Hume and Hovell Walking Track: Mount Wee Jasper

General Information

Distance: 15.6 kilometers
Total climb: 700 meters elevation gain, total climb may be as much as 900 meters
Time taken: 5 hours
Map:  Couragago 8627-4S 1:25 000
Guide:  link
Start point distance by road from Canberra GPO:  88 kilometers
Start point map grid reference:  55H FB 52524 10232
Destination map grid reference:  55H FB 48996 07860
End point:  same as start

Route

http://maps.six.nsw.gov.au/

Description

This hike is along a part of the Hume and Hovell Walking Track, which runs from Yass to Albury-Wodonga, a distance of 440 kilometers. The starting point for our hike was the Fitzpatrick Trackhead, off Wee Jasper Road about 4 kilometers south of the town of Wee Jasper. From there we hiked up to the nearby caves for a look.

We then returned to the walking trail and heading roughly northwest parallel to Wee Jasper Creek. At map grid reference 55H FB 51286 10999 there is a stile to be crossed, at which point the track heads sharply south starting the main climb to the peak of Mount Wee Jasper. There are some nice views back over pine forests as you gain elevation.

At map grid reference 55H FB 50655 10377 (about 3 kilometers into the walk) we had to turn off the wide track we had been following on to a narrow walking trail.

Although the map shows the trail crossing several watercourses, when we went at the height of summer there was only one that had any obvious water in it (map grid reference 55H FB 49968 08439), and that was fairly unimpressive. We drank the water without any ill effects, though maybe we were just lucky.

Soon after we began the final ascent to Mount Wee Jasper.

The summit was fairly densely forested and there were clear views only towards Brindabella national Park to the east.

Having had lunch at the summit, we returned the way that we had come. Even though this was mostly downhill, the heat of late February along with the dearth of water made this return trip quite stressful. I suspect that it would be best to avoid this hike in the heat of summer. The extent of climbing required makes this a long and tiring walk. There is little water to be found along the way so it is necessary to carry at least 2-3 litres.