This autumn morning photo shows the remains of one of the old trig beacons on Mt Watson and looks out over a cloudy Grey valley. The road on the hill in the back ground is associated with the Roa open cast coal mining operations.

Mt Watson is on the increasingly popular loop walk along the Paparoa Range tops that starts and finishes at the Smoke Ho carpark at the Blackball end of the Croesus track. This trip we went up the track to Mt Watson first then along the tops to the Croesus track and then back down it to Smoke Ho carpark. The track/route is now marked the whole way.

The loop is a comfortable day trip but there is accommodation along the way at Ces Clark Hut and Croesus Top Hut. The locked use with permission only Mt Leitch Bivvy (Paparoa Wildlife Trust) is a short detour NW from the summit of Mt Leitch and is easily seen from the tops route on a clear day.