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Showing posts from February, 2015

Thark Ridge Circuit

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Friday 13 February 2015 This walk had a secondary purpose which was to do some geocache maintenance.  Out on the plains that are the headwaters of Mountain River there is an absolutely lovely copse of trees and bush with an open area in the middle. It is a spot we have enjoyed stopping at so many times over the years and we put in a geocache there in 2014, but is was reported as missing. A replacement one was in the pack as we headed down the fire trail from big Bend.    On the way we noticed a Tiger snake curled up in the sun which had only just come as the clouds cleared away.   Although close to it, the snake did not seem to be aware of our presence and remained curled up. This was the first seen for this summer but this was the first of four for the day; two tigers and two whipsnakes.  In this area a flock of about 20 green rosella flew over and landed in the trees making a cacophony of chatter.   The old overgrown fire trail running south west below Thark was used to brin

Hidden Tarn

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Tuesday 10 February 2015 Many years ago I went over Mount Mawson and down to Hidden Tarn.  On that walk we continued down to Lake Belcher, but after looking at the map and satellite images I thought it might be interesting to walk to the tarn then along the shelf as far as it is practical to go.  The shelf is reasonably level and generally about 100m wide and 700m long. Tyenna and Florentine Peaks above Lake Belton with Lake Belcher bottom right. Tyenna and Florentine Peaks above Lake Belton with Lake Belcher bottom right. Although the day was predicted to be in the high twenties in the nearby valleys, the alpine area at Mount Field was expected to reach a maximum of 21⁰ and this is what eventuated.  As we started out from Lake Dobson it was a very pleasant temperature but by the time the jeep track was reached it was warming up.  However crossing Mawson Plateau was both a pleasant temperature and delightful scenery.  The Snowy and Anne Ranges came into view then soon after g

Mount Lord and Lanes Peak

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Thursday 5 February 2015 Rodway Range and Mount Field West from Mount Lord When Nigel suggested a walk to Mount Lord and Lanes Peak I said it was a hell of long walk, but when he mentioned starting in the Florentine Valley I remembered reading an account of a walk from there.   I recalled it was written by Dan on the Bushwalk forum  (Dan is stepbystep) and worked out from his description the best approach. Now Dan moves fast and starts early but had to time to also climb Tim Shea, get a coffee at the possum Shed and be back in Hobart by 3PM; so it seemed that we should be able to do the walk in reasonable time. Mount Lord from a prominent rock tor  just after leaving the forest Thursday was consistently predicted to be sunny but fairly mild making for ideal weather and in fact it was quite cool when we started out.  It didn’t take long, however, before jumpers were removed during the reasonably open forest ascent.  The higher part of the forest became even easier un