Staircase and Allambee Beek Falls
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| Allambee Beek Falls |
Off track Hike 7km / 2-3 Hr / Return
Map:
Terrain/Rating:
Easy undulating walk along 4wd track then off track walk down to first falls, along creek valley to 2nd falls then back up to 4wd track.
This hike has a mix of the usual otway bushland and lush fern rainforest along the river valley.
An Easy to Medium walk requiring some navigational skills.
Start / Finish Time:
9:00am / 12:00pm
Start / Finish Location:
Intersection of Curtis Rd and Mt. Sabine Rd.
Trip Summary:
Curtis Rd I believe is a seasonally closed road and can also be a rutted muddy mess about 1km in.
If you start from the intersection/gate, you will need to walk for about 2km along Curtis Rd then the divert right into the bush. There are pink ribbons marking the way through the forest.
The walk is a triangle, falls 1, scale the creek to falls 2, then back to the track.
How to get there:
From Lorne drive up Erskine Falls Rd to the end. Turn left along Mt Sabines Rd for 20 minutes until you get to Curtis Rd on the left, (sharp hairpin, easily missed). There are No toilets here.
Trip Detail:
This trip is to two of the lesser known falls in the Otway National Park. They are both off track so you should take a detailed topo map and have some navigation skills be it by either compass or GPS to find the falls.
As mentioned Curtis Rd can be unsuitable for a non-4WD, so I started this walk from Mt Sabine Rd.
Please note this walk could be quite dangerous if there has been recent rainfall. This hike was done with very little prior rainfall, so access was quite easy.
(Click on images to enlarge)
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| Curtis Rd & Mt Sabine Rd. |
Whether you drive or walk, you need to stop where Curtis Rd takes a 90 degree left turn.
So either a 2 minute drive... |
| Curtis Rd area to park. |
or walk along the 4wd track for about 30 mins.
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| Curtis Rd. |
We reach a small non-descript clearing on the right where Curtis Rd diverts 90 degrees left.
This is where we head off into the forest. |
| Track clearing on Curtis Rd. |
There are 3 "tracks" in here, one heads towards Black Velvet Falls, one goes to Allambee Beek Falls and the track we take is the one that goes to Staircase Falls. You'll notice trees marked with pink tape once you walk into the forest. To go to Staircase Falls we take the right most track, which is in a SSW to SW direction.
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| Staircase Falls track. |
The direction we take is pretty well marked with trees tagged with pink and yellow tape usually within view of each other. You'll pretty much make your own path as it's likely to be overgrown.
After about 20 minutes of steadily heading down into the bush you'll hear the waterfall and reach a fern lined creek. If you've come down in the right area the waterfall should sound to your right.
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| Staircase Falls creek track. |
Following the pink ribbons it's a matter of making your own way down onto the creek bed.
Head right along the creek bank for a few minutes to reach Staircase Falls. The Falls are situated in a nice small canyon surrounded by tree ferns.
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| Staircase Falls. |
Even though its the end of the summer season here, there was a bit of water coming down the falls.
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| Staircase Falls. |
After the falls we turn back along the creek bypassing our entry track and within 5 mins cross over Cumberland River to the other river bank.
These surrounding areas are basically the source of the Cumberland River. |
| Cumberland River. |
The track then climbs slightly uphill parallel to the river for a few minutes and T intersections with Ricketts Track (this should appear on the right and leads up to Wye River Rd).
We turn left and head back downhill to Cumberland River.  |
| Track to Allambee Beek Falls. |
Getting closer to the river the track diverts left along the river bank before reaching Allambee Beek Falls.
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| Allambee Beek Falls. |
Theres more space here than Staircase Falls with some boulders to take a rest on/food break next to the falls.
We then head further along Cumberland River for 5 minutes, cross over and then look for an exit point left of the river to head back up to Curtis Rd. There may be pink ribbon markers here to follow, but if you head left uphill and stay straight sooner or later you will reach Curtis Rd.
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| Cumberland River |
Walking back uphill to find Curtis Rd from here is the trickiest part of the hike. Unless you have a GPS, then best advice is to retrace your steps. After about 30 minutes of track finding up through the forest you will be back at the original entry point with Curtis Rd. The times I give for this are pretty conservative as I was doing a bit of re-taping of trees where needed.
Once you are back on Curtis Rd, you can either finish the hike and head back to Mt Sabine Rd or continue on down along Curtis Rd to do the Galliebarinda Falls hike.
It is a 30 min walk further on along Curtis Rd. The Galliebarinda Falls track is located where the Cumberland River crosses the road.
The river here is normally just a small creek.
There is a small clearing here on the right that could be used for an overnight camp.
A track on the other side of the river on the left leads to Galliebarinda Falls. (~60 min return walk)
This is one of the few detailed descriptions of this hike, and given the age of the post I thought I'd take the time to update. Did this walk yesterday (May 2018) - autumn weather, cool/cold (15 degrees) patchy sky with some light rain to give you some idea of the conditions.
ReplyDeleteCurtis road was closed at the turn-off, so had to leave the car there. 44-gallon fire drum also appears to be gone, but finding the corner where the road heads left and the tracks start was surprisingly easy if you keep your eyes open. The track we took to Allambee had both pink and yellow tape marking it, and it was obviously a track. To the left was another track (unmarked - Black velvet?) and we couldn't see a 3rd track at all.
The track is pretty easy for the first 2/3, native bushland more than rainforest. In summer watch out for snakes, and there's no shortage of small spider webs crossing the path to walk through. Lots of pink and orange ribbons, although some were attached to trees that had come down, we tried to repair those we noticed.
When the trail starts to get steeper and really head down into the valley and the vegetation turns into more ferns and damp rainforest, then it gets a bit tougher. In parts the track is narrow, and after rain (like we had) it can be slippery in places with clay under the top leaf layer slipping away easily. Take care!
It's about now that the GPS really started to struggle with reception. Using a decent hiking Garmin that normally locks onto 9-14 satellites, it was struggling to find 2 under the heavy fern canopy and being down in the valley. Don't rely on the GPS from here onwards, the reflected signal meant the track looks like it is all over the place.
As you get closer to the river/stream, you'll discover new fun - small leeches will start appearing on your clothes. If you are wearing loose pants, tuck them into your socks - the leeches are not dangerous and will fall off on their own if they happen to take hold. Also, Victorian leeches are really small, so don't think they're like those Madagascar/Africa giants you see on TV!! They're really nothing to worry about, just be aware they exist and keep yourself covered below the waist if it worries you and you'll be fine.
Once you get to the river, you'll have to cross it In order to get to the falls. It's not hard for tall people, as there are two sets of large rocks to step across but they are widely spaced. Shorter people might benefit from a hiking stick or help from a friend.
Allambee falls are pretty nice - it's got a little clearing and on a dry day it would be a good spot for a break. Lots of trees have come down, so there's less clear space now than there might have been in 2013, but a group of 10 could find spots to perch easily enough for a snack break.
We didn't make it to Staircase or Black Velvet, it started to rain and we were running out of time. All up it took us about 2 hours return but we didn't stay long at the falls.
Hope this update is helpful - thanks to Clive for the original post, it was the detailed overview that convinced us to give this one a shot!
I recently tried this bit came down directly at Alambee Beek Falls, didn't see Black Velvet or Staircase Falls. We followed a path in Trail Finder app and the pink ribbons. This may well have been the return leg of the track described. Was easy to Alambee Beek but I didn't see the track continue from there, and I missed the diverging track at the top.
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