Mount Bridges

26 January 2012

At times there was a little bit of drizzle and it was mostly cloudy,  but plenty of fine weather including a few patches of sun. From near Johnson Tarn we headed out to Mount Bridges, with the view down to the saddle between looking quite nice studded with Pencil Pines and  pools.
At the saddle on the northern side is a fabulous healthy looking snow gum forest, with trees reasonably close together and having substantial crowns; just lovely.  It is a very gentle climb then a short bit up some rocks before arriving at the  bushy summit plateau.  Here the snow gums are not so numerous but are big trunked and contorted.  We wandered over the plateau visited the to high points, one with low King Billy Pines and views down to Lake Seal.   Our return was past the cleft  on the southern side  but did not go down into it.    This geological feature is quite distinct and striking  when looking over at Mount Bridges from the Mawson Plateau side.

 

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Mount Bridges Jan 2012

Greystone Bluff via Cinder Hill

16-23 November 1996

Problems with the minibus meant we had to make last minute arrangements for Sue and Sandra  to drive us to Scotts Peak.  Pat’s son Neville took us over by boat to the foot of Mt.Giblin.
Showers were falling around the mountains so it wasn’t a very auspicious start.  I was the last to start walking and just followed up where Alan had disappeared in a band of scrub.  I thought voices were coming from somewhere well to my right and when we emerged into the open the first boat load was still below us on a different ridge; they had managed to strike thick scrub and a gully.
Conditions improved and once on the crest of the mountain we only had one or two brief snow storms blowing into us.  The two peaks of Giblin were visited.  One short but scrubby climb through a dip caused Dave T  some anguish as a twig poked him in the eye.  He had some discomfort from its effect for the next few days and Robyn washed his eye with salty water each day until it was sufficiently improved.
Camp was made near Jones Pass where we had to scout about in thick scrub for water.  Next morning was mild as the remainder of the Giblin ridge was traversed to a low point overlooking the Frankland River.  On the last section Pat, Dave T and myself opted to skirt a wooded knoll whilst the others went through.  Our route proved easy enough, but the rest came upon a barrier of bauera and were forced to drop to the valley floor early.  As a consequence we did not meet up again until lunch time beside the river. The remainder of the day was spent reaching Richardson Creek with many swampy flats to be crossed.

Greystone Bluff from Little Cinder Hill Nov 1996

Dave T persuaded us to start at 7am and it was as well we did, for the scrub protecting Cinder Hill made it a long hard day before a suitable camp site was reached.  From the descent off Little Cinder Hill until the very top of cinder Hill the scrub was unrelenting and we took 5 minute turns leading.  The section took 5 1/2 hours and covered a mere 1.5 kilometres.  Water was very scarce and a few snow remnants near the summit were the only source for the day; other than that carried.  A camping site was spotted down the south west ridge and at 5:50 we trudged towards it (arriving at 7:15), but I would have preferred to have just been able to rest.

Mount Giblin from Greystone Bluff

Water remained a scarce commodity until Pine Creek was reached for lunch the next day.  Mostly the descent was fairly reasonable except for a short bit of very thick and high bauera.  Drizzle commenced during lunch and became rain as we made our way up the clear ridge to a small perched plateau part way up Greystone Bluff.  The rain ceased before we even set up tents and sun found its way through.

Cinder Hill in late afternoon.

By mid morning we were under the cliffs of the quartzite summit block and looking onto a delightful flat bowl, just beckoning as a tent site.  Whilst making for the high point of the mountain the clouds parted and conditions remained fine until mid afternoon when snow showers commenced.  During the afternoon I wondered around the maze like walls of quartzite that formed the perimeter of this exquisite area perched high in the wilderness.

Campsite bowl on Greystone Bluff

Campsite bowl on Greystone Bluff

Snow continued falling during the night, which was punctuated by a period of thunder and lightning, including one stupendous flash that I could see so very clearly even though my eyes were shut.  Morning revealed a vista of white and we were thankful for Chris and his navigation to get us off and down the ridges to Badger Creek depression with all it’s Huon pines.  Just as we finished putting up the tents heavy rain began to fall.

