The Loddon Race: A Walking Guide: Devil Track to Hunts Creek

 Salters Creek Siphon, No 12

        The above structure at Salters Creek is one of the scenic sights of the middle section of the Loddon Race, which once brought water from the upper Loddon River, Holcombe, to Vaughan, and Red Hill near Fryerstown, Central Victoria. It's one of 14 siphons built by the Bradfields in the 1930's and maintained by them until the late '50's. The story of this project is told in 'The Loddon Company, Water Management and Alluvial Mining at Fryerstown' by Jodi Turnbull, Peter Davies and Susan Lawrence. Those authors shortened The River Loddon Water Supply Company Race to the Loddon Race and I'll follow their lead. The siphon over Salters Creek is still relatively intact and has a certain wonky charm. If you want to see it and the rest of the siphons along this section of the Loddon Race, I'd advise you to check them out some time soon as it's only luck that has allowed the wooden components of the siphons to survive until now.

    This, the third walk in this series, is undoubtedly the hardest of the three. If you embark on the complete walk, be prepared for about 9 km of, sometimes, arduous, gruelling clambering, with dense undergrowth tearing at your skin and clothes (and another 7 km for the return journey). Of course, inveterate field ramblers will be salivating at the prospect! Nevertheless, the walk will be much easier and more pleasant if you're able to arrange a car shuttle. (On the map below a suggested second car parking spot is marked in, near the Hunters Track ford). For a start, you'll be spared the uninteresting slog back up Smuttas Track to your starting point. If you're unable to arrange a car shuttle then I suggest you do this walk over a couple of days. It's quite easy to attain Smuttas Track, or its offshoot, at pretty much any stage and so it's easy to tailor a walk length that suits. I suspect that most walkers will have had enough by the time they reach the Salters Creek Siphon. They may be thankful that the access track that leads to Smuttas Track is only about 30 metres away. (I admit that I did it over two days but, then again, I was busy taking photos, making notes and going off on side jaunts). On the map below, as the outwards walk along the channel and the trek home cross a few times, to prevent confusion, different colours have been used. The dotted red line is the outward journey and the yellow, the way back to the starting point (marked with a green parking symbol).  Significant features are numbered in the text and on the map.

     Besides the sometimes dense undergrowth of wattles and coffee bush, there are other obstacles that have to be negotiated. There's an old philosophical thought experiment: 'If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound'? I'm not sure of the answer, but one thing I've discovered is that the proverbial tree is certain to have fallen across the Loddon Race, so slowing down the intrepid explorer even more!

    So, with all that in mind, the best place to start the walk is the parking area just off Devil Track, the starting point of the first walk in this series. As usual, make sure you have all you need for a long walk, especially water, as this expedition will be sure to raise a thirst. And again, it's recommended that you have a compass, a map and/or a GPS device. Even though, for the most part, you're sticking close to the channel, it's easy to become disorientated later on when you need to return via tracks, some of which are unnamed.

Parking area off Devil Track

    It might pay you to look at the notes for the Devil Track to Red Hill walk. If you haven't done that walk yet, have a look at my description of the features near the car park, the difference being that once you cross over Irishtown Track and get past the Devil's Gully tunnel entrance/exit, you will need to take the left fork, rather than follow the Vaughan race down a steep gully. You will now be walking upstream, following the race back towards its source near Holcombe.

    So here's a reminder of what the junction of the two races looks like (1). We'll be following the incoming race on the left (east). The arrows indicate the direction of water flow.

     The Loddon Race cuts through a low hill here and then turns to the right (west) and runs along a cliff overlooking Rocky dam which we visited in a previous walk. Above the dam you should be able to see the Vaughan race on the other side of the gully, snaking its way around a steep cliff. As you continue your walk, sometimes you'll find it easier to walk along the bed of the race, but there's no avoiding the tangle of undergrowth you'll encounter along this whole section.

     We'll be keeping to the later constructed Bradfield race, but just below us there's an earlier, narrower channel which took a much longer route to get to this point. This earlier race would have circled higher up the gullies, with the builders avoiding, wherever possible, the need to erect wooden flumes which suffered severely from the occasional fire and flood.

    Soon you will pass by what must be a very pretty waterfall after a heavy rain event. Again, those ubiquitous pesky fallen trees get in the way of a good photo.

    At regular intervals, watercourses like this meet the race and during rain events must have augmented the flow within the race significantly. At the 1.7 km mark the race meets Smuttas Track but then it diverges again to reach the most 'downstream' of the siphons, Siphon No 14 (2). As with many of the old siphons, a large section of the original pipe has been removed, in this case, at the outlet, leaving only the stone abutment. 

       Nevertheless a significant mount of pipeline has survived.

    Apparently the pipes were coated with bitumen which still clings to the underside. Below is the siphon inlet abutment.

    The Loddon Race immediately heads westwards and within 200 m Bridge Track is crossed. In about another 200 m Siphon 13 (3) is encountered. This is quite a long shallow siphon, the gully here having a gentle gradient. Again, not all of the pipeline has survived. This is the second longest siphon along the Loddon Race at 167 m in length.

    There's quite an impressive waterfall just below this siphon. The inlet abutment is still as sound as when it was constructed.

    The race meets and crosses Smuttas Track and this offers the opportunity for those who'd prefer a short walk to turn left (north) and return to their starting point. The race doesn't stay for long on the east side of the track. But before it crosses back we meet Siphon 12 (4). This is another shallow gully and again a large section of pipeline is missing.

