Camper into the Upper Murray

I have not been into the Poplars for a good few of years. I travelled Limstone - McCarthies from native dog to Buckwong last easter (without dropping into the Poplars). From memory the section into the Poplars form the McCarthy/Limstone junction is moderatly steep.
I may be worth your while negotiating / assessing the last section (drop into the Poplars) without the trailer. Depending on the size of your brass bearings, I would suggest that the tracks are traversable by camper trailer. Rain will have a signifacnt impact on your abilties esp. if running HT's. If your in the poplars and its starts to bucket down (>10mm), be prepared to sit there for a few days. You don't want to be stuck on a steepish clay hill with HT's (and some AT's) in the wet unless your well supported.

Will you be travelling with others / recovery gear?
A post a few weeks ago relating to this area mentioned the the Poplars was not much of a camp site since the fires went through.

I don't tow a trailer so hopefully someone who tow's will give you some input .

Paul.

Without being sure of the names of tracks I was in that general area a few years ago with a camper.

We got some pretty heavy rain and had a problem with one hill, I think it could have been along McCarthy's, not far from Native Dog Flat, but I could be wrong.

Part of my problem was that I was not paying close enough attention and I got caught in the wrong gear. This caused me to stall on the hill and trying to start again presented traction problems. If I had been in the right gear at the bottom of the hill I would probably not have had a problem. As the ground got wetter the problem became greater and this happened very quickly. We got out Ok in the end but I was doing all I knew how to keep the thing going up that hill.

If it had been dry we would have been fine but the rain certainly made it more interesting. If you take your camper in there keep an eye on the weather. I assume you are doing a through trip, otherwise you could set up the camper as a base and explore the area without dragging it along.

Duncs

Dear Inland,
We were at the Poplars and took the Limestone Creek Track out to Benambra Limestone Road in January, 2007. The Limestone Creek Track is moderately steep and the conservation humps quite tall. Your towing vehicle should have plenty of spare grunt, if it is a 4 cylinder maybe you will not have enough towing power and the rig should have good ground clearance if driving the track.

If there is any rain at all getting a 4x4 out of there without a trailer would be problematic in my view.

It only takes about about two hours to go from Native Dog Flat camping area into Poplars so I would leave the camper there, see what the track is like and go back and pick the camper up later to give it a go.

Chris

You probably could take a camper through there - a powerful vehicle would be required - but I wouldn't, I think you would be cutting the margin of error close to zero and that is pretty remote country.

Mike Harding

Charlies creek or Davies HP hut are nice base camps. The approach to charlies / davies HP via Buckwong / McCarthy's is quiet easy.
Its a great area, will be back there over Easter.

The Poplars/McCarthys was badly burnt in the 2003 fires. We were there last March and it was still pretty grim IMHO. The river is worth a look, but it isn't a great camp site any more. Davies Hut, Charlie's Ck, Limestone Ck and Native Dog are much better.
Agree with others that the best bet is to camp at one of the other spots and go in as a day trip, without the trailer. The descent from Davies Plain to the river is moderately steep. There are a few steepish sections on the Limestone Ck Tk too.
Buckwong Tk is the easiest route to Davies Plain. There is one steepish pinch past Buckwong Ck, but not too bad for a trailer.
From Davies Plain you can do a good circuit (without the trailer) along McCarthy's/Limestone Ck and returning via any of several routes, the easiest being Mt Hope Rd/Buckwong Tk.