29-Dec-14. Waypoint GC5J8J9

I have been coming up to Mt Bogong for years but have never been down Eskdale Spur as I live in Gippsland and the quickest way for me to get to Cleve Cole hut is via the Long Spur. Being a member of the Mt Bogong club which take cares of Cleve Cole hut, I attended the annual working party this weekend which usually takes place on the Anzac weekend. When they asked for volunteers to go to Granite Flat carpark to take empty gas bottles and bring back full gas bottles, I thought it was about time I saw what most people have to do to access Mt Bogong. I had 2 packhorses with me (that is 2 young strapping fellows who needed a purpose to burn off excess energy) so after visiting the summit and having an early morning coffee we backtracked to Eskdale Spur and headed down to the carpark. After swapping the empties for the full gas bottles we headed back up. Then we decided to visit Michell Hut as well so once we got to the hut and checked it out I headed out to find the cache, a quick find and then back to join the others. All good with the cache, ready for another snow season!TFTC

Enjoying the hike up toward New Zealand Beekeeper -- thank you for placing a cache here! A favorite for the location.

Quite a track up here but the views are reward enough. Saw a lyrebird on the track and took it as a good omen. So far the weather is holding up. TFTC!

We are currently enjoying one of our semi-regular hiking adventures up in our favourite part of the world once again; the Victorian Alpines. A few times a year, we are down this way visiting family in the north-east from the NSW central coast. For the annual xmas trip we try to fit in some adventure and this year it's Bogong.

We climbed the summit via the Staircase in just under 5.5hrs. Then we split into two groups; lady novo and eldest geokid carefully and slowly beginning the return journey (this time via the Eskdale Spur) whilst youngest geokid and I kept going west to find the *Ice and Fire* cache on the Hooker Plateau. We then headed back over Big Fella and DOWN to meet up with the other two novos who were waiting down here at Michell Hut. Turns out they only arrived 10 mins before we did! At GZ we were a little perplexed; after eventually giving into the hint, I was not keen on diving into this dense flora but that's what it took and sure enough there it is, very nicely hidden and safe from muggly passer-by's. TFTC, Bingley3683.

We arrived here at the hut just after 4pm where a number of folks were setting up camp for the night including a couple of lads who had come up from the Granite Flat carpark. We swapped some fruit and nuts for some Doritos with them and shared our day's experiences. From here we continued on down the Spur which was BRUTAL, all the way down to Camp Creek Gap where we then took the little ferny short-cut trail onto Mountain Creek Trail where we walked on a relatively flat road for around an hour, crossing the COLD river in our bare feet on a couple of occasions. An awesome day! All up an 11.5hr hike.
#1553

now I know why noone attempts this in winter. I was at gz but assume it was under about 2m of snow! A lovely camp for the night and I will be back in summer.

On a Geocaching trip with day1976, we camped at Mountain Creek Campsite the night before, and made our way up to Granite Flat on the Sunday morning, to begin our big hike from the 4wd access point. I'm sure it was much easier than either of the other two ways, but it still felt very difficult to me!
Coming back down we stopped off at Michell Hut to use the toilet, and then day1976 found this cache for me, as I was worried about snakes and ants in the bushes!
My knees were sore after the descent, and my glutes too, so I'm extremely glad we went the 'cheat' way up.

Found at 10:07:00 AM

The walk up to here was one of the steepest I have done. At least for that long. Making the spur proper from the start was probably the worst. After a DNF at the bottom, thankfully this was a quick find.

Thanks Bingley3683

Nice spot, and well hidden off the main track. TFTC!

Pretty sure Bingley has a cache on every hill/mountain in NE Victoria.
Im guessing the undergrowth was a lot smaller when this was places as it was a super dense 2m just to get to the cache.
Everything still in good condition. Thanks

Quick grab on the way to the summit. TFTC!

This was our last for the day on a hike up and down the mountain. While everyone else was resting ad eating food, I quickly ran over to this one and after a little bit of searching I found the cache. Signed the log and returned. TFTC

TFTC. Beautiful day for a climb.

A bit of a welcome spot for us as the water was running low and it was nice to sit down after a bit of knee bashing coming down after a night on the top. The cache was a little difficult to find at first but we got there in the end. Signed and returned.

Thanks for the cache.

FBTJ #3044.

Great hide. Thank you.

Found on the way down - this leaves me 1 step away from claiming Day’s mega-challenge-elevation-cache located on Howitt Spur.

Just too easy.
What you do is go up with a troup of other personel after after abandoning the characters that couldn't get there, the bananas arrived last.
Fortunately not so last that the forward party had packed up and moved on. No, the remnants were still hovering and with that the bananas signing in the last place of this little touring group.
Safely stashed that it will be almost impossible to find next time without following the hints.

