We visited Mt Blackwood Scenic Reserve last weekend to check out the local walks and finalise the relevant GPS data and details. We are featuring one of the park’s walks in our forthcoming walking guide to The Goldfields. The park has only recently reopened after the storm damage that occurred in January 2011 and Parks Victoria had indicated (on their web site) that it was only open to 4WDs. I visit Mt Blackwood fairly regularly (both as a walker and rockclimber) and was expecting that a lot the rehabilitation work would have been completed. Unfortunately this was not to be the case. The vehicle tracks are still in a terrible condition (sections of which are still closed). However, it was the poor standard of the walking trails which really caught my attention (and which could not be attributed to just storm damage).
Back in 2001 we released Daywalks Around Melbourne, which featured a couple of walks in the Mt Beckworth Scenic Reserve. At the time I was critical about the quality of the walking trails which were in various states of disrepair. Over the intervening 10 years it would appear that little or no maintenance has been carried out. The result is a network of walking trails that are at the point of no return. The standard of the trails are so bad that in places erosion has completely destroyed the surface. Fallen trees are common and some trail sections vanish altogether. Yellow Box Track (which is clearly marked on Park Victoria’s Free Park Notes), has simply vanished. Short sections of the trail can still be seen but most people will eventually lose their way. What makes all of this worse is the almost complete lack of trail markers and directional signs. In just a couple of more years the once lovely walking trails of Mt Beckworth Scenic Reserve will probably be just memories and the park will be a lesser place because of it.
Ok. It’s now April 2015 and one of our regular readers (and users of our walking guides), David Sidwell, recently posted an article on his website regarding some upgrades to the signage and walking trails around Mt Beckworth. You can read his piece here.
Thanks for these valuable insights and reports about our local regional parks. It appears that maintenance is sorely lacking and our day trippers can reply more on blogs and recent hiker’s reports than the Govt published brochures. Well done.