At the end of last year I hiked a popular trail in the Yarra Ranges which included part of Monda Road, starting from Dom Dom Saddle car park. Near the end of the hike I saw a sign which made me realise that this was the same Monda Road that goes close to the summit of Mt St Leonard, which I’ve climbed many times from Healesville. I also saw a sign where I had parked that said Mt Donna Buang 21km - interesting to me because I’ve climbed Donna many times from the other side, from Warburton. I had an idea: why not hike from Healesville to Warburton via Mts St Leonard and Donna Buang?
So I set out, after plenty of research and downloading several maps, and carefully choosing the two coolest days during a patch of hot weather. It looked too much for one day and I wasn’t game to camp alone there, and then I remembered the motel in Narbethong I used to stay at for the Marysville Marathon, conveniently close to my planned route.
I took trains (3) and bus to Healesville and set out at 10am. I was soon walking out of town and into the forest, starting my climb to Mt St Leonard from Donnelly’s Weir. This was a good gravel road for a long time and then I followed a trail between the trees which became much steeper. I’ve been up here before on the Maroondah Dam races. I surprised a deer, which barked and ran off. It was going to be a hot day and I found the climb fairly hard. At the top I found some shade for a rest and didn’t bother going up the lookout tower.
Initially I had trouble finding Monda Road for my onward travel but some trail runners sent me off the right way; I’ve never been down the road in that direction, usually running down the grass, which is what I could have done this time. At Monda Road the car park was busy; someone told me he had seen me in Healesville, and had I walked here?
Monda Road is a lovely road - well, more of a trail really as there are several gates meaning it is closed to most vehicles - among the high mountain ash. Sometimes walkers are encouraged by signs to detour over hillsides and through clearings. It was hot (mid thirties) and the colours were all vivid in the sunshine. I barely stopped as it was dawning on me that the day's walking was further than I had calculated, and I worried about running out of water so I only drank when I became completely parched.
Eventually I crested Mt Monda and then reached the point where I had joined Monda Road on my previous hike. I was glad I had been here before because a sign I saw appeared to be sending me the wrong way. There weren’t many signs in general. Near here I was on a piece of trail with high grass and an echidna crossed the trail in front of me with a high stepping gait due to the grass. It looked so funny.
The trail undulated along (I saw another deer and a few wallabies) with the high point literally and figuratively being Mt Archer. I loved the occasional breezes that came through. When I got down to the main road I realised I had misread the sign pointing to Mt St Leonard on my previous hike and it was actually five km further than I thought, which accounted for my having miscalculated my total distance before setting out.
From Dom Dom Saddle I followed Dom Dom Creek Road (which had been graded since my last visit) to the motel at Narbethong. I got there just before 7pm and I was very tired, with 36km under my belt. In the past I haven’t liked the decrepit motel rooms but this time my room looked like luxury.
The next morning I had coffee and a supermarket croissant in my room and headed off back to Dom Dom Saddle at 7.30am. It was cool and clear. From Dom Dom I took the trail towards Donna Buang. I had been reading up about this trail and I knew that there were several side trails that become dead ends and that part of the trail is completely overgrown.
The first part was on a good gravel/dirt road, then a marker pointed walkers onto a side trail over a hill. This side trail led to a point further along the road. So far so good. Then I saw a marker showing I should turn up another side trail over a hill and I duly followed; at the top were written signs (as opposed to the little markers) that were confusing, but after consulting my two maps I followed the sign that pointed to my destination even though I thought the direction was incorrect. Within minutes I was back at my starting point at the base of the hill! I had just gone in a circle. So I stayed on the road.
Pretty soon there was a locked gate across the road and after this the road became more of a grassy trail. It was lovely. I climbed up the flank of Mt Fernshaw and on over Mt Vinegar with many openings in the forest giving great views over the forested ranges. I also saw my first snake, a very long black snake lying right across the path, and it took its time slithering away. I ate morning tea, another croissant, in the shade and saw I was approaching the difficult part of the trail.
I reached the critical turnoff, where walkers are not permitted to remain on the 'road' and headed uphill. At first the going was easy on a wide strip of dirt with markers on trees showing the route. Then suddenly the trail disappeared. The markers on trees? Disappeared. This is what is meant by 'overgrown' in the official park notes I guess. A non-maintained section of a signposted trail, huh. You could see where other walkers had flattened the grass or trampled the dirt but higher up at elbow or shoulder level the branches of foliage completely obliterated any sign of a path. Worse still there was an abundance of nasty grass with sticky sharp bits trailing across the path. I could see a few pink ribbons tied to branches to show the way but they were infrequent to say the least.
This first part was awful. I was scraped all over my arms and upper legs by the grasses and branches that I failed to flick out of the way. After a while the path became more obvious and I hoped the worst was over, but it wasn’t. Sometimes the going was easier but then I would come to a small clearing and the direction to leave the clearing was anyone's guess. I stumbled around and was glad to have two maps on my phone plus the map on my watch; between using all these I managed to stay headed in the right direction and always came back to the pink ribbons, but I had some anxious moments. This was all entirely in dense forest and looking upward gave no indication of where to go.
When the foliage was lower it wasn’t so bad, but this section of the trail was much longer than I had anticipated, and more wearing. But the time I was out of it I was tired, and I still had to get up Donna. I had not even noticed The Nobs, marked on my map, en route.
I followed a narrow trail up to Mt Boobyalla, steep at first and then a leisuly stroll across a saddle and flat topped mountain. However the bushes along the narrow trail brushed painfully on my scraped legs and arms. Here I passed the first person I had seen all day. The last part of the climb up Donna, after the descent from Boobyalla, was not too bad, and at the top there were masses of sightseers. Since I hadn’t been up the lookout tower at Mt St Leonard I didn’t go up this one either.
After a brief rest I started down the Mt Victoria trail. The trail was flanked all along by yellow flowers. I saw a snake as it darted off the trail, and soon after a couple of women hikers coming towards me asked if I had seen any snakes; they clearly were not expecting me to say yes. I know this trail in both directions well but in my tired state it seemed very long. And that was only going downhill. Luckily the steep sections on the lower slopes were dry and not slippery, but it was the hottest I’d been all day due to the enclosed nature of the mountainside.
I had forgotten that the last part to the Martyrs Road trailhead is actually uphill, and I thought I had taken a wrong turn, but at last I was on very steep Martyrs Road and then by the Yarra River in Warburton, again 36km for the day, and almost 6pm. It was a great feeling to have done the hike and for it all to have worked out well. I stepped into the pub for a beer and then got the bus and train home.
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