Unless the impending bushfires have other ideas.

11:12 am #8553
A great place to stop for a breather and a snack. Lungs getting used to the altitude and smoke from nearby bushfires.
Thankfully no frostbite here today. Perfect weather conditions meant for a comfortable hike up Bogong.
Thanks for bringing us here by placing and maintaining this cache, Bingley3683

After an overnight rest at the Mountain Creek campground we started making our way up to an event on the Big Fella summit.
A big concern was a nasty cold that I'd had for a few days, meaning I could not exert myself and had to ascend at a much slower pace than usual.
With bush fires burning within 3km of our route and a lot of aerial activity indicating the seriousness of the situation we kept as close a watch on the skies as we did on the ground.
The hut was a welcome sight, as was this GZ just before we got there.
The incidents and deaths that have happened around here are a reminder of how seriously these mountains have to be taken. Speaking of that, we need to get above the treeline quickly and have another look at the progress of those bushfires...
Thanks Bingley3683.

Our small tribe of hikers had set off from Mountain Creek camp this morning to reach the top of the highest Victorian mountain to celebrate the small feat at jacko's event. Michell Hut was the perfect place to take a breather and enjoy a snack as we took in the great views all around us.
Thanks Bingley3683 for giving us some history on the hut with this cache.

A great day out trekking to the top of bogong with an amazing bunch of cachers. A pit stop here for some snacks and banter. Now onwards to the peak - hope those bushfires stay away! Tftc

Cruisie hike!

I stopped on the way down at Mitchell Hut for some lunch, and thought I'd collect this cache before heading down further.
Relatively easy find. Certainly no need for stealth this time - I saw no one around from the time I got up the staircase spur to the time I got back to Mountain Creek.

What better way to spend AFL Grand Final day than by walking up Mt Bogong - especially on a blue sky day with NO wind! Our second geocache for the day and a surprisingly easy find given the amount of snow still hanging around in the area. Two more on the list for today, but don't think we will find them ...

TFTC.

A quick find on the way down from the summit. Thanks for the clue, it would have been tricky without it.

We hiked up here today from Granite Flat. We did this hike to the top last year and enjoyed it so much we returned for more.
After taking photos at the cairn and finding two other caches at the top we returned to Granite Flat via the Eskdale Spur track to check out this hut and find the cache placed here. Thanks to the good hint we found it no problems.

The Description above is an interesting read. Thanks for that.
Thanks too for placing the cache Bingley3684. All is good with your cache.

We were travelling in 2 groups while we wanted to travel in 1. I was at the back with my dad and Daddykool while Buhfuhguh, Skullracing and ahomburg were at the front. Therefore when I got to the cache, Buhfuhguh had it in his hand. No finding required! Although I did want to find it myself .

A little detour in order to find this one. It was a quick find for me as buhfuhguh already had the cache in his hand when I arrived to GZ. Just as well, we had a fair bit to go in order to get to the event site further up on Warkwoolowler. We also briefly inspected the hut together with Day1976, Yeah09, skullracing and ahomburg.

The walk is on and time for one of the caches of the day. With Ahomburg, Day1976, DADDYKOOL, and Skullracing in tow, we were off and powering up the trail. With attending the event was the main goal for some on the day, my goal was really to get as many caches up on the hill as I could.

This was the first cache on the trail today and a quick find at that, upon arriving at gz I quickly found the cache and soon had my name in the log. Anyways thanks for the cache and the adventure.

With an event in the area today, I found myself once again in the company of Na'wal. With neither of us having been here before, we were frothin' to get to the peak. The weather was looking good as well, which is always a bonus. The drive in along the Eskdale Spur track was very scenic, with plenty of creek crossings along the way. Once we parked at the carpark, it was time to kit up and hit the track.

The start of this track is unforgiving, as it just climbs and climbs. But we had nothing to prove, so plenty of rest stops were taken. There were a few flattish sections, but they were very short indeed. The ghost gums were amazing to see, as were the views in between the trees. We weren't expecting any snow, especially not down so low, but there was plenty about !! Eventually we spotted the hut and set about finding the hide.

The snow made finding the cache harder, but Na'wal made the find. After a bite to eat, we explored the cabin and surrounds. Thanks for bringing us here, now onward and upward... TFTC Bingley3683

DAB and I put plans into place a number of weeks ago to tackle Victoria's highest peak. We were lucky today with the weather being not too hot but what we didn't expect was to see snow. The drive to the start of the spur track was nothing but bumpy. Full 4WD mode for 8km's just to get us to the car park. 12 creek crossings along the journey and 1 fallen down tree that was cut only a short time before our travel along this very thin, single lane road that was a pleasure to drive along. Once we were at the car park, we grabbed all the things we needed for a long hike.

