Hall's Gap - Cycling and the Pinnacle

The Victoria Valley.

The silent road with the stairs at the exit.

The Pinnacle and (below) the view from it.

Kangaroos in camp.

Saturday, December 3^rd.

I woke up in the lovely little town of Hall's Gap. I drove three hours on Friday night in order be here first thing. The owner of the motel had phoned in me in Melbourne and when he found out I wouldn't arrive until after ten he told me that he would leave my room open and the lights on. So the first thing I did was officially check in and have the provided continental breakfast.

I walked around the motel checking out the area and found parakeets eating from the bottlebrush tree and a couple of emu walking through the residential area behind.

I wanted to come back to the Grampians for a couple of reasons. One was to cycle along one of the back roads I had driven on in April. So I drove south 60 kilometres Dunkveld, had a little look around town and then drove on the secondary road C217 to Victoria Valley. I found a little layby by a billibong, off loaded the bike and rode north on a beautiful, narrow, quiet road on a warm and sunny day, past several farms with cows and sheep and the Grampians in the background. The only problem with riding like this is that, because the car won't follow along, I eventually have to turn back. So I drove 20 kilometres and then turned back. I loaded the bike back into the car and retraced the ride by car. The road continues up over a few hills and back to the main Grampian road. I drove back to Hall's Gap. I went to the bakery and bought a drink and a sandwich.

Then I parked the car in the town parking lot where the Pinnacles hike begins. This is a 4 kilometre, arduous hike up the mountain to an incredible viewpoint. The first half is mostly up hundreds of steps followed by a gradual uphill path through the woods. Finally the path ends at a rock field that is full of of formations of tumbled blocks of sandstone. There were yellow arrow markers on the rocks, but somehow I must have missed a couple because I got lost and wound up walking downhill a bit. The area is a jumble of rocks and is difficult to navigate through. Eventually I stumbled upon a different approach to the pinnacle than I was supposed to take. It was through a narrow, deep chasm called the 'silent road'. After passing through this area I climbed up the ladder at the end and came across the pinnacle. This is an outcrop of rock that extends up and out from the cliff and offers an incredible panoramic view of Hall's Gap and the valley below. Because it was late in the afternoon there were few people up there. I stayed for a bit and enjoyed the environment before starting the return trip. I headed out the route I should have taken to get here but promptly got lost again. I eventually found the path and followed it to the stairs and back down to the parking lot. It was now late afternoon and there were kangaroos in the campground beside the parking lot. I watched them for a bit before heading into town to have a pizza and a beer. Then back to the motel to rest my weary legs and get some sleep.