What – Mount Stapylton (Gunigalg) Walk
Where- Northern end of the Grampians leaving from Mt Zero car park
How far –5.2mn hike with 330meter elevation gain (according to Strava)
10 words – Flat, steep, ochre, bird, weathered, brain rocks. Exhausting, scary, exhilarating.
Autumn is a time of extremes in the Wimmera.
It will be 2 degrees when you wake up in the morning, 32 by late afternoon and then down to 6 when you go to bed.
Much of the land and is incredibly horizontal. A flat, blonde sea of cropping paddocks, interrupted only by clusters of eucalypt bobbing on imaginary waters.
But head east of Horsham and suddenly Gariwerd (the Grampians) interrupts the stubble covered tennis court with more than 167,000ha of giant rock layered haphazardly like odd shaped lego stacked 100s of metres high.
Today, a week after we visited the Pink Lake moonscape, we get to scale and discover some of this intriguing rock.
New muscles are located as we travel 5.2km overland including 330 metres upwards, to 470m high Mt Stapylton – Aboriginal name Gunigalg.
Classed as a medium walk in some guides and hard in others, I have settled on the latter.
(I have since discovered that Tyrone T Thomas – the veteran authority of walking in Gariwerd- describes this as an ‘easy’ walk in his 1983 edition of 50 Walks in the Grampians. Tyrone must have been in very good shape or we have collectively become less fit with our sedentary lifestyles of the past four decades)
It is about this time Noah, my walking partner and son informs me he once ran up the 2.5km track in 14 minutes. Not today my boy!!!
It’s a baptism of fire as we begin with flat rock. Flat is the Wimmera landscape not this rock.
Really interesting to see strange veins in the rock as we head upwards. Nature’s angle grinders (sediment or water) have carved out perfect lines along the rock.
Good excuse to stop and look and catch the breathe.
After a not-so-flat rock warm-up, we turn a corner and enter the huge amphitheatre where Taipan Wall takes centre stage.
The track follows the edge of another wall of rock and at ground level random boulders covered in many lines and holes are scattered among the trees.
This is a globally popular and challenging place for climbing but recent rediscoveries of ancient Aboriginal culture material has seen climbing banned. Findings included ancient Aboriginal quarry sites, an ochre deposit and tools and archaeological deposits in rock shelters.
We pass closed off paths to abandoned rocks then the track veers right and we start skirting along the base of Taipan wall.
It is one giant abstract 3D mural with broad and rocky brush strokes of brilliant burnt orange, with lines of white and black thrown in.
You wonder what stories were attached to this remarkable natural masterpiece over the past 50,000 years – a stark contrast to the sober grey rocks of much of Gariwerd.
We are onward and upward again and there are great views to the wall and to the big Wimmera landscape to the west. A foreground with gridlines of olives and native flowers and background of scattered trees and distant mountains.
After a bit more climbing we reach the best natural sculpture of the day, the Bird’s Nest. A giant rock bird sitting on a nest of eggs that will never hatch.
As we thankfully stop for some photos Noah assures me we are nearing the top of this section.
Not far along we turn another corner- literally and metaphorically – and begin winding back around and up a rocky path to make our way to the summit.
It is here we see our first magic views to the east and get a pretty good look at the grey clouds which are swirling above.
The path weaves around some more boulders and past rock shelters and then emerges onto the ledge directly above the Taipan Wall area.
I have been sweating from the climbing but as we turn another corner we are exposed to cold, loud, fierce wind.
Now for some climbing and while I loved climbing trees as a kid, my ancient body has not done this for many years. I am informed to keep three limbs attached at all times and use my legs to propel me.
Freaks me out but it works and somehow I get to the penultimate ledge.
I am reliably informed that the next bit is ‘a bit sketchy’ so decide to meditate and enjoy the view to the west as Noah completes the last 50 ‘sketchy’ metres of the climb.
I did not quite make it and will definitely try to do it next time but I am pretty impressed with my efforts on this easy/medium/hard walk.
We stop to explore the many ‘rock pools’ on the windy ledge and take time to enjoy the nearly 360 degree views of the landscape below.
It’s not a sunny day but the patchwork of trees, horticulture, stubble and roads takes on new colours and character with a backdrop of grey.
We take a closer look at the rock shelter with its weathered holes, muted ochre and wheat coloured tones and notice another rock we had passed on the way up that looks a lot like a brain.
The bird takes on a whole other character too, when we look at him from above and we find another shelter we’d missed on the way up with what looks like a limestone ceiling.
The quads get a really good work out on the way down too, I might not be puffing as much but there is still pain!
We get to the end in 2 hours and 27 minutes with 1 hour and 49 minutes of moving time according to Strava. Tyrone said it would take 2 hours 15 minutes so all in all not a bad effort.
This walk ‘rocked’ in so many ways. We saw plenty of unique and artistic rocks, and my quads absolutely felt like rock at the end!
Rock on Stapylton nature’s masterpiece of northern Gariwerd.
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