pezimm
Forum Member
So some of the boys - me included - have been itching for a High Country trip and it finally happened 2 weeks before the tracks closed for winter...
We met early on Saturday morning at Pakenham's BP servo before heading for Dargo:
It was an all-Forester affair, with Nachaluva and Dedman (OffroadSubarus.com) in their SFs and me in my SG turbo - 2 manuals versus 1 auto.
We drove to Dargo with the last fuel stop in Sale, where we topped up and drove to the famous Dargo Hotel:
It was still early in the day and the weather was nice so we decided to go with our plan A: reach the top of Blue Rag Range Track before making our way to Talbotville for the night.
We followed Dargo High Plains Road, which is paved pretty much to McMillan Road and a good dirt road from there until Treasure Plain. From there, you go past a gate for winter road closure and the dirt road gives way to a track. A bit wet in some spots, but nothing challenging. A little over 9kms and we arrived at the turn off for Blue Rag.
The track had been graded recently so the rut depths were pretty ok. From here the scenery becomes amazing and we were just unlucky that a patch of clouds was covering the top of the mountain.
A steep descent followed by a no less impressive ascend with plenty drainage humps to manage and we were at the intersection of Basalt Knob North Track, where we would later return to.
Another few kilometres on the knife edge of the ridge line with beautiful views and we arrived at Blue Rag Trig, sitting 1721m above sea-level.
Temperature showing on the car gauge was +1 deg Celsius, but I reckon it was a bit lower than that. We had a glimpse of what the views are like in clear weather.
We met early on Saturday morning at Pakenham's BP servo before heading for Dargo:
It was an all-Forester affair, with Nachaluva and Dedman (OffroadSubarus.com) in their SFs and me in my SG turbo - 2 manuals versus 1 auto.
We drove to Dargo with the last fuel stop in Sale, where we topped up and drove to the famous Dargo Hotel:
It was still early in the day and the weather was nice so we decided to go with our plan A: reach the top of Blue Rag Range Track before making our way to Talbotville for the night.
We followed Dargo High Plains Road, which is paved pretty much to McMillan Road and a good dirt road from there until Treasure Plain. From there, you go past a gate for winter road closure and the dirt road gives way to a track. A bit wet in some spots, but nothing challenging. A little over 9kms and we arrived at the turn off for Blue Rag.
The track had been graded recently so the rut depths were pretty ok. From here the scenery becomes amazing and we were just unlucky that a patch of clouds was covering the top of the mountain.
A steep descent followed by a no less impressive ascend with plenty drainage humps to manage and we were at the intersection of Basalt Knob North Track, where we would later return to.
Another few kilometres on the knife edge of the ridge line with beautiful views and we arrived at Blue Rag Trig, sitting 1721m above sea-level.
Temperature showing on the car gauge was +1 deg Celsius, but I reckon it was a bit lower than that. We had a glimpse of what the views are like in clear weather.
