Mt Machar and Henessy Loop

This is a fantastic loop hiking to 2 mountains opposite Glen Rock starting from the Casuarina day use area in the western Main Range area.The mountains themselves are wide open expanses of forest. You don't realise how wide they are until you get to the top. There are fire trails all across the top of the mountain range looking down on Glen Rock. Note you will expect to take 7 to 8 hours to do this route depending upon your speed.

This hike follows two of the major spurs as they go up or down to the mountains. The upward spur which is closest to the Casuarina day use area at times can become a narrow razorback whilst the downward spur is steeper in places but is well grassed and wide.

The initial track is up to a lookout along a well maintained firetrail. From the lookout you progress past one of the National Park fire trails which are actually on the map to a narrow goat track that follows the well-defined spur up with Mt Macha on the right.

Sooner or later you will come to a fence line which will follow the Ridge and you will need to cross that fence line a couple of times to stay on the goat track. At a couple of times the track will narrow to a razorback and you will need to be careful as you progress further upward.

Towards the top you will hit a fire trail which will branch three ways. At this stage you want the Macha track which you follow up to it's conclusion at the top. We had lunch at the top there amongst the wild flowers which were ever present at the time we were there. Great views of Glen Rock from the top.

Returning down the mountain we progress to a gate and then follow along the ridge line the firetrail towards Mt Hennessy. This firetrail descends slightly to the right of the ridge line. At some point you will hit a more steep upward movement in the firetrail. We opted to descend down to Grave Creek and Gorge to check out the grass tree vegetation and eventually hit the fire trail that runs up Grave Gorge to the Hennessey track. Note you could just as easily stay on the fire trail and avoid the bush bash.

We ascended Hennessy via the fire trail up to the top to view the forested area where there is a pile of rocks which marks the top of Mt Hennessy. We then descended back down the spur to then assend a minor hill that is adjacent to Hennessy to climb to the top prior to finding the return spur. The initial descent is very steep. Rock dislodgement is highly possible so you need to be careful.

At the end of this descent you will see a rock slide area and at that area you need to start to edge left to pick up the return spur. The spur descends a heavily grassed area with many relief knolls to allow you to stop and view the magnificent terrain of the Glen Rock area. I would recommend that you stick to the GPS Track very carefully to ensure that you follow the correct spurs.

At some stage as you progress downwards you will hit a old fire trail which leads to the National Park track. The conclusion of the trail follows the National Park track down through a stockyards area and then on to the track that leads along Blackfellow Creek. There are Creek crossings that most probably will get your feet wet along Blackfellow Creek.

The final stretch is mostly flat with a couple of small hills towards the end which then passes the camping area back to your start point. I rated the track difficult because of the razorback and the steep descent on the return.