{{ track.name }}

The Deddick Trail is an amazing track through the Wilderness Zone of the Snowy River National Park in Victoria. It offers a rewarding 4wdriving adventure for the adequately prepared vehicle with an experienced driver who is in the company of at least two other vehicles. The track itself is a succession of generally low range ascents over rocky and rutted terrain followed by steep and rough descents to beautiful secluded valleys often hundreds of meters below. One of these adrenalin rush ascents is called the Staircase and requires extreme care as accidents have occurred here in the past. This trip commences at the camping area for Little River Falls on McKillops Road. This is a good meeting place and a short walk takes you to a lookout with a good view of the falls. A little further on a detour on the right leads to a short walking track to the Little River Gorge lookout which is a sight to behold. Numerous tempting side tracks are passed before a left hairpin turn reveals a track on the right which descends to Little River Junction (with the Snowy River). This is an ideal place to camp for the night and as the track itself is of moderate difficulty it is a good opportunity to test man and machine before the big next day. Also lower tyre pressures while in camp as traction will be critical on the Staircase tomorrow. Next morning an early start is a good idea, as although it is not a long trip at a length of around 90 km it is slow going with many opportunities to stop for photos of the view and other vehicles in the convoy. There are not any suitable camping spots until towards the end of The Deddick Trail.After backtracking to McKillops Road, turn right and head east to cross McKillops Bridge over the once mighty Snowy River. Stop here briefly to explore and as this is the last opportunity for a toilet stop and for what is coming later in the day it might be a good idea to take advantage of it.  Continue east for about 700 meters where the Deddick Trail is found on the right heading south. For approximately 10 km the Deddick Trail climbs continuously from the 200 meter elevation of McKillops Bridge to 1000 meters. Early in this section there are some great photo opportunities back to McKillops Bridge and the Snowy River so keep your eyes peeled so that they are not missed. After 10 km and about 75 minutes of tough going the Bowen Track turn off is on the left at an elevation of 1000 meters. (This is a worthwhile detour if you want a very interesting track with extremely steep gradients to 1200 meters and have an hour or so to spare. A turnoff on the left takes you to a helipad and a great opportunity for a group photo.) Return to the Deddick Trail and turn left and continue south. For the next 8 km The Deddick Trail continues south at elevations all over 1000 meters up to 1200 meters at Mount Gelantipy before descending 500 meters to Compressor Corner. After around 2km the Campbells Knob Track intersection is reached and the Deddick Trail turns east for about 7 km, following New Country Creek and crossing many of its side creeks. When these crossings end the track turns south again and starts to climb steeply. This signals the ascent to the Staircase. It is essential that each vehicle ascends separately, radioing to the next vehicle when it safe to proceed to the top. The Moonkan Track is passed on the right and then Mt Joan on the left, before the track improves considerably. (Take the next left turn into Rich Knob Track if you want to access Waratah Flat camping area.) The Deddick Trail continues a further 13 km to the intersection with Yalmy Rd where this track ends. Most people would continue south along Yalmy Road to the Princes Highway at Orbost which is an ideal place to spend the night.

Derringer Edit:

We drove the Deddick trail in Jan 2009, We met NP ranger "Wing" at bottom of the staircase.
He informed us that the top of the staircase is very eroded and without diff locks and/or a winch vehicles may get stuck.
Coming down the staircase is not a problem as gravity gets you past the bad bits.

As we had neither, we turned around

Just a word of caution for other drivers