Mt Ballow Circuit

This is a physically tough walk in rough terrain with some excellent views and beautiful rainforest.

The track begins at the cleared Ridge car park where you initially head down the track to upper portals. When you reach the bottom of the ridge line, cross over the creek and follow and overgrown track till you reach an old set of cattle yards. Walk round to the south of the cattle yard till you reach an a line of old fence posts which mark the beginning of the foot pad up to Montserrat lookout.

From Montserrat lookout take the path of least resistance (take care not to lose the ridge-line like I did at some points though). Focal Peak can be climbed or more easily walked around to a saddle and corresponding ridge-line which is used to ascend Durramlee Peak. There is a cliff line to the south of Durramlee that can be avoided by contouring further west.

Mowburra Peak was an optional extra and much better views from a similar point are displayed on both north and south sides of double Peak (the south point probably has the most expansive views of Barney National Park available). The south side of double Peak contains a cliff line that can be avoided by backtracking and contouring to the east (though some steep scrambling is still required).

The climb up Mt Ballow is marred by thick vine filled rainforest with numerous patches of scunge. This trend continues all the waste the peak of big lonely. A better route option would be to ascend Nothofagous Mountain, making it easier going across the saddle towards big lonely (both vegetation and terrain).

The walk down Big Lonely Ridge is fairly straight forward with burned patches making the going easier. The vegetation thickens considerably at the base of the ridge though. I continued along Ballow Creek till I reached the Ballow Barney Creek Junction where there are nice slabs next to the creek that make an excellent campsite (I stayed here).

The following day I followed Barney Creek back to the yamahra Creek Junction. Don't be tempted to take any short cuts to avoid the creeks meanders (I found a very thick patch of lantana during my 'short cut'). From the yamahra Creek Junction you could continue down river to upper portals before retracing your steps to the start of the upper portals where a path heads north up the ridge-line meeting up with the path I took along the ridge line. I chose to avoid the portals and accessed the same ridge through a small footpad that heads east out of the yamahra Creek campsite. The footpad continues along the ridge-line and over and few smaller peaks before becoming a vehicle track. This is followed all the way back to the cleared Ridge carpark to complete the walk.