South Wellington Milles Circuit

via Ice House Track and Potato Fields

Tuesday 11 March 2014

On top of Mount Wellington a temperature of 21 degrees was expected with Hobart going to 29.   It was quite warm for the walk, but nothing untoward but down at sea level it did reach 32.

The Ice House track brought us to the South Wellington saddle at which point the pad to Devils Gulch was used.  The track is now on the Wellington park map and now doubt gets more patronage nowadays, but it was markedly more worn and obvious since the last visit here in mid 2010.   In fact it was quite surprising how clear the pad was.

Cliffs of Devils Gulch

Devils Gulch

At the western end of the Gulch area we diverted by about 100 metres to get a better view into it from a prominence.  Morning tea was contemplated at this point but the breeze was cool and noticeable enough for us to continue on to a more sheltered spot. As we continued on along the shelf it was noticeable how the vegetation changed with the conditions and the Ozothamnus dominated shrubland was replaced by a wider range of plants, including Waratah and Orites.   It seemed to be further to walk along the shelf than my memory of it, but in time of course the descent over a scree began  then a forgotten short rock area was met followed soon after by the large Potato Fields scree.   Once past this the walk became progressively easier especially once past Snake Plain on the Milles Track.

Cathedral Rock and Montagu Thumbs