b'again and turn south to camp nearLake William Hovell. Jamieson wouldbe a good location because we couldrefuel and either head north toMansfield and then Cheshunt or southtowards Woods Point depending onthe situation, or remain in town ifnecessary. All agreed to this.It was another pleasant drive to MtSkene, with more great views, despitethe smoke haze. We stopped at look-outs to pinpoint specific fires in thedistance and had lunch at the summit.It was a different experience seeingthe real Mt Skene when not undertwo feet of snow! Alas, there was notrace of Felixs snowman he hadconstructed in August. I wasconcerned that the road to Jamieson the thick smoke, but we were free tomay have been closed, but we keep travelling towards Mt. Matlock.passed a number of cars that had We set off South down Mt. Terriblecome from Jamieson and all reported Track again, then onto Ryan Spurthat the road was open. Taking the Track. These tracks constantly variedopportunity of excellent data cover- in width, steepness and scenery.age, I checked for fire updates. To my They were most enjoyable, except fordismay, fires were now burning the spoon drains. Well, we imaginedaround Mts Buffalo and Cobbler and that is what they were meant to be. Inthe road to Cheshunt was closed. This reality, almost every drain proved tomeant moving to Plan C and plotting be a steep mound with a deep trencha new route whilst en route to detailed discussion of the fire situation. behind it. Less drains than bumpyJamieson. With the ANP effectively Apparently, the bare area we had wheel traps that varied in width andclosed, we would head south. I had camped on was earmarked as a depth. Much fun was had by alllooked up Mt Terrible earlier and possible location for a new fire tower participants navigating these chassishaving been to Mt Matlock some which may be built sometime in the twisting surprises!months earlier, these seemed like near future. Our morning tea stop was at Ryansgood options joined by decent 4wd Day 33 January Spur Hut, which is close to the old A1tracks. Heading south down the We awoke to a beautiful sunrise and Mining Settlement. This is a pleasantMansfield-Woods Point Rd I was a valley that had filled with smoke little shaded hut almost in the middlelooking for Skipworth Reserve. If it overnight. We had excellent vision of the track, so you cant miss it. Itwas a clear campsite we could stay from our high location. Our friendly was repaired by several 4x4 clubsthere and perhaps make use of the fire tower observer told us that all and the Victorian High Country HutsGoulburn River for a dip as it was 30 campers down in the valley on the Association in early 2018 specificallyodd degrees of course. All the camp- Mansfield-Woods Point Rd were being for four-wheel drivers to stop at.sites we came across were filled and told to leave immediately because of Continuing south, we finally climbed a it turned out we couldnt camp atSkipworth. It was still only mid-after-noon so we headed up Poletti track,then onto Mt Terrible Track to makeMt Terrible our camp for the night.Again, this was strategic because wewere up high out of the valley with anexcellent view all around and multipleescape routes should things turnnasty. There was a manned fire towerwhere we could pick up moreinformation, not to mention mobilecoverage.Mt Terrible turned out to have afabulous view back towards Mt Bullerand the smoke plumes from variousfires were easy to see. The rebuilt hutthere was also worthy of investigation.In terms of camping, we had MtTerrible to ourselves, except for thefire tower observer, who happilycalled down to us for a chat and laterjoined us on the ground for a more24 JUNE2021 TRACKWATCH'