Devil's Staircase Toolangi

Rated as medium with steep sections, This is one of the steeper tracks in the High Country and people have died trying to 4wd up this track, Coming down is easy if you keep your rear wheels in line, There is so little weight on rear of vehicle it may slide if over braked. The track itself is well graded but in the wet???? Maybe a warning about steepness of the track if not rated as difficult. Submitted for comments

Alright everyone, it’s that time of the week again! Another track assessment based on the analysis of the GPS trip logs YOU have been sending in. Remember, 500km’s worth of usable trip data and you’ll get your first year of Newtracs premium (valued at $100) totally free. Today we have another popular Victorian High Country track – don’t worry we’ll start picking different areas soon! Caledonia River Track. This track is rated a Medium with the southern steep entry from Butcher Country Track rated as Difficult (remember Newtracs track ratings are based on the official 4x4 Australia ratings and go Easy/Medium/Difficult/Very Difficult - see grade definitions at 4wdvictoria.org.au/index.php/resources/track-classifications). This rating is based on the current, dry conditions of the region. The track has been recently graded which is confirmed by an improvement of user performance along the river when comparing trip logs submitted last November to those submitted much earlier. As conditions get wetter in winter we expect to see this grade lifted back to Difficult. Newtracs has identified a challenging section on the way to the northern exit onto Howitt Road, marked with a yellow obstacle and areas highlighted in red. This obstacle also corresponds to a particularly steep climb (> 20% grade) onto the ridge, as seen by the horizontal dashes and warnings in the track stats. The entry down into the valley from Butcher Country Track to the south has been auto upgraded to a Difficult rating for its particularly steep descent. More detailed track info is available by clicking on the track on the map, where we can see the average travelling speed is 17km/h and that it takes an average of 201 minutes to complete the 18.4km track. So what do you think? This track grade was assigned automatically by the Newtracs engine as it processes your 4wd trip logs. Did it rate the track too easy? Too hard? Let us know in the comments below. And remember! To see the live version of the track assessment on our brand new crystal clear map, visit www.newtracs.com.au/track-map and search for “Caledonia River Track” in the search bar.

Let us know what you think of this track assessment. Should it be rated easier/harder? The track that we’re looking at is a well known Victorian High Country track – Billy Goat Bluff Track. We’ve got it rated it as a Black – difficult (FYI - Double Black is the toughest category on the Newtracs map). The red line indicates slow going and the horizontal lines denote steep sections. The yellow marker indicates a particularly challenging point. From the stats box on the first page we are told that the average time to complete the 7.3km track is 89 minutes and that the average travelling speed (this doesn’t include periods where the car is stopped) is 12km/h. Let us know what you think!