The trek started out tough. We had a bit over 5km's to the summit with the hut about half way. We took our time, not needed to rush anything and we are glad we did. The first 750 meters was tough going. As we approached the hut, we saw snow. Lots of it [:o] Not what we were expecting, but prepared for it no the less. After about 2 hours we finally reached the hut. We put our packs down and went for this cache. It was not an easy find at all. The clue helped but only so much. After stepping in snow all over the place we got the GPSr down to 2 meters and then as we used the clue, we saw it tucked away. Afterwards we checked out the hut, had a break and went off in search of the summit....

**Thanks to Bingley3683 for hiding this cache for us to find and enjoy**

A quick find on a detour on our trip back from Cleve Cole for a the weekend. Had a crack at this one last year, but the 2m + of snow was determined not to reveal it's secrets. Thankfully there was a lot less to contend with this weekend.

So with some last minute shift of activities and a check of the weather a detour was made. A reasonable start and on the track by about 8am after the multiple creek crossing. Lucky we had a vehicle with a bit of clearance.
Up the spur track we headed and it just seemed to keep going up so it was a welcome sight to see the hut. The cache was soon located and our name added to the log. TFTC.

Em Route to Bogong to ski Cairn Gully. A day trip via Eskdale is so doable. Reminiscing about a hike 17 years ago after the 2000 bushfires when the track was finally opened - it was totally black and not a blade of grass was to be seen. Hut always a welcome sight. TFTC

Enroute to the CITO event at Cleve Cole Hut I stopped here for some breakfast (and to catch my breath).

It really is quite sobering seeing memorials such as that to the 2 young snow boarders that perished in the avalanche just above here not so long ago. How easily a tragedy can happen.

Thanks for the cache placement here Bingley. It helped to break up the climb up the mountain.

After tackling the staircase earlier on in the day, I took Granite Flat and made my way straight to the hut with the overnight gear. I set up camp and starting collecting firewood. Whilst I was there I decided I might as well finish the day looking for a cache.

Found, signed and returned. Cheers and thanks for highlighting this gem of a spot. It was a cool place to spend the night.

Found at 10.30am after the energetic climb up from the gap. This was overnight stop so I had plenty of time to get camp organized and have lunch and then look for the cache. I have stayed here many times over the years and believe the new hut lacks the character of the old cache burnt down some years ago.
A gentle wander and a rummage and the cache was found, albeit in a different container.
The views of Bogong are still stunning
TNLN
Thanks
K&M

Great location. First trip up the big fella

Found @08:12 #5874
Found this one on the way down from 2 nights at Cleve Cole, took the staircase track early Friday morning. Some perfect conditions. In summary it took me 5.5 hrs to get to the summit and this morning it was just over 2 hrs from hut to hut. Wow the track got worse further down and glad to see signs saying that a realignment activity is in the works. It took me another 1.5hrs to get to the bottom from Michell and grateful to TeamOaky for a lift back to the car waiting at Mountain creek camp ground.

TFTC Bingley3683

**Date: 8 January 2017
Time: 8:20 AM
Find #8188**

Road trip time!! The plan was to drive the B500 from Bairnsadale all the way to Wangaratta, with a stop or two along the way, including a side trip to Mount Beauty and a bit of a walk to the top of Mount Bogong and back . The weather was looking like it would be fantastic for the next 3 or 4 days, so it was on!!

On the way back down the hill with SedgwickDave, day1976 and Team Oaky, this time via Eskdale spur. Day and mark had already found this one, so they took a break at the hut while Dave and I went in search of treasure

**Thanks to Bingley3683 for the cache. TNLN. **


*Big things are happening! Are you joining the fun?*

[THE](http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC6GFDX)
[ALEXANDRA EVENT](http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC6GFDX)
[2017](http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC6GFDX)

*18th / 19th November 2017 - GC6GFDX - Alexandra - Victoria*

A quick find on the way home from the GeoEvent at Cleve Cole Hut. Almost getting blown off the mountain coming down it was nice to reach the tree line and get some shelter from it, although it reminded us that it was in fact hot and muggy still.

TFTC Bingley

***@7.15 PM Cache # 1326***

###Now I’ve alway thought this was Mitchell’s hut Damn Dyslexia ###

##3rd find on the Summer Camp 2017 weekend Yeah!##

*Early start of 6.15am up Eskadale for the summer camp 2017 Event, it was going to be a hot one but I just made it above the tree line before the temperature got to warm and was lovely greeted by a welcome cool breeze. stopped at the hut for a second breakfast and of course this strangely unloved cache, (just quietly I’m starting to believe the majority of cachers are slackers) also picked up some other travellers that stayed here who were also heading to the Event.
The new cache container and new log were in excellent condition*



***Thx Bingley3683, another prime spot to highlight with a geocache***

La ringrazio molto il mio amico
Cheers
Teamaky

Bombed up Bogong to check on this one, these sistemas re not waterproof despite having 4 clips! So replaced with a poly container... new logbook and pencil and a TB from Minnesota!

