Lyndon Saddle – Craigieburn Valley Circuit

Sunday 13 October 2019

Six of us assembled at Church Corner and headed west in two cars. Shi-Ping Wang and Kerry made a pie-stop at Sheffield for a meaty breakfast, then drove on join the others at Springfield and to pick up John.

We parked at the Craigieburn Campsite shelter on the Broken River ski road and set off to Lyndon Saddle on Mistletoe Track, then up to 1256m Helicopter Hill.

We had a cuppa up in the clouds, with minimal visibility down to Castle Hill Village.

Back down at the saddle we headed along a part of the Luge Track, then onto the Craigieburn Edge Track which crosses some impressive screes. Lunch was eaten on a scree, with a fine view to the other side of the valley. We passed the turn-off for Camp Saddle and ski huts, well set into beech forest, as we headed for the base of a snow-depleted Craigieburn Ski-field. Norman pointed us onto a bush track which bypasses a big loop of the ski-road. A locked gate well down the ski road meant we had the road to ourselves. A few spots of rain began as we neared the Sidle 73 Track which took us back to the cars through, dead, herbicide-sprayed pines, then beech forest. The 73 track has a patch with lots of seedling pines. We plucked quite a few.

This is a good, easy-moderate circuit with very little climbing once you’ve done the 350m to Lyndon Saddle.

Our seven were: Jill Fenner, Wendy McCaughan, Kerry Moore, Shi Ping Wang, Dan Pryce, John Robinson, Norman Burden (leader) NB