Snow at campsite in the morning.

Huon Pines in Badger Creek depression.

Fortunately the rain ceased during the night, although its affect was noticeable from the impressive waterfall dropping off Greystone Bluff.  We worked our way down to the Davey River valley and onto a long distinct hill where views of the Crossing River were obtained.  Thick scrub was encountered for a period after leaving the hill, whilst heading north to a campsite overlooking the Crossing Plains.

View down to Crossing River

Inspection and tentative sampling of the Crossing River revealed that it would be dangerous to negotiate, so we walked up the plains to the Dodds River then on the Crossing River campsite.  The next day it was out to the road.

Crossing the Dodds River

Walled Gould Circuit

17-20 October 2011

Back in 1991 Dave Tucker took a 3 day walk from the Gould Plateau, over the top of Mount Gould and to The Guardians and out via The Labyrinth. I thought I would like to do this walk again and that was the plan when we set off from Hobart on 17^th October. The previous day had been pretty cold and wet in Hobart, but as predicted by the bureau all was fine on the Monday; however the site of Mount Wellington covered quite low down in snow that morning was somewhat disconcerting. This was further added to with the view of the snow clad peaks and hills of Mount Field then the site of snow beside the road on the approach to Derwent Bridge. Plan B was hatched when Mounts Olympus and Rufus came into view.

Walled Mountain

We were on the only ferry for the day, soon after 1PM, and walked into Pine Valley to a campsite about 20 minutes upstream from the hut. During the walk from Narcissus we thought the warm sun would melt a lot of snow fairly quickly and there was some evidence of this happening. Nevertheless the walk next morning to The Labyrinth was through plenty of snow and it was nice to be the first to people to make our impression on it and not be following others footsteps. The two of us, Greg Kidd and me, turned off from the track at the bottom of the descent from The Parthenon, crossed the Cyane Lake outlet creek, climbed the hill above and trudged over to set up camp near Lake Eurynome. We cleared the snow away, put the tent up, had lunch and then climbed Walled Mountain where a very impressive and dangerous looking cornice shed the odd bit of snow every now and then down a huge drop. We were easily able to retrace our footsteps back down, but as we moved out to the sunnier areas the snow had diminished considerably. On arrival at camp the snow had nearly all melted, leaving the tent surrounded by pools of water.

Mount Gould

Day three was delightful, again with a cloudless sky and hardly any breeze. The face of Mount Gould that we could see was now free of any white patches and we were soon at the base of The Minotaur. There was a pad all the way up this rather steep mountain side; I knew it was steep just from looking as well as my recollection, but I had no memory of a pad being there in 91. Once on top, Gould looked just as steep as did from The Labyrinth, which was enough to convince us to take the easier way around the side slopes. This was free of rocks and on arriving at a little perched plateau lunch was had followed by a very steep climb to the top of Mount Gould. It is not a peak for the fainthearted but once back to the packs was when the first serious impediments arose.

My memory was lots of scrub, particularly scoparia low down and some notes suggested sidling. However at what level to sidle? It was a bit of a climb to reach the cliff line so I made the decision to proceed at the level we were at. This entailed a bit of scrub, but then some lines of Fagus forced a more circuitous route until we dropped down lower to see if the going was better there. It wasn’t . So a way had had to be forced through a bit of pointy scrub until the open part of Gould Plateau was reached. The day finished well though, with camp at a scenic spot on the plateau.

Mount Gould

An early start saw as the bottom in nice old forest, although a muddy section in the middle of the descent had to be negotiated. Now the area doesn’t seem to get as many visitors as in days of yore and on exiting the forest a pad was followed that continued over a floodplain. Then it ended at a barrier of Teatree and bottlebrush. After a bit of searching including on the close by river bank, we gave up looking and went back to the forest where a red arrow, that had not been noticed, pointed sharply right. Close on half an hour was lost by all this and when we eventually walked along the near the river my GPS indicated that we had got to within about 30 metres of the track, if only we had known.

