Walk Grades

The track will be a prepared surface with few if any steps and no steep grades. There are very few unknowns and very little uncertainty. Examples are Kalimna Falls from Sheoak Picnic Ground, You Yangs Branding Yard Trail, Cherry Tree Creek Circuit

The track will have a prepared surface possibly with steps and some steep grades. There are few unknowns and little uncertainty.  Examples are Sheoak Falls, Henderson Falls, Kalimna Falls from GOR, You Yangs – Flinders Peak Trail.

Suitable for regular walkers.   Tracks may have sections with rough surfaces, steep hill sections and sustained climbs. Creek crossings may have to be negotiated and rock scrambling may be involved.  Uncertainties relate to track conditions but are minor and easily provided for.   The Werribee and Ironbark Gorge Circuit, Milanesia Track to The Gables, Allambee Beek, and Lerderderg East Walk are examples.

Requires good aerobic fitness and / or agility for safety and enjoyment.  Sections of the tracks may be footpads marked by wear and may be indistinct or very rough, steep and overgrown.  Some substantial portion may be off paths of any sort.  Sufficient agility to scramble or negotiate fallen timber and difficult river crossings is needed.  Occasional judgement will be required to assess best approaches to obstacles and routes through micro-terrain. Uncertainties relate to route conditions and choices between alternate routes. They may require judgement based on experience.  The Lerderderg Scenic Rim, Allambee Beek including Black Velvet Falls, and Four Falls Circuit are examples. 

For GBC, these are member-initiated activities that fall outside regularly scheduled Tuesday, Thursday and weekend walks.    High levels of fitness are required for safety and enjoyment. These walks are on routes rather than paths and will generally involve extensive and sustained effort associated with thick vegetation, scrambling or extremely steep grades. Specialist skills such as complex navigation, rock scrambling, snow and ice techniques or bush survival may be required.  Note that this grading may relate to extreme conditions as well as to extreme terrain.  Uncertainties abound.  High country cross-grain walks, high country ridge walks in winter and bagging some remote peaks in the Grampians are possible examples.