The weather forecast wasn’t favourable. Southerly was supposed to hit us after lunchtime so I thought that a trip to Mt Oxford was ambitious enough for the day. There were 7 of us. We drove to Coopers Creek carpark, where a beautiful clear sky welcomed us and it was hard to believe that it’ll rain in a few hours. We started walking on a pretty muddy track at a swift pace. On our way up, we met a few people who said that it was so windy above the bushline that they had to turn back. By the time we reached the bushline, the wind eased off and we enjoyed a windless tea break. At the bushline, Chris McGimpsey decided to chill there and wait for us.
The rest of us, thirsty for the summit, started to take on the challenge to reach the top before the wind and rain arrive. We managed, though Ciara turned back at 1320 m. She had some ankle pain from blisters – I couldn’t believe that she turned back 40 vertical meters below the summit! She must have been in a lot of pain to turn back so close to the top. After summiting, we rolled down to the bushline, had a quick lunch, collected Chris and hurried back to the cars. We still got rained on though – the last 20 minutes were in rain but at least it gave us a good reason to go to a pub in Oxford where we got some beer, hot chocolate, chips and Bayles’.
Rough stats: 13.1 km, 5h 20min, 1030m ascent
Participants: Michal Klajban (leader, scribe, GPX), Chris McHarg, Simon Barr, Ciara Dunleavy, Natalie Care, Chris McGimpsey, Joanna Buchajczyk
Tramped on 7th August 2022.
Map
Max elevation: 1366 m
Min elevation: 336 m
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