Siphon 12 inlet

    Once you navigate past the siphon inlet you will cross Smuttas Track again and find yourself back on the west side of it. The race runs along the top of a ridge next to a track (right of photo) which leads to private property. 

    A little further on, the race itself crosses into this freehold land. This won't be the last time you'll have to walk along a boundary fence.

    Almost immediately after the Loddon Race reemerges into the forest you will come to Siphon 11 (5). Another shallow gully but this time the pipeline is intact. What's left of the bitumen coating is quite visible in this photo.

        The race becomes very overgrown from this point until Salters Creek.

    Yes, it's hard going, but the next siphon, Siphon 10 (6) is worth the effort. An offshoot of Smuttas Track is crossed and the race heads east and then south to cross one of the deepest gullies on this walk, Salters Creek.

    Owing to this siphon's proximity to an access track, it's one of the most photographed of the Loddon Race siphons. But this proximity also allows you the option of calling it quits at this point and returning to your car (you'll head to the right, i.e. to the north). If you do so, you'll need to turn left (west) when you reach Smuttas Track.

    For those still keen to plough on ahead, the task doesn't get any easier. The next step is to clamber down the gully and climb up the other side. 

      The race heads westwards now and within a short distance crosses the track you met with earlier and runs parallel to it for a short distance before heading away to the west.

 

    The further south you travel, the more fence walking you'll need to do. Further along the Loddon Race enters farmland and heads away around a hill.

        It's not long before it reenters the forest and then exits again.

    Continue to follow the fence and you'll be able to get a good view of the Loddon Race as it swings south around a hill to head back into public land again.

    The race continues to play hide and seek, travelling along in the distance behind fences and then emerging back into the forest.

       It's certainly a challenge picking your way along the race embankment sometimes.

    Just when you think that you really do need to take up a new hobby, you come out on to Columbine Creek and remember why you love field rambling. This is Siphon 9 (7) and it's quite a scramble to descend this ravine and climb up the other side. It's certainly worth spending a bit of time exploring this structure.

 

 

    Within a short distance the race crosses into farmland, disappears out of of sight, and then reemerges again. More boundary riding!

    Take note of that track on the far right, you'll probably choose to return via it later on. As you walk along, take time to admire the view to the north. This is really beautiful country and few bushwalkers visit this area. Once again the Loddon Race enters farmland, this time for a substantial distance.

        The track you saw earlier leads to a farm gate. 

    Later on you'll be following that track back to civilization. Continue to follow the fence eastwards and at a corner the race reemerges. You'll now head south again following the race, but you're now near as far as this walk will take you.

     The land here seems to have been grazed at one stage but as you haven't crossed any fences we can assume access is allowed. The race leads to a junction with an outlet, here to the right of photo. 

    The Loddon Race is coming in from the left of the photo and an outlet has been constructed on the far right, through that interesting metal gauge which appears to have regulated the flow of water. This outlet is linked to a pipeline which was possibly installed to more accurately direct the flow of water to where it was needed. I originally thought it might have been Siphon 8 but it ends at the bottom of the gully and never seems to have been connected back to the race. You can look for yourself. I suggest you turn right here and follow the pipeline down the hill. You're very close to private property here.

    Follow the pipeline down, cross the gully and then make your way up the hill, keeping close to the fence. You'll meet the race just as it emerges from private property on your right (south). Within this property the Loddon Race heads south (remembering it's heading 'upstream') to wander along until it reaches another siphon (Siphon 7), still within private property. On Google Earth you can see that this siphon was buried under Hunts Creek and the inlet abutment is partially demolished. The race loops around a large (and now cleared) hill on its way to the cliffs of the Loddon River where it will finally reemerge  (Siphon 6) at Fook Farm (see the walk Fook Farm Bridge to Head of Race). Turn left away from the fence heading north and you will come to what appears to have been the footings of Siphon 8. If this was a siphon then it's very different to all the others along the Loddon Race. It's hard to work out how the pipeline would have been held in place, there being none of the impressive stone abutments used at other locations. All that's left are the the stone footings. What's interesting is that the abutments look more like those that might have supported a flume, so it's all a bit of a puzzle.

        This is the same gully you crossed earlier. Here, below, is the flume or siphon outlet.

    Follow the channel to the left (northwest) and you'll soon find yourself back at the junction you encountered earlier. It's time to retrace your steps until you reach the farm gate you passed earlier, at which point you can follow an unnamed track back to Hunters Track. On the way you'll pass through a clearing with a wrecked car (10) that has stood sentinel there for many years.

        Continue to follow the track north.

        This track comes out at Hunters Track. Turn left and cross the Columbine Creek concrete ford (11).

    Once over the ford, turn left on to what seems to be an unnamed track (making sure you don't turn north on to Hunters Track) and follow it past the Salters Creek siphon to where it intersects with Smutters Track. (You'll enjoy the hills!). Turn left on to Smutters Track and follow it back to your car. If you were lucky enough to have arranged a car shuttle with a friend you will turn right on to Hunters Track (over the ford) and return to your parking spot.

    I hope you agree that, although this walk is long and challenging, it certainly brings home the incredible achievement of those who constructed the Loddon Race back in the 1860's, and that of the Bradfields who restored and renovated the race in the 1930's, making use of it for 20 years to send Loddon River water to their hydraulic sluicing activities at Red Hill (see the Devil Track to Red Hill Walk previously described).