Twin Peaks. The LHS one was where the climbers were spotted on top. We walked along the base of these and down through a cleft in the scarp at the left. You can just see a couple of tracks.
Rangers emergency hut
Fagus beech. Australias only native deciduous tree.
Link to Deciduous Beech information
Fireplace in the camp kitchen
General view in the kitchen
Hi all,
Big day for the old people today. We decided to do the Dove Lake upper circuit rated as medium, which for us is getting on towards hard.
The day started off unusually sunny a change in the usual pattern. We started the walk at around 1030. The first section was easy on the lower track. We then climbed up towards Lake Wilks an ascent of about 100 metres. After a short horizontal walk along the edge of the lake we had a fairly testing ascent of another 180 metres until we intersected with the face track, which is the main track along the Cradle Mountain plateau. We then descended around 150 metres as we walked around the rim to Mount Hanson.
The weather was becoming progressively more windy with heavier clouds crossing the sky. We stopped to examine the Rangers Hut which can be used for emergency shelter. We climbed again around 80 metres and reached Mount Hanson and enjoyed the views although we were actually lower than the high point of the walk. The descent began and we were hanging on to a chain for dear life. It was steep! but probably no more than 40 metres in length.
After the chain we were on the exposed ridge and the wind picked up to such a degree we were getting buffeted and in danger of being blown over. I estimated it was around 80km/h. We then had to do another ascent albeit a small one which was certainly testing in the conditions. However we battled on and were soon descending down towards the car park in warm sheltered sunny conditions.
We were passed by 2 walkers and I enquired if they were the people I had seen right at the top of Little Horn the craggy peak above the face track. Yes it was them they had done 3 peaks on the day. In summary it was an enjoyable and testing walk that certainly illustrated the changeability of conditions on the mountain. Total walk time 5.5 hours and distance 8km.
We adjourned to the visitor centre for a coffee and hot chocolate before returning to camp for tea. We have decided to move on tomorrow in the general direction of Mount Field near Hobart though the finer details are still being worked out.
The weather closed in a bit tonight and it is noticeably colder so a good time to move on.
cheers Simon
About half way up.
View from the face track. Ignore the narrator. We did not have to climb the rear peak it was actually the one just to the right.
No comments:
Post a Comment