Big Fella Bogong, Victoria, Australia
By kake is good on 23-Apr-05. Waypoint GCNP3Y

Great overnight up here. Was passing time waiting for the wind to drop this morning for a pilot take off and thought to go looking. Lucky me!

here we are the track crestedthe final plodding steps we emerged onto the mountaintopyears of speculation a day of driving hours of chugging up the hill andwe were here there was a man camping by the cairn his green tent had its door open, flapping wildly in the windalthough it was only midday, he was resting up in his sleeping bag we wavedhe waved back kicking back on top of the world we made the detouroff away over the alpine grassour old-fashioned compass coming in clutch and emerged with a treasure of an old cache thanks for the adventure you picked an almighty spotgreat to knock this icon off

Woohoo! After a failed attempt last year it was awesome to make it all the way to the top today. After the requisite photos, I calculated GZ and headed off. I still don't understand the difference between true and magnetic but luckily managed to spot something while wandering around and there was the cache. Loved it! Tftc

We climbed Big Fella today!

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 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 set off from the Staircase Spur at 8.08am, arriving at Bivouac Hut at 10.26am for a rest stop, and then after a few more stops we finally made the summit (after the ~1300m climb) at 1.24pm.

The weather was pretty good on the way up but once we broke through the tree line, the wind noticeably picked up. But once at the final turn approx. 250m from the summit, the wind was completely NUTS so that was where we changed clothes and donned the wind breakers. Once at the summit we enjoyed a lunch break, having the area to ourselves for about 15 mins before meeting a muggle who was a seasoned hiker on his way to Cleve Cole Hut for the night. It was great talking to him as he confirmed locations spied clearly from the summit such as the Horn, the Kosciusko area, Feathertop and Hotham, and Dartmouth dam.

Once we were finished at the summit, we broke 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 went to make this find and also hopefully some of the ones out on the western plateaus, to then backtrack and meet the other two down at Michell Hut, estimating being approx an hour behind them.

The hide here at big fulla was tricky as we (I) must have made an error with the projection because we made the find some 30m or so round from where the GPS said. Once we made the find here, the rain kicked in a bit but the wind was that strong that we didn't really get that wet. We then set off for the caches out along the western peaks however the further west we walked the stronger the wind and rain got so we only made the first of the three caches at the Hooker Plateau as we decided to pull the pin and quit while we were still ahead. It continued to rain (on and off) back across big fulla and all the way down to about the treeline on the Eskdale, which turned out being the toughest part of the whole day due to the potential of slipping on the wet rocks down this very steep part of the spur. We then finally met up with the other two at the hut at 4.03pm where they informed us they had only arrived ten minutes prior! So it all worked out pretty well.

The descent from there down the rest of the spur was full on BRUTAL on these 50+yo knees of mine but once down beyond the Gap on the flat(ish) Mountain Creek 4WD track (heading westwards towards the Staircase trailhead to sign off), it was a little easier again. This section of the walk took us through a number of different trails/ short-cuts and eco systems, not to mention two of three water crossings which involved removing the shoes. Water was COLD. The full loop of the Staircase Trailhead took us 11.5hrs all up (arrived back at 7.39pm). All afternoon from Michell Hut it had threatened to pour with rain and while it did sprinkle on and off whilst down on Mountain Creek 4WD track, it held off right until we got to the car where it finally dumped just as we drove off!

Today was probably our toughest day's hiking yet but still (perhaps oddly) one of the best ways we could have finished 2022 that we can think of! The Victorian High Country never disappoints! TFTC, kake is good.
#1548

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.
I made it! The highest mountain in Victoria!
Day1976 showed me how to work this multi out, but had projected a bit off coords, and so as I wandered off a different direction to try find the cache, he yelled out that he had it in the opposite direction.

Such a lovely view. Found with hello sunshine on a fantastic long weekend hike

What a view! Had to laugh at the contents of the cache. TFTC ️

Found at 11:44:00 AM

I had no idea how to configure my GPS to project a waypoint in magnetic north. Also, not having a local map on me I had no idea of the magnetic declination of the area. So I just projected a waypoint in true north and looked west for some area as described and was mega surprised to be able to find this cache!

Thanks kake is good

We left our nice campsite for the Mountain creek track. Then we started to climb up UP UP the staircase track. Quite steep but nice track. At the top the view was awesome. The wind was also there ! And group a hiker had a lunch break at the top so we decided to take our one. When the summit was more quiet we went to GZ for a quick found.
TFTC +1 favourite point.
- / - / -
During our holiday road trip in the high country victoria. It was a very nice and surprising trip in this part of the Australian Alps. Some highlights were the Mt Bogong, Mt Feathertop also called " Queen of the Alps", Mt Buffalo and Mt Buller.

Great spot!

Its a very anti climactic stroll for the last 100m to the top, with a few groups hanging around the cairn coming out to this spot was a great way to have a bit of the mountain to myself.
Cache was found in great condition.
Didn’t find anyone special on the way up to use the condom with, but thanks anyway

Didnt read description properly and used true north. Found very quickly after a second read haha
TFTC!

On an epic hike up and down bogong, it was good to finally pop out of the trees and see the mountain ahead. So after a bit more walking, we reached the top. After having some lunch and stuff, I went to go find the cache. But, to my disappointment, my phone had gone flat, so after a bit of 100 ish metres kinda that ways, I stumbled across the cache. Phew! Anyway, signed the log and returned. TFTC and the location.

Found it on a perfect blue sky with all the flowers in bloom

Found this on a stunning high country day. The flowers are just divine. Fun one using our navigation skills at Vics highest point

This is my second time on Mt Bogong. The first time I didn’t make it to the top but it was a while ago before I even knew about the wonderful world of geocaching. This time I had to celebrate reaching the top by finding this cache. Fantastic view but tough hike. Thanks kake is good

After reaching the top and taking the usual photos and an amazing day, we headed off on the bearing to the cache. We were a little off but soon found the right spot and the container. We signed and took the TB coin to adventure to some other mountains. An interesting swappable item was in the cache (wearable prophylactic), not sure what the people think cachers do on the top of mountains..better to the protected I assume. Thanks for the cache, great views and a lovely day for it.

FBTJ #3038

A few of our group wandered over to sign off on this one while the event was winding up.
Thanks for placing and maintaining this cache, kake is good.

While attending Jacko's event at the top of Bogong, anikano and ourselves were able to add this oldie to our finds while admiring the spectacular views and the smoke in the distance.
Thanks kake is good for the multi placement with great views.

A glorious day to be out hiking. Even with bushfires nearby! Was amazing to see the firies patrolling the area by plane and bombing the fires. A great afternoon spent exploring with great company. Tftc

I was up on the big hill with a bunch of friends, and while they all signed the log, I slipped a TB in here that wants to be on the top of mountains.

Friends make things easy!

Well, this one was a little bit of an adventure. My second time up Bogong.

I started off down at Mountain Creek in shorts and t-shirt. Climbed up Staircase spur and as I got close to the half way mark there was the occasional flurry of hail/snow.
Spent a few minutes in Bivouac hut on the way up, chatting with someone sheltering there, and taking shelter - it was pouring for a moment there.

Got above the treeline still with shorts and t-shirt - but within a couple of hundred metres of reaching the exposed part of the spur, quickly donned all the clothing I had with me - jumper, raincoat, trousers. Very windy in the final section, and quite chilly, with a bit of ice/snow flying around.

Entered the wrong bearing at the top, and by the time I had corrected it my phone had chickened out - from 35% battery to giving up very quickly, due to the cold and hail.
Found the cache quickly by looking for the most likely place nearby - which was fortunate, as it was not a place I wanted to linger in. All plans to have lunch up the top or explore a bit further were immediately discard. As I retreated from the cache, the winds and hail picked up, most uncomfortable.

Thanks for the cache.

Winter hike so I figured I’d get a winter find logged on this cache as well.
Not to much snow around yet so the cache was located quickly.
I was even good enough to find the cache without getting my gps out!
Icy cold winds sweeping across the top this morning ️️

My sister was heading out for a 4 day walk across the high plains and I dropped her off at Camp Creek Gap on Eskdale spur. I decided that I would head up to the summit as I hadn't been up here for quite a few years. It is a beautiful place that is good for the soul. I wasn't planning on Geocahing but thought I would check the app at the summit and saw that there were a few that i could look for. This was the first for the day. I like the fact that it is out of sight of the summit cairn which is good when there are a few muggles around. TFTC

I made it! Carried an overnight pack up here, and walked on to Cleve Cole Hut afterwards. The projection is off; it should be closer to 112m at 317°.

We hiked up here today from Granite Flat. We did this hike last year and enjoyed it so much we returned for more.
After taking photos at the cairn we made our way towards GZ. We spread out, checking all likely spots as we went. Pretty soon we found it (33m to the right from our projection).
This cache was our second find up here today and we were the 2nd people to sign the log *today*!!
Thanks for placing the cache kake is good - it added more enjoyment to our hike.

The Kettles were planning their (what seems to have become) annual summer holiday to the Victorian High country. For part of the family, the attraction is the seemingly endless choice of mountain bike trails to ride. So while the riders discussed what trails were their top picks to ride, Ma Kettle had an idea....I wonder if Kettle Twin 2 and I could complete the Victorian 1700m challenge while the riders were having their fun? A quick look at the geocaching map confirmed that there were enough possibilities close to the MTB trails.

With 4 successful finds around Mt Buller, and making the hike up to the top of the Big Fella again, the challenge was set to continue…

After a night’s rest at Cleve Cole Hut, it was a pleasant walk back across the top to the summit. With the temperature forecast to reach 40 degrees down on the plains, we were glad to be up where the air was a bit cooler.

Arriving at the summit, we read the cache notes…head 300 degrees magnetic. Can a phone GPS do that???? I don’t think so, or I don’t know how. After a tiny bit of thought, Kettle twin 2 declared that 300 degrees magnetic would be about out there (he points). Taking him at his word, Ma Kettle headed off in that direction (at least she could measure the correct distance). It was going to be very tricky going 116m there, but adjusting the angle slightly, she spotted a more likely spot and went the required distance and there was a nicely hidden cache. She signed the log and returned to other 2 members of the team.

It was hard to stand still to take in the glorious views, with swarms of March flies seizing every opportunity to attack and bite. With a lot more hiking ahead (and it really wasn’t that cool, even on top of the mountain) we kept moving and headed out towards West Peak.

A satisfying find of a cache that has stood the test of time.

Well, I didn't expect it to be THAT long to find it. (it was pretty hard!) I gave up after a while but before I got to the top of the hill I herd that Buhfuhguh and DADDYKOOL had found it and they wanted me to log it as well. 603rd find! Wooohoo!

After the event and lunch Yeah09, buhfuhguh and myself set off towards the projected coordinates for this old multi. After a while and when reading recent logs we realised that we should expand our search. We came across lots of possible hiding spots and great views to boot. We even found a very moving plaque on the ground at a particularly beautiful spot. With the assistance of the log by N'awal we decided to walk in various sectors of a big circle. After quite a while the camouflage was spotted and we could sign the logbook and rejoin the rest of the group. Thanks for the cache and the magnificent views!

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.

After attending the event DADDYKOOL and I headed off to go and complete this multi, after a little looking around at GZ we came up with nothing, but after slowly expanding our radius the cache soon revealed itself. Eitherway 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.

After having a rest at Michells hut, it was time to continue our journey and conquer the Big Fella !! Thankfully the second half of our journey wasn't as bad. It was still a monster climb, but much more scenic as well. Eventually we made it to the top and made the projection. It took us awhile to find, as it was nowhere near where the numbers indicated, Looking around, we applied our geo senses to make the find. Glad to have a smiley on this one. TFTC kake is good

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. After another 2 hours we were on the peak. Wow! What a feeling it was to be up here. The snow gave this trek another element. It was tough going and so rewarding with mostly clear views for 360deg.

The cache projection was done and the search was now on. With nothing really near the co-ords we had worked out we wondered where this cache could be. We spread out al long way to work out where this one was. Thankfully we were able to find it after much searching, some 30 meters away from where our projection was.

**Thanks to kake is good for hiding this cache for us to find and enjoy**

Great spot for a break after a long walk. Thanks.

Having hiked up, down and around Mt Buller, Mt Buffalo and Mt Feathertop in the last month it was only fitting that I hiked up the Big Fella himself as well .
So in the morning the A-team of Pacman, Pacgirl and Snoopy hiked up, up, up, up the devil's staircase, had an overnight party at Cleve Cole hut, and then flew back down the staircase the next morning in time for lunch in Bright.
Gotta love the Victorian High Country! And it doesn't get higher in Victoria than this .
The cache was a little tricky to find, so I disregarded the GPSr and used intuition to home in on the cache.
Thanks for the multi, kake is good.

Finally made it up here after a grueling hike up the staircase. I really don't think I was fit enough to be doing that. Regardless, I made it, although the summit was just being brushed by clouds when I reached the top so the view was a bit obscured. However, it made it much easier to be discreet and hide my activities from the various muggles I was sharing the summit with. Made a quick and easy find once I took the bearing. TFTC in such a spectacular location!

Tftc took nothing left nothing

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. After Mitchell's Hut it was more up to and soon above the tree line. We could see the summit cairn but figured we would do that on return as part of a big day out with the Phone pedometer showing over 50,000 steps taken and over 400 storeys of stairs climbed.
It was now into the afternoon having done a loop to the south so it was time for the summit and the western side.
Big Fella Cairn stood out a long way and we took our mark after of course climbing it. No problem making the find. Great views. Only a bit of snow on the southern sides. TFTC.

Here with a new Geobuddy and Jaffa! 3rd time in 3 weeks and now no snow! TFTC in such a fabulous setting

Will return. That 330 deg is right on the snow drift line so if I'm out a degree, it's under snow still.

On the way out after the CITO event at the Cleve Cole Hut Inhad this cache on my to do list. I had intended to do it on my way in, but the rain and thick cloud had taken the fun out of it.

I dropped my pack at thevtop of the Eskdale Spur and headed for the cairn. That was easy enough. There was an english fellow sitting there making himself a brew. In our brief chat he revealed his intention to camp there for the night so that he could view the sunsetvand sunrise from the same spot. Not a bad idea if the conditions allow.

Onto the cache. It didn't take long. A couple of bearing corrections and there it was in good condition.

No real view today due to low cloud, so I will have to come back for that. Thanks for the placement.

I passed close by this one on my way up to the CITO event at Cleve Cole hut but it was getting a bit late and I could only see about 20 metres in front of me due to the heavy mist so the views wouldn't have been much. Thankfully on my way back out the following day it was brilliant weather so I left my pack at the start of the staircase track and headed the last climb up to the summit to be treated with magnificent views. It turns out my waypointing skills leave a bit to be desired though because even though I thought I had correctly set it I couldn't find anything near where my gps was directing me. In the end I resorted to walking a 116m circle around the cairn until I found the right pile of rocks. Thanks for the cache kake is good.

A stunning place. Almost got up here last winter but got turned back by a blizzard. Glad I got a second chance, worth the effort.

Day 3: Bogong.

On a 5 day leave pass, I decided to hit the hills for some high country caching.

After spending the previous night in Michelle's hut, I woke up early to cold, wind and rain. Well - you didn't come all this way to sleep in a hut at the bottom of the hill. I packed up my overnight gear, got the hiking poles out, thermals on and appropriate gear. Going up the hill was slow going - literally hiking in straight cloud, with 5m visibility - I'm sure there is a view out there.

Eventually I arrived at the cairn and set down my bags, sheltering against the wind. Right...where is this cache. Project a waypoint! Ahh come on this is a trad...with my less than 5% phone battery left I projected and found a suitable area. No luck at determined area - I spread out my search and soon found the cache sitting in the open - bonus. Signed the log and determined what was next.

Thanks kake_is_good for the epic cache - sure the views are usually worth it!

Felling very high. Loved the walk in with the family

Dad and 14yo spent three days up in the high country, hiking and sleeping under canvas while we hunted caches for a 1700metre challenge.

This was the fifth of 19 that we grabbed over the 3 days, with no DNF's whatsoever - a family record!!!

This was almost a DNF. We gave it a crack soon after finishing a grinding Staircase trek that had started the previous afternoon. But with a combination of phone GPS that didn't quite want to settle, and a slightly misbehaving compass we found ourselves at the wrong set of rocks. HOWEVER, what we did find was a plaque with a beautiful tribute from a lady to her sadly-departed husband. We hunted left and right without joy but needed to press on, undeterred, to grab other caches.

On our way back from the West Peak we decided to give this one more crack. GPS seemed to be behaving, took a bearing and strode out in the appropriate direction, and almost stubbed our toes on the correct set of rocks. Victory!!!

Thanks heaps for bringing us up to this amazing place, and to our compass for firstly sending us to the little plaque, then for actually getting us the find.

The bananas were given a clue.
Someone had inappropriately helped out
Look for the DNA sample and the associated litter.
So we carried on under turd.
And
Found the treasure.

This is a wonderful place that is rarely visited. At least by geocachers. That was discovered because so many of the high terraine had never signed those one either here or others around here.
Our excuse.
Last time here, in deep snow, in high winds and whitehout conditions, it was significantly harder. No rocks could not even be found.
Today though, the discovery was easier, near the decomposing organic matter
Thanks to the paperwork.

Found @12:25 #5866
On my first multi day hike expedition why not start at the top. About 2 months I inform the wife of this cache and my desire to visit this location. She said that I was nuts and that I should try something a bit smaller and not to get my hopes up. Well this was just more determination to prove that it could be done. All comments thou did spook me just a little so team up with the hardcore cacher ahomburg who had done the hike before more then once.

So now finally after much puffing and panting up the hill over a period of 5.5hrs the mission was completed, yay!!.[xx(] I can't believe that those trail runners can get up here in under 90mins, amazing!!.

Once at the summit the phone was switch on and a txt sent to inform the good wife that I had made it and that I was still alive.

Conditions this weekend were perfect with little to no wind and clear sunny conditions. Came up the staircase and gees, now that was an experience. A real thigh burner and stopped so many times that I lost count but by the 1200m mark I had figured out a system that suited my fitness, probably should of done some training too. The system was simple walk 5-10m and stop for 1min, I found it was about managing the heart rate or stopping before it would burst out thru my chest like some aliens do...

At this time the only other person at the summit was a Frenchman so easy to grab a photo standing on the highest point in Victoria. There were so many flies which I found curious and growing annoyed by them we headed off to find this cache with the offset required already applied in the eTrex30 not too far away. Maybe this should be a letter box cache type.

In reflection after having signed the log I felt rather pleased with myself as I was a bit unsure what to expect and suspect that my previous experiences with geocaching as helped alot in the mental battle one goes thru in getting here. I do believe my experiences in doing the Denail series of caches at Mt Buller helped alot, now that was 2 crazy days...

As I am unsure when the next time I would be here we headed over to check out West peak to find a couple more caches along the way. The views from West peak were just as good and well worth the effort, we were back at the summit by 3pm.

We headed off to Cleve Cole Hut, which is by far the best hut that I have seen so far and with cool spring water on tap running all year round, it turns out that I didn't need to carry that extra 2L after all.

One of the most difficult caches done so far and a big thank you for it was this cache that convinced me to upgrade a few items to be able to get up here. Now super keen to get to those other high country caches that have been placed in this fine state of Victoria.

An experience I will not forget.

TFTC kake is good

Whilst A & J have found this one before it was terrific to bring K&W to the summit for their first time. I am pretty sure that geo-granddad (**B**LACXV) was very happy to be here with his geo-grandkids.

Ascents:
**B**LACXV - Many
A - a few less
J - 2
K&W 1 and I hope many more to come for them, perhaps next time with their cousin.

Arrived at the summit after ascending Eskdale spur on a lovely Summer day after two days of heavy rain. After lunch BLACXV in company of geo-Grandkids on their first ascent of Mount Bogong found the cache.
TFTC and the great view from it's location.

Around a year ago I came to Mt. Bogong with the express aim of getting this cache. However the closest I got was to Bivouac Hut when I was overcome with massive cramping and had to descend.

I swore I would get back here and a year later, some 20kg lighter and many gym sessions under my belt I tried again.

When I arrived at my campsite last night Mt Bogong was as clear as could be. I felt a shiver of nerves as I knew The Big Fella and I had some unsettled business to attend to in the morning.

The local Aboriginals hold Mt. Bogong with great significance and reverence. There is a real spirit about the place. If you stay still long enough and quiet enough you can almost hear it speak to you. I am not a religious man, nor am I spiritual, however I think I 'get' this significance.

The Big Fella was really dressed up today. He was enveloped with cloud from halfway up. It covered him like a big trench coat. I hoped that the cloud would burn off during the climb. At 7:50 I set out.

From the start of the Stairway Spur the climb began straight away. I felt my legs burning from the get go. I hoped like hell that my increase in fitness levels would overcome the cramping that I have been so used to when doing anything that required endurance.

The views were becoming obscured the further up I went with the trench coat of cloud playing havoc. I climbed, climbed, rested and climbed. All was going well, no cramps. Soon I was past the hut and things were looking up (480 or so more metres up).

I saw two blokes, one of which were wearing camouflage. I walked up to his friend and said, "Hi there. Oh, it sounded like there were two of you talking". Mr. Camouflage piped up, "There are, are you blind?".

Hmmmm, he just didn't get it.

Eventually I broke through the treeline and the clouds were coming in thicker. Time to rug up. I soon came across the sobering memorial to the people who died in a blizzard up here. The cloud was so thick that I had to get up close to read the plaque. The track was still clear and the snow poles were still silhouetting so I decided to continue.

One more turn and I was there. I did it!!! There was a cairn, the highest piece of ground in Victoria.

I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry, whether to sing, dance or just try to get some feeling back in my hands. As I sat at the cairn a young boy and his mum came up. He asked me, "Do you sit here all day?" I answered, "Yes, I am here to collect the admission, do you have any money?"

He wasn't sure what to say so I mugged him.....NOOO, just kidding. I just laughed and took a picture of him and his mum standing at the cairn.

But there was the little issue with the cache.

I projected the waypoint and followed the compass but my GZ put me elsewhere.....I figured perhaps the clouds have put things out a bit so I widened my search area and after a bit of looking found it. This time I did cry. All those feelings of inadequacy from last time, all those times people told me I couldn't do it, all those times I doubted myself just flooded out.

Then it happened. It was as if The Big Fella just said, "Dave, this is for you". Like a big old 1986 metre tall flasher he opened that trench coat of cloud. My heart pounded as the landscape was exposed around me.

I was on top of the world. I actually laid on the ground and gave The Big Fella a hug. Thank you, thank you and thank you.

As I wandered back to the cairn I saw the cloud had lifted from all directions. What a view. As Leonardo Di Caprio once said, "I'm king of the world". Pffft, standing on the deck of a ship about to slip beneath the Atlantic doesn't make one a king. Standing up here, seeing the countryside; that's a regal experience.

TFTC. Caching is more than getting a box and signing a log, it's a journey, an experience. This one ticked all the boxes. It is simply one of the best I have ever done.

#1083 - Catching up on some very late logs!

After a big day attending the' Not for the Faint Hearted' GC64W4A event the previous day, I had the idea to climb Mount Bogong on my way home.

It was the first time climbing Mount Bogong for me and the Devil's staircase was tough going with my already tired legs but I managed to get to the summit in good time.
I managed to choose a good morning for it too! I got passed by many runners doing a cross country running event, running up Bogong like it was flat ground.

Really enjoyed the climb and the views at the summit.

Gets a Goat point from me.

???

This has been one that I have been meaning to get for too long now. I left nice and early and did the first part of the staircase under torchlight. Made my way up and up and in the end I have decided that I actually did it easier now at age 39 than I did 15 years ago. I don't know if that means that I am fitter or if the staircase is getting easier, but personally I am pretty happy with that achievement.

I hadn't realized that this one was an off-set multi when I started, but once at GZ it was easily completed and I soon had the cache container in hand.

I had intended on spending a few more hour up on the plain to grab the others up here, but unfortunately it was sleeting rain sideways and I called it a day not long after finding this one and escaped off the mountain, already planning my next return.

Cache is in excellent condition, TFTC kake is good. A favourite, of course!

On top of the world. Well .... Victoria. Great walk up the staircase spur. About 15 degrees cooler then the 36 degree valley today. Nice. TFTC

Got to the top thanks for the cache

Found unwittingly by a bunch of Emerald Secondary outdoor students. Great day, great location for a cache. TFTC

A great hike to the top but unfortuantly coundn't find it.. i did find a squashed round container full of moths.. i am pretty sure that was not it.. i hope it is still there!! .. will have to wait to see if someone else finds it before i try again..

#1644 - As part of our AroundOz cycling challenge to cycle around Australia visiting the highest peak in each state and territory, this peak was ascended in 4 hours. The weather was conducive to the big hike up for the day and we were accompanied by many local friends, John H, Neville B, Leanne H, Bob F and is friend Doug H. This cache was also my first geocache back in 2005? and I found it accidently wandering around one day up on the big fella. I had to re-check the description and wander down from the cork pile. And there it was again. Left a TB.

Quick find, which was good, as there was a storm brewing and we wanted to get back down the Eskdale.... Didnt see the trackable, but there were some soggy bits and pieces down in the container. Log was dry though. Spoiler - try a bit more than 300magnetic..... TFTC for the highest cache in the State, and lasting 9 years!

Boo hoo. I climbed on top and looked around, then checked the perimeter, but couldn't find it. Plenty of spots it could be! Another group came up and mentioned that the whole thing had fallen a year or two ago and had been rebuilt, so I stopped looking. Now I see it was there. Oh well. Took the Stairs up and Eskdale back. Just over five and a half hours--definitely the best hike I've done in Australia, as far as elevation gain.

Walking along the Australian Alpine Walking track with two muggle mates. We finish early in the day walking so I have plenty of time, but not much energy to find caches that are nearby to the track.

Up here on a 10 day trip with a bunch of school students.
Had some trouble on their nav. I think we may need to do following a bearing again!

Finally found it before heading to clever Cole for the night

We hiked up and down via the Eskdale track on a really beautiful day: sunny, light breeze and a good temperature for a hike. We had a late start as driving the road in took us longer than anticipated. Still plenty of time to do the hike. It was a midweek day, no school holidays, so we didn't expect to see anyone.
Surprise surprise, when we reached the top at around 13.30 there was another guy who had just come up via the stairwell. We had a chat, eventually told him about geocaching and invited him to join us in the search. He had heard about it but decided to turn around and hike back as he still had a long way to go down (ánd he needed to drive back to Melbourne on the same day!).
We started our search, heading in more or less the right direction, and we noticed a few possible hiding spots. A bit of searching and we found it! It must be VIC's highest geocache.
We spend a little more time at the top enjoying the scenery and taking heaps of photo's before the descent.
Great place for a cache. We would have done the hike anyway, but finding a cache makes it always just that little bit more rewarding. TFTC!
Oh, and we took the diabates TB to continue it's journey.

On a glorious day, we made it up to the summit of Mt Bogong. We had 5 kids in our group, ages between 7 and 11 - all did great. Found the cache quickly after a quick lunch up top. TFTC! Took Major Pain and left another trackable there.

TFTC! Found with akl168 on a cracking day. No cloud or wind, awesome 360o views.

Having had trouble hiding from the muddles on the previous cache on the way up Mt Bogong (and passing a group of 8!), we were relieved to find only one other person on the top, so I ventured off as instructed and on reaching the outcrop, thought mmm this could be harder than I think as there were lots of possibilities. But then I was struck by the shape of one rock and looked around there and found the beauty. Decided to drop off Major Pain trachable as it seemed appropriate given what we experienced lugging our packs and bodies up to the top! TFTC.

After reaching the summit and taking a couple of photos on this glourious clear day while waiting for the muddles to decend Bily85 and I took the reading and quickly located the cache dropping in Major Pain. Before heading out to the West Peak formally Little Bogong and then out to Cleeve Cole hut for the night

Great to have found Victoria's highest geocache on a wonderful weekend walk with friends. The Bogong area is majestic and I am very pleased to finally have visited it.

Came up Bogong way for my special birthday hiking weekend with a group of other caches. Only drjim7 and I hadn't yet nabbed this one. He tried to make it very hard but I took a long slow breathe, started again and found it before you could utter big moth. Thanks for putting this fine container in such a fine place.

We came up for a week's skiing, based at Cleve Cole hut. Decided to check out the summit today and look for this cache. Lots of snow about so wasn't sure how we go. Found GZ but then as we headed off in the cache direction the batteries in the GPS died! I took off back to the cairn to change the batteries but before I was done the cry came up from the Geowife that she had found it! Once again her uncanny ability to spot a likey place and make the find is remarkable, this time it was even in the snow! TN Left Geocoin that wants to be left in cold places so figured this was a great place indeed! TFTC

Intended to head up for 4 days, but after taking a while up Staircase, giving hips a bit of a break regularly, wondered whether I should. Not having carried a big pack since Sept. I guess. A glorious day, reached the top with no one about. Unfortunately the batteries ran out in the GPS, but, a bit of welcome compass and pacing had the cache revealed in no time. Camped close to West Peak for the night for a delicious stir fry dinner and a cool night. Only realised there was a cache at West Peak as well, once back down the hill. There wasn't much visibility in the morning, didn't realise how much I've missed mountain weather. No problem navigating back, and decided to take Eskdale Spur down, to avoid the majority of the Easter traffic coming the other way. From having tons of clothes on up top, we stripped to shorts and thin thermal top once past Michell Hut, it warmed up so quick! A speedy descent, with tons of food still, aim to head up Feathertop in a few days to give the hips another go after a rest. Thanks for the added fun of a cache, we had a great time even if our trip was cut short by half.

Great spot for a cache. Thanks!!!

Today I'm doing a day hike with the BSC kids and Noctis77 up the staircase and back down. We stopped at the top for lunch and we decided to see if we could find the cache as well.
This is the first traditional cache that I've had to do something to find the cache somewhere other than the posted coordinates. After a bit of a search, one of the kids spotted a rock that needed further inspection, and the cache was found.

It's an absolute ripper of a day up here today! Spectacular views all around! TFTC

Cudars for the find!
Time to head back down the mountain now....
Tftc

Lovely day for a hike, most of the BSC outdoor ed kids made it to the summit. Amazing views. Think walking is going to hurt tomorrow!
TFTC

P muggle left a car- from w bogong. Tn. Tftc.

Did a hike up the Big Fella today with a group from Church going up the staircase and back down Eskdale spur (where we had left a car to save some time and energy). One of our group has a goal to climb the highest peak in every state and territory in Australia so seven of us joined him on this trek. We finally made it to the top by 2:30pm, only half hour behind schedule (could that be the time used to find the last two caches?). What fantastic weather. Passed some guys on the way up that said the top was clouded in earlier in the day, but you could not ask for any better weather.
Two of the group started scouring the cairn as soon as they arrived, until I arrived a few minutes later with others from the group and the GPSr. When that indicated that GZ was near where they had already searched, we started looking for hints and reading the description - "oh, it isn't here. it's over there." (I think this should be a Mystery or Multi rather than traditional.) Anyway a few calculations were made and programmed in, but I think it must have been working on Map North rather than Magnetic North as it had us about 50m away. A bit of problem solving and we had a new likely location. Glad to find it as it's a long way to come for a DNF. Log signed. Now to enjoy the views before the hike back down. TFTC.

Found with Mrs Mochila at about 3pm. Spending a few days camped on Eskdale shoe and touring around Mt Bogong. Just as we were about to take a bearing, technology failed us. My fairly new GPSr went stone dead.

We used old school tech (a compass) but were a little off. We spent about 20 mins searching in the wrong place, until I managed to revive my device. Then, I could do the calculation properly, which got us a lot closer and we found it almost instantly. Despite the snow pack, it wasn't buried. TNLN, TFTC

TFTC TNLN
With Mister Magee

[font=Lucida Console][purple]Ihr seid doch wirklich alle weichgenervte Froschfüßchen[/purple][font=Verdana]

Mit Pops! Alright. If you don't know the comic-duo Badesalz you most probably don't get the joke so let's move on ... [url=http://coord.info/GLBPM4V6]again[/url] This is truly the first winter-FTF for this cache after eight years. There are no finds in the months June to September. Yeah to me

It all began with [url=http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=caa16806-e33c-452b-90d6-4d9a2a75fa8f]Lex[/url] placing his [url=http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC4447V]1700+ Alpine Challenge[/url] which clearly states
[quote]WE DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT THIS CACHE OR ANY QUALIFYING CACHES BE ATTEMPTED IN THE SNOW SEASON.[/quote]
Oh well. I guess it was meant more like a guideline than an actual rule. So I started my little quest of finding these 1700+ caches and testing my mountaineering gear. With my girl-friend out of the country to climb higher peaks I set myself the challenge to get as many VIC mountain-caches as I can in these seven weeks. Unfortunately Anna kept me from climbing the mountain[url=http://coord.info/GLBTY098]last weekend[/url] where the weather was way more favourable. Bad luck, suck it up princess, have a table-spoon of concrete and get up the mountain this weekend. Who cares about 90 km/h wind and a wind-chill of -24 °C?

The plan was to get up there find this one, move on to West Peak , set-up camp and maybe go for Devils Delight as a de-tour on the way back. Given my experience with these hides in winter I would call one out of three smileys a success.

It all went pretty well on Saturday morning - due to the freshly graded track to the bottom of Eskdale Spur you can drive to the trailhead in a standard 2WD. I shouldered my back-pack - Freaking hell! Why is that bloody thing so heavy?!? ... ah yeah ... I packed an ammo-can as a cache ... ooops. Anyway. I made my way up to the tree-line past Michell Hut without any problems. At the hut I joined a crew of snowboarders / skiers who went to the summit as well so the four of us crawled up the snow slopes. I met the guys a day later at the hut again and they showed me some pics - they had a couple of good runs!

Arriving at the summit I said good-bye and made my way to GZ just to find a tiny hump in the snow. Oh boy. This might take a while and I really didn't bring my ice-axe. Damn. Just based on a hunch I started digging which was more like hacking on thick layers of ice. After about 15 minutes I was able to loose a rock which I abused as an ice-pick. I don't know for how long I was knocking, digging and hitting the ice but eventually I saw a piece of pipe! Ohhhh yeah! I must have had a little happy dance before it took me another 10 minutes to get the cache out of the ice.

After that I moved on towards the [url=http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC443VH]West Pea[/url]k but you can read all about it in that log.

Thanks for a very memorable cache and a pretty rugged container.
[green]Cheers
Philipp[/green]

I couldn't believe I've made it to the top of Victoria's highest mountain here Mt Bogong.
My special thanks goes to my geofriend Purrfect75 for take me there from Falls Creek via Cleve Cole Hut.
Had good experience since last Tuesday.
Stay around here for an hour.
More trekkers arrives here and leave here after take photos.
Thanks kake is good for bring me here and cache.

This entry was edited by Whitepaws9 on Friday, 12 April 2013 at 00:30:31 UTC.

Wow wow wow Victoria's highest peak and cache done! Thanks for the cache.

Dropped in for a visit on our "This is it folks, back to the top..." tour.
Looking good!

What a buzz.Thanks for the cache way up here. Great reward for the hike.

Nice to be back after seven years, not knowing then what the caching thing was. The wind hadn't dropped in the meantime.

Found just with the compass, as we deemed GPS too heavy for the five day hike. Wrote down the instructions, thought, to have a crack once we get there. All worked well. Some of the best views in Australia. TFTC.

After finally making it back up the mountain from devils delight we stopped at the Cairn stone to share our lunch with the March flies. After stopping up here for a while it was like being in a shopping centre, so many people up here it amaizing but none payed us any attention as we projected our way point and away we went for our third find for the day.
thanks kake is good (mmm kake) for the cache TNLN

Well this cache, and the others on this mountain have been on our hit list for a while now.
So with more than one reason to climb the mountain again we were off on another adventure with Skullracing and Kiara001.
It was a long haul to the top, but it was a spectacular day to crack the summit one more time, with fine company we all had a few laughs, it was a cracker jack day.
When we got to the cairn it was like muggle central, people everywhere, but alas they paid us no heed.
Just after we had a bite to eat we did the projected way-point, and soon enough we had the cache in hand.
Well done "kake is good" on a well located cache, the container and contents are all okay.

It has been a long time since I was last at the top, probably was before geocaching was born. Great to be back and to also sign a cache here as well. The view is always earnt, certainly appreciated and always remembered. TFTC.

Found this about 5 days ago but didn't log till now! Good cache with a bit of old fashioned nav work! Took the little dinosaur to deposit in cache at Derek's Hut over near hotham. Deposited a geocoin taken from a cache by lake tali karng a month or so ago!

Found at 12:03 in an episode of lost and found and found. But first of all we celebrated our victory for the summit climb and took a few photos at the cairn. Indeed we were only a hundred metres or so away from here the day before but opted to go push on to Cleve Cole. From the cairn I set off, rather carelessly as it turns out, reaching a likely spot for a cache but being lured by a more distant rocky outcrop/buff that seemed a more likely spot for a cache. Well no cache there, but then I realised I had dropped one of my gloves. The search was on for not just a cache but my glove as well (given they were a pair I bought back from Germany a few years ago). I was increasingly frustrated as there was no sign of the glove around the bluff. It seemed unlikely I'd see the glove again, though none the less I decided to retrace my steps. Well through extraordinary luck the glove turned up, but not only that it was just metres from the cache! At this point the others had given up and time was scarce as we had to get back to Melbourne at a reasonable hour, so I quickly signed the logbook. After that we returned to our packs at Hells Gap then began a slow descent down Eskdale Spur, stopping for lunch at Michell hut. Slow because my knee was playing up, yet down on the flats by mountain creek it was fine. Thanks kake for the cache.

Found it!

Hiked from Mountain Creek Camp up the Eskdale Spur and made the Summit at about 6.15pm. I had some time to find this cache before heading down to Michell Hut before night fall. Thanks very much for placing a cache up here, an added bonus for such an adventurous walk up the highest peak in Victoria. Also, thanks for others posting some photos of the cache, it helped with pinpointing which rocks the cache was hiding in. Noticed that I missed Team Oaky by less than an hour! Took in the fantastic views before I headed back down.
TFTC

cheers

pippin69

@ 5.30pm Cache #778

Cant get much higher in Vic!

After an awesome hike to ground zero (easy to say once at the summit) Felt like I was on top of the world with great weather and absolutely fantastic views, this cache was just the icing on the cake for lack of a better word

Did the projection at home, which made it more of a trad cache so a quick easy find was made. The only muggles that were around was a few officials setting up for tomorrows Mt Bogong challenge,(should make the descent tomorrow interesting)

Thx Kake is good for placing the highest cache in Vic. Totally awesome!!

I hope this cache lives on as it is a must do! Mt Bogong Hike at EveryTrail

Cheers 

            TeamOaky

This entry was edited by TeamOaky on Monday, 12 March 2012 at 09:27:19 UTC.

Found during an overnight hike to Cleve Cole.
The Hut was built in 1937 as a memorial to Cleve Cole who died while skiing in 1936, and had previously completed the first winter ascent of Mt Bogong.
We took the Scullracing pathtag.
Note: The inside of the container is damp but the two log books are dry!
Also, the pencil is broken. It was split end to end because it was wet.
TFTC

This entry was edited by Riddell on Sunday, 29 January 2012 at 12:03:39 UTC.

#2401 We only had the day to attack Bogong and its caches so it was an early rise, we drove to Camp Creek Gap were we left the car and commenced our trek at 6.40am. We could see on our way that the summit was shrouded in cloud, with potential thunderstorms forecast today we had our packs ready for all weather conditions. The track had been recently cleared of undergrowth by the Rangers which made for slower going at times. Got to the top in 2hrs50mins and it was still shrouded in cloud. Dad did the necessary projection and a short walk later the cache was located. The cache was a little damp inside (which surprised us given the sturdy container) but the log book was safely sealed in a ziplock bag still in good condition. On our way to another cache we got to see some of the spectacular views & those thunderstorms never eventuated. Thanks for bringing us here kake is good

Took: nothing
Left: pretty cool Pathtag

Not too difficult a find. Contents were a bit wet, though the latest log book was dry. Found in conjunction with Phanton51. I took the geocoin which I will relocate to another mountain, hopefully in the next month or so. TFTC.

It took a second walk up the staircase for barryi and myself to get this one after not reading the notes correctly back in January.

Once again lucky with great weather and views it really is worth the walk.

TFTC

Didn't find today at 12:00 noon. After arriving at 'Mountain Creek Camping Ground' yesterday afternoon with some blokes from work the plan was for an early start this morning to walk to the sumit via the 'Staircase Spur'. We left the camp ground at 7:00am and walked to the start of the Staircase for the 6 Km's journey to the top. On our way up we met some of the 14 who were on their way back from an overnight stay at 'Cleve Cole Hut'. It was a magicial day with hardly a cloud in the sky and the view from the top was fantastic. In total an eight and a half hour walk up and back, very sore legs/knees, no cache to brag about due to not reading cache notes correctly (will be back soon) and a great day/week-end adventure for all. Many thanks 'kake is good' for placing a cache at the top of Victoria.

This entry was edited by shane.thompson on Monday, 30 May 2011 at 02:32:09 UTC.

This entry was edited by shane.thompson on Monday, 30 May 2011 at 02:32:57 UTC.

Last one of the day after re tracing our steps to find it!!! Frosting of snow from overnight and pretty chilly on top!!! Visibility 30m TFTC LEFT DICK the travel coin

9.30AM

Despite a sore foot had a fantastic early morning walk to the summit and my second attempt at this one in 3 days. It was a beautiful morning with low cloud in the valley. My first attempt I had vision of just 20M in front of me and no chance of locating this one. This time all was clear and I found the cache without any problems. It was half filled with water but the new log was dry. The pencil is looking a little the worse for wear. I dried them out for a few minutes while taking in the view. I was on the top of the highest Victorian mountain whithout another soul about. Now it was time to head back to mountain creek via Eskdale spur.

Thanks to kake is good for the cache.