Simply Stirling!

11OES Stirling Camp – Summary Written by the 11OES Class

Our Year 11 VCE Outdoor Ed class went on a hiking expedition to Mt Stirling! 

On the lead up to our camp we got to decide where we were going to stay and hike to each day. We also had to organise meal plans and carry sufficient food for the 4 days of hiking. We hiked to a different camping spot every day and stopped to see all the beautiful views. 

We visited the iconic location of the hut of The Man from Snowy River at Craig’s Hut campsite. We learned about the hut's amazing history, and how it had been destroyed multiple times by bushfires, but had always been rebuilt by volunteers from the community.  

On the first night we stayed at Bluffs Spur campground, near the summit of Mt Stirling. Once we had set up camp, we walked up to the Mt Stirling Summit and watched the sunset. The clouds closed in on us and that night the temperature dropped to around -5°C. We found ourselves in the middle of a fast-moving cloud that was cold, misty, and got all our things wet! Thankfully there was an indoor hut with a warm fire where we could cook and hang out before we went to bed. Most of us had never been that cold before!

On the second day we got up and packed up our tents in the foggy, freezing conditions and then made the journey to our next campsite. The first part of the walk was a black trail, which was essentially straight down very steep hills. A few people fell over on the way down,  but after about an hour and a half we made it to the bottom. We then had to walk up another hill, but finally we made it to the Craig’s Hut campsite. That night there was no inside fire, so we had to cook outside in the wind. We rotated between the fire pit and the Trangias (our portable stoves) to cook our dinners because it was so very cold. 

The next day we packed up and started our climb back up the black trail. Everyone was nervous about having to go back up the steep hills, but with lots of encouragement we made it! It was very rewarding. to reach the top and then enjoy lunch in the sun. 

After lunch we made our way to our final destination, Razorback Hut. We were all very excited as this camp had cabins for us to sleep in! The thought of having a warm, comfy sleep pushed us to walk that 3km to get there. When we made it to the campsite, we made our imprint by writing in the logbook and we started a warm fire. We played our final rounds of Werewolf  (loads of fun!)and had a very yummy dinner. 

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