Cheyne Range 2004
Saturday 9 - Wednesday 13 October 2004
We walked on the good track from Lake
St Clair past Shadow
Lake and up the rock
scree of Little Hugel, before leaving the track behind as we headed down through forest to the very
headwaters of the Franklin
River to camp.
Tent near Hermoine |
A fine and beautiful Sunday was spent strolling through the
gorgeous alpine valleys with tarns, pines, snow gums and lakes before climbing
to the top of the Cheyne
Range and a camp by a
small lake with a foreshore of cushion plants backed by a ridge thick with
pencil pines.
Tarn pine and Alan |
Pines and cushion plants at lake north of Mount Gell |
Although the next day started out fine it became windy and a
high cloud crept in taking the sparkle out of the day. In fact the wind made it a little tricky
getting over the boulders on top of the northern peak of Mt Gell. A scrubby ridge leads off Gell to a lake shaped
roughly like a map of Australia where we arrived at 3PM and debated whether to
go on to the Franklin River. This
involved a 200 metre climb then a sharp 400 metre descent and about 150 metres
down we discovered a cliff below us and had to climb back. A sheltered little valley just under the peak
was irresistible and a comfortable camp was appreciated there.
Gell from near camp |
Lake Undine |
This turned out to be quite fortuitous as the descent to the
Franklin River turned out to take longer than
first thought, especially once the scrubby areas closer to the river were
reached, and no suitable campsites were seen. The section of river we came to
had rapids and by luck a series of rocks allowed us to cross with no more than
wet feet. Part way down the river valley
we crossed a large open area and were
greatly surprised to find a Richea scoparia in full flower; a good two months
ahead of normal. There was a bit of
scratchy scrub to negotiate before we got to a rough road.
It had been a pretty warm day and we had left at 8AM and at just after 3PM had 2 kilometres of road to walk
before staring the climb over Mt
Rufus. Once back on a track it was a bit easier on
the feet, but when a camp site was reached just before 5PM we were quite relieved. Our final day started with a cold wind and threatening
dark clouds and just as we reached the summit of Mt Rufus
wind driven icy rain slashed at us we got down off the top at a quick
pace. We arrived back at the cars at Cynthia Bay in time to enjoy lunch and coffee at
the visitor centre restaurant.
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