On the way back down from Bogong

Came by with drjim7 and had a little rest here.

Found this on my second climb of Mt Bogong in a month. I must be nuts. Today though wasn't the staircase, it was the sweet gently moderate uphill walk along Eskdale spur. Who am I kidding. The cache took a little while to locate and ended up being near a spot I had already checked, just not well enough. Was a fair bit of water inside and the log was damp, but not soaked. Not the best container for this elevation I guess. Thanks Mick for a great spot though!

At some stage during yesterdays mammoth bush bash over to Macs hut, someone came up with the brilliant idea to climb up Bogong today......yay......so, here we are....making our way up Eskdale spur much slower than the rest of the BWWC members bounding along ahead of us......makes you want to slap them.....
Anyway, this provided a bit of welcome relief from the land of the never ending up, and fortunately, the cache was already out and on the ground drying by the time I swanned in. so I could sign my name in the book and go to the hut for a spot of morning tea....and a bit of a sit.

Thanks Mick for the pitstop cache at a nice hut...that unfortunately more people seem to feel the need to sign their names on the walls than the hut book.

Now, onwards and upwards......

Whipped past on a day walk up Bogong.

### Feddisch ###

Finally I got around to find this one - without snow. With the hint being slightly off, I never stood a chance to find this under a big blanket of fluffy white. As expected the box was a bit damp - sistemas aren't really made for hides above the snow-line.

***Thanks and cheers**
Philipp*

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Big things are happening! *Are you joining the fun?*

[**THE**][sc2016]
[**SURF COAST**][sc2016]
[**EVENT 2016**][sc2016]
[sc2016]: http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC65688 "The Surf Coast Event 2016"

*12th / 13th November 2016 – GC65688 – Anglesea – Great Ocean Road – Victoria*

Found the hut!

We decided we'd try hiking up Mt. Bogong via The Eskdale Spur to Michell Hut.
Well what an adventure we had!
After racing home from work on sat, had a quick bite to eat & we set off down the road full of excitement.
We were well prepared for the weather as rain was predicted.
Parked the car at Camp Creek Gap and off we went.
Within a few minutes we were literally slapped in the face with a "Welcome to Mt.Bogong" moment!
That track just went up, up, up & up!
Lots of trees down, some beautiful views along the way.
About half way up I realised that this was not going to be easy at all, I knew it wouldn't be, but boy oh boy I was starting to wish maybe I didn't pack so much in my backpack!
Finally after 2hrs of climbing up & up we hit the hut.
There were people already set up, so after a bit of a chat we headed up a bit further for a look see, there was no way we'd make the summit & back to the hut before dark so we explored in and around the hut & obviously found the cache!
Cache was a bit wet, so I gave it a wipe out to dry it, signed the log & tucked it safely away again.
We set up our tent, cooked up dinner & enjoyed the company of the people who were there & another 2 hikers who stopped in on their way down just before dark.
A rain storm hit at about 2am, lots of lightening & a bit of thunder.
Awoke early & enjoyed the peacefulness of this beautiful place.
We're really looking forward to coming back here & making it up to the summit next time when we have more time up our sleeves.
Thankyou for the cache, it was a lung buster but so worth it!
I'm giving it a favourite point because of where it is & the whole experience we had in getting there.

[font=Tahoma][purple]Planned Excavation[/purple]

I had a quick dig with the snow-shovel but gave up pretty quick > the good weather and the option of having pancakes for breakfast was way more appealing than digging in the snow for a small cache without a usable hint / spoiler

I guess this has to wait till the snow is gone.

[green]Thanks and cheers
Philipp[/green]

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Big things are happening! Are you joining the fun?

[url=http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC5GCJ8_the-melbourne-event-2015][black]THE
MELBOURNE[/black][/url]
[url=http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC5GCJ8_the-melbourne-event-2015][red]EVENT[/red][/url] [url=http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC5GCJ8_the-melbourne-event-2015][black]2015[/black][/url]

14th / 15th November 2015 - GC5HCJ8 - Casey Fields - Melbourne Victoria

YAY Joint 2TF with Team MVB. I was on my way up to the summit for the very first with MVB, to be a volunteer official for the Conquestathon. Michell hut was our first stop and I thought I should check to see if there was a cache and sure enough there was. With accurate co-ords the cache was soon in hand. The cache was duly signed and returned for the next finder. Thanks for this great cache placement.

(ftf) Weekend walk up the big one. Staying at c.c.h overnight. thanks for the cache. Always a good day to get a first to find

This entry was edited by robinson_family_oz on Sunday, 08 March 2015 at 12:03:42 UTC.

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