Mount Oxford and The Wharfedale Track

An overcast weekend saw me out at Mount Oxford. There had been so much recent rain that the ford to the View Hill car park was impassable for me, meaning I ended up starting from Cooper's Creek instead, the same starting point for my only other trip to Mt Oxford nearly three years ago.



There were a few cars at the start but the only other people I saw all day were a couple of hunters walking out, about 10 minutes after I started. After passing the Payton Lodge Scout Camp the track climbed steadily through bush and then cloud, before emerging out in the scrub zone. It was raining lightly here, but this cleared as I climbed higher. I caught a brief glimpse of distant snow covered peaks whilst I rested on the upper ridge, before the visibility closed in a bit again on the summit.


Just sneaking above the cloud on Mount Oxford.


Heading back into the cloud on the Mount Oxford summit ridge.

Dropping off the summit I picked up the Mt Oxford Route and made a swift descent to the Wharfedale Hut, just a stones throw away from the junction of the two tracks. This hut is in good condition and situated next to the river, on a raised grassy clearing.


The well situated Wharfedale Hut.

From here I followed the Wharfedale Track, which is also an MTB track up to Wharfedale Saddle at 750m, well past the track junction to Black Hill. Someone had obviously camped here before and I took advantage of the ready made campsite complete with seat. The sun came out for a while but then the mist rolled in and it rained lightly for most of the night.


Wharfedale Saddle campsite.

The cloud slowly cleared the next morning to leave a more or less blue sky day. I followed the Wharfedale Track nearly back to View Hill before taking the track to Ryde Falls. I was surprised to find a nice camping area, complete with toilet and fire pit at the base of the falls. The waterfall itself was in good flow on account of the recent rain.


Wharfdale Track, just down from the saddle.


Sunrise over Mount Oxford forest.


Mount Oxford Forest.


Final sections of the Wharfedale Track.


Ryde Falls in good flow.

From the waterfall the track picks up the Link Track which parallels the West Branch of Cooper's Creek. The heavy rain, coupled with some canopy damage has made a mess of this track and it is pretty muddy. From here another hour and a half or so saw me back at the car in much nicer conditions than I had set out in, passing a number of day trippers along the way.


Final section of the Link Track near Cooper's Creek.