Wