Rogoona loop via Junction Lake & Jackson Creek

Day 1 – Mersey  Forest road to Junction Lake

Due to the Recreation Day long weekend in the North of the state it was an ideal time to get a three day loop walk under our belt. The two of us are joined by Shane to make a party of three. We arrived at the end car park around 10AM after some 'ginning around' getting going. Packs on and about to leave and two further cars turn up with a large family group of 8 including two children. They were going the same way as us and we reconsidered our plan. In the end after a couple of false starts and plenty of procrastination we ended up sticking with our original plan and passed most of them before the first steep section on the Moses Creek track. We passed the last two young guys out in front on the next steep section and didn't see them again for the rest of the day till Junction Lake that evening.

We trudged up the hill to Chapter Lake and Grail Falls by 12:00 but decide to keep going before stopping for lunch. After a navigation error that had us below the track in scrub we hit a cliff line and quickly moved back uphill onto the track proper after a short steep scramble. We could hear the other group calling out as they had split up, we found out later that evening it proved to be a problem for them as the two young guys out in front did not turn up at Junction till well after the main group arrived and there was some concern for them for a while.

Day 1 Afternoon- Cloister Lagoon to Junction Lake

We pushed on through the rough track till we reached a campsite on the northern end of Cloister Lagoon and found some shade to escape the sun for lunch around 14:00. You are very close to Lake Myrtle here up over the hill and the Cathedral Plateau rises up sharply to the West. We pushed on after lunch as we still had a good few kilometers to go to reach Junction, no sign of the other group at all since the Grail Falls area.

You go up and around the eastern side of Cloister Lagoon on a sometimes rocky track with some close in scrub and Fagus to annoy you to emerge at it's end and a short open valley section and creek. It appears the track splits here probably as you can not cross the creek in winter. We cross it today on some doggy logs and head through to the valley end where you descend down a short rough track section in forest next to a creek to emerge into an open valley with forest either side, you then follow this valley and creek all the way to Junction. In winter there is an alternative track up out of the creek valley getting towards Junction on the higher ground. You emerge out of this easy walking valley to arrive at an elevated campsite on the NE corner overlooking the lake.

Day 1 evening – Junction Lake campsite and lots of free whiskey

Two tents already on the main campsite when we arrived just before 18:00. After talking with them and learning there was a group of 4 fishermen in the hut as well we went looking for an alternative site so the large group could fit on the main campsite. We found a nice leech ridden site between the hut and the main campsite and setup. Quite a while later the large group turned up and camped between us and the hut. They asked us if we had seen the two young guys, but we hadn't and they hadn't passed them. They arrived quite a while later luckily. I had a wander around the area and went down almost to the end of the lake looking for the Clark falls track but it got way too dark under the pines without a head lamp and returned to camp.

I visited the fishermen latter on after tea at the hut and they were not having much luck fishing but offered me plenty of Double Black Whisky that I could not refuse. I did however refuse (politely) a taste of the 'jungle juice' as they called it, a pale red looking mixture in a vodka bottle. They did offer me $100 to carry out the whisky bottles as they really struggled walking in as they had huge full packs of well over 25kg each. I declined and lowered the levels of them instead to help out as best I could. I eventually returned to our camp a happy chap and everybody thought I was just joking around!

Day 2 early – Clark Falls

Once up fed & watered we packed up everything except the tent to allow them to dry out fully and headed off down to the lake end and Clark Falls for a visit. The track here is the start of the Never Never track and a junction on your left leads down a very steep slippery pad to the base of the falls arriving around 8:30AM. This is the upper reaches of the mighty Mersey River. Two cascades here with the last pushing through a narrow notch in the rocky cliff making for a nice view through the Fagus at the base. We explored around the base and then walked up and out onto the top of the falls and looked over and from the escarpment. From the top you get a great view of the Never Never and Feather Falls was putting on a great show falling off the Cathedral Plateau in the distance. Plenty of photos and video latter we returned to camp.

Day 2 – Junction to Meston Hut

Time for some lunch and for me to explore the area. There is a nice area around the hut for a few tents and I followed a track down to the lake that leaves behind the hut and follows the creek to the lake shore. Water collection and toileting may be an issue around here? Two of the fishermen from Junction Hut arrived exhausted as we were leaving. They are going to have a big day tomorrow by stopping here tonight.

Day 2 afternoon – Meston Hut to Lake Myrtle

We left the hut and noticed the cairn but my very old map had another track shown going up the next creek and we decided to use this route. It turned out to be another furphy and we wasted more time and energy back tracking to the correct track again. I should have done some research on this trip before we left.

Climbing up this section was hot and uncomfortable rising up the eastern flanks of Rogoona. We reached the Mt Rogoona summit track junction marked by a large cairn by 15:00 and I walked up the first section of it to the first high point to take some photo's of the Walls of Jerusalem in the distance and check out the summit track. We then walked around the back of Rogoona and we passed Lake Poa around 15:45. We arrived at the magnificent campsite at Lake Myrtle some time after 16:30. Two small groups camped on the prime waterfront and the other well up into the back section. Our friend had an interesting encounter with a large snake coming out of the bush directly towards where he was sitting on a log. They both exited the area in different directions at the same speed! We wanted a water view after missing out at Junction so setup in the middle with a nice flat campsite and great views.

Day 2 evening – Lake Myrtle – Jackson Creek & Lake Bill

I was the only one keen to make use of the rest of the daylight and with not enough time to properly summit Rogoona I headed off to explore the start of the Jackson Creek track and a quick blast down to Lake Bill and back. Jackson Creek track was easy to find and follow so after a few pictures and walking along it for a while I retraced and headed down the valley towards Lake Bill. You follow  the Myrtle outlet creek for the first part and pass an old hut site before crossing the creek and start climbing above Bill on the SE side. Time was getting away from me so on the ridge above Bill around 19:00 I called it quits and headed back to camp arriving just as the light was starting to dim around 19:45. A chat with our closest neighbors, tea and an early night as two of us where trying for a sunrise on Rogoona the next morning.

Day 3 very early – Summit Rogoona

I was awake well before 5AM and found that our chosen route would be in complete shadow till the sun got up a bit. A scrub bash in the dark did not seem as attractive as it did last night and I waited another half hour before I kicked my mates tent and got things happening. We left at 5:45AM heading on our chosen route. About half way up the climb we stopped and took some great early morning photo's. We reached the plateau and tarns at 6:45AM only an hour after leaving camp. A further 30 minutes had us on the summit and some spectacular views. The sun was shining through the clouds causing bands of light to stream out of the cloud to the east. To the west the peaks of the Overland looked magnificent. What a great place to have breakfast sitting on the cliff edge with the southern end of Lake Myrtle over 300M directly below us covered in perfect cloud reflections. This is the sort of stuff I go walking for.

After heaps of photo's and admiring the views for ages we followed the high points out to the peak you can see from the campsite and it's shear cliffs. Hanging over these taking photo's was pretty amazing and we could see Sharon at the campsite sitting in the sun. After putting on my bright red raincoat and waving madly she spotted us and took some photo's from the lake back towards us on the peak.

I decided we could make the trip off this section by going over the end rather than back track into the gully but it turned out to be an interesting exercise. About halfway down we began to be blocked by cliffs,eventually I navigated a torturous route zigging and zagging to the point we gained the plateau this morning. The way down was ok but scrub gloves would have been handy on the steep slope and prickly scrub. All was well till I almost trod on a large snake, luckily I managed to arrest my momentum on a small gum. The rest of the trip was uneventful and we arrived back at camp to pack up around 10:30AM. Sharon had already done all the mats and bags and it did not take long at all.

Day 3  – Lake Myrtle to Mersey Valley via Jackson Creek track

By 11:30 we were well on our way past the boggy marshy section of the Jackson Creek track about to start the long decent back to the car. Nice view of Rogoona back up the valley here. A couple of places here require careful navigation as there are a couple of sharp turns and what I believe may be dead pads going in the wrong directions, unlike the rest of the trip we had no navigation issues at all today. Later sections of this track where it is benched have been damaged by falling trees and some track erosion but it is a very quick trip back arriving about 12:45 at the car park saving any road walking back to the car if we had exited via the Lake Bill track. We were pleased we had stuck with our original trip plan in the end.  A nice route and loop that could be incorporated with other tracks and options in many different ways. The summit of Rogoona is definitely worth the energy on a good day.