MOUNT GRANYA SP....Victoria

Ever heard of Mount Granya State Park in Vic ?… 

Well neither had I until I decided to head away from the bloody boring Hume Freeway that runs from the border down to Melbourne. Diverting off the freeway just north of Albury you’ll skirt around the upper reaches of the massive Hume Dam where when built it was 9 times larger than Sydney Harbour - something very hard to comprehend. 

 

The parks entry is off the Murray River Roads, then turn right onto Granya Road for a few 

miles until sign posted down Webb Lane. Now get this - its free to camp here with fire pits, when I was there the grass was green and manicured by the local wildlife plus there’s a drop dunny, all for free. Theres no allocated camping spots here at Cotton Tree Creek camping area, but big enough for a few offroad trailers and there’s a tent section too. 

Very serine and beautiful spot where if you’ve got a few hours you can walk up the the Scouts Log cabin built back in 1937. An amazing building made from solid hand cut logs complete with an indoor fireplace. No signs to say no camping inside - probably just respect it. If your keener and there’s been some water - a walking track past the cabin leads you up a pretty simple walking track to Granya Falls - about another 500 metres. 

The most prominent feature is Mount Granya which rises sharply to nearly 960 metres above sea level and many animals call this mountain home, including deer, wombats, a huge variety of birds including the stunning Lyrebirds. It’s only a small park at 15,000 acres and there’s only a few dirt roads. As like many other small towns, alluvial gold was found in Cotton Tree creek nearby in the 1860’s until 1900 but it was hard work so it was short lived trying to extract the gold from the ore. 

Theres no need to go the same road out as you came in on - simply just keep going through the camp area up the Bridle Track. Pretty much cant get lost up here as Vic Parks have sign posted all the tracks. If you follow the main road up you can visit the top of the spectacular Mount Granya. Views across the valley to the next plateau and across towards Koscioskzo Mountains. Just be warned tho - in winter time - the gates may close due to dangerous conditions - I presume rain and maybe a little snow. 

At the top of the mountain there are several walks around the top and back down to the camp ground ( if your keen ). Go back down the track you came up and at the junction turn hard right to exit the mountain on the western side. Follow Georges road around the base of the mountain and keep an eye out for Magazine Track. Just up this dirt road you’ll find two steel powder magazine steel lockout sheds. One was used to house the powder and the other to store the dynamite for when nearby roads into the local forests were being built back in the 1960’s. 

 Back on the tar and there’s a few different routes you can take to get back to normality. Head towards Beechworth or maybe back towards the snowy region.