Once I could walk the lakeside track beside Lake St Clair in something less than the signed hours, but nowadays I need the whole 5 hours to get to the visitor centre. It has always seemed a tiring walk and this was no exception; no wonder I am usually happy to catch the ferry.

The bureau forecast fine weather for 3 ½ days and they were spot on. Just before reaching Cynthia Bay the increasing high cloud let out a few spots and soon after starting the drive home close to 5 PM it began to rain.

 

Photos from the walk

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Budawangs–Morton NP in NSW

Foster, Styles Creek, Hidden Valley, Quiltys Circuit
20-23 September 2011
The original intention for this walk was to follow a long used track starting at the Endrick River entrance on the western side of the Budawangs area of Morton National Park. However, this entailed crossing private property and the owner has recently blocked access. So an alternative from the same starting spot was taken, via the Alum Track. It is written up in a guidebook and although part was marked on the map as a route; I assumed that plenty of walkers would have gone this way and a reasonably easy to follow pad, possibly with markers would be there. No sign of a pad existed when we reached the Flat Top Mountain area, so we followed the notes to the top where the view down to Running Creek was enough to cause serious doubts about heading to an area of several creek crossing with unknown scrub. The guide book did mention open sections, but they have either overgrown or we could not locate them; except for a very short wet one. The scrub at the creeks was thick and slowed our progress down even more. Several heathy sections were easy enough to negotiate by weaving through the most open bits. Fortunately when we reached the Square Top Track it was not long before we reached an upper tributary of Running Creek that was living up to the name. A nice clearing was close by too, so we were able to set up camp and cook before dark set in.
It was over 2.5 k to the junction with main track near the Foster Mountain turnoff. We climbed Foster, where we got the first views of the cliffs of the mountains of the Budawangs. The previous day was mostly fine, except when a period of showers arrived during the afternoon, but today and the next two were delightfully sunny and mild. Back on the track it became narrow and at times there was a bit of scrub ducking and weaving, plus a couple of scrubby creek crossing. For most of the afternoon we were out on plains with a number of tree belts and the views were superb. The cliffs of Mount Hoddle were impressive with huge cave like chunks within them, whist Quiltys and Sturgiss Mountains were equally dramatic.

Photo album Part 1

Budawangs Part 1 Fosters to Styles Creek

 

 
The campsites at Styles Creek were described as a bit degraded, but perhaps they now get less use, for they seemed in good order. Perhaps this and time may have healed things. The track from there north was better than what we had been on the previous day, until we encountered lots of fallen trees. Hidden Valley was the first diversion for the day and this was a track that wound a way through a gap in Sturgiss Mountain to a small valley surrounded by cliffs. Our notes indicated that a track should continue through to a clearing, but we found it took a while to find the last bit of pad and were unable to locate any clearing amongst the scrubby interior. On the other hand the pad to the aboriginal Bora ground on Quiltys Mountain was quite obvious and easy to follow. From here we also had views down the valley of the Kilpatrick Creek to Pigeon House Mountain and the huge buttresses of the mountains in that direction.
A wide track through forest was followed through The Vines region to meet the first crossing of the Endrick River after which a suitable campsite was found. The final day was a three hour walk with an ever widening valley and plenty of flowers to the second crossing of the Endrick and then a short walk to the car.
 

Photo album Part  2

 

Budawangs Part 2 Styles Creek to Endrick River

The Hump Freycinet Peninsula

21-23 August 2011

After such a lot of wet easterlies, Freycinet had at last several days of fine weather, which made delaying the walk for a couple of weeks well worthwhile. With so much rain in the area over winter we didn't even bother to see if the preferred route beside the lagoons between Hazards and Wineglass was doable. Instead the conventional slog along the beach was used, then came the pleasure of the bush track from the end of Hazards Beach through masses of flowering plants, especially the Thryptomene which was very thick and spectacular.

Given the time it takes to get to the campsite on the spine we had to keep moving and still ended up cooking in the dim of evening. This was the first time trying out our new light weight tent and, as reported by others, one has to erect it with the crossover of the poles given attention; not as simple as some tents. It is a Macpac Macrolight, a bit like a bigger version of the Microlight, and proved to be suitable for a walk to this type of location.

Slaughterhouse Bay from The Hump

On the middle day we headed out to the objective of the walk, The Hump, and arrived without any hassles, helped along by the GPS. Lunch out in the open overlooking Slaughterhouse Bay was decidedly warm as it can often be on the peninsula even at this time of year. On heading back we discovered that others sometimes visit here, when a pair of spectacles was spotted lying on the ground; someone would have been cursing when they realised they were missing. An attempt to see if there was a better way back to camp confirmed the outward route was the best, and what proved to be a detour added 30 minutes of swamp avoidance to the return walk. Still we arrived with more than enough sunlight left to enjoy a pleasant early tea.

The final day was again still, sunny and balmy with the flowers no less delightful. By the time we reached the junction with the Isthmus track we were not keen on more beach walking, so opted for the final leg on the track. A brief diversion left us in no doubt that circumnavigating the very full lagoons would have been slow, wet and arduous . In fact throughout the park every creek was flowing vigorously, something that we had not seen for many long years.

Rock formation The Hump

Masses of Thryptomene

Pea flowers

Bluff River Gorge

17 August 2011
All did not go according to plan. More often than not the weather improves as you move away from Hobart towards the East coast, but this time it was very much the reverse. We left sunny town and drove into increasingly duller conditions culminating in heavy rain at Buckland. But things got better soon after we turned off on the way to Bluff River Gorge.
We arrived to see three walkers heading there too. Soon we too were walking along the 4wd track following their boot marks and along with my trusty GPS meant we were assured of an easy path to the start of the walk. Whilst all in our party queried why I didn't turn off where they thought we should go, I responded by saying the GPS says this way and any way that is where the three fellows boots were headed too. Some 800 metres on I started to have doubts and took a close look at the map on the GPS and the paper map. Heck, we had gone too far. Yes the track was where every one said it was and lesson number one is to remember that once you pass one waypoint the GPS just points to the next and says where to go for that one. I should also have noticed that the waypoint name had changed.
Parts of the walking track in the gorge have become a bit overgrown. Ouch, those stinging nettles hurt. It seemed that lunch would be in the sun, but then rain spoiled the party and we were fortunate to have a nice overhang to avoid it. Lunch over and the rain stopped, but as we got close to the river doubts arose as to getting over. Anyway we next ended in a bit more overgrown track, but by now it was wet and not very enticing to push through.
Next came a voice from above and we met up with one of the aforementioned three walkers. He was trying to find his companions who were doing some work on the track where it crossed the Bluff River. They had walked directly to that end, which explains those boots marks I assumed were heading to the start of the gorge track. You won't get over they said and we didn't.
The rain then started up again and so we arrived back at the cars a bit wet.
Well I have plans to return soon and this time am determined to get it right.

Note the waterfall where usually there normally may be the odd drip

Risdon Brook Hills

Sunday 24 July 2011

The old vehicle track was followed from the western end of the dam to a junction where the right hand branch was taken leading into an ever narrowing gully. Part way along we branched off on a faint track which did eventually run out but it wasn't a lot of climbing left by then. On the top of the hill a track was met and walked along until it reached the top end of Catchpole Gully. From here we crossed a fence and followed a track along the dry and quite pleasant country, part of which we have discovered is private property. Eventually a fence was reached and fortunately a small tree was over it (looked like it might have been put there rather than fallen) and so we were back in the reserve for the final walk back down to the dam.

 

A map of the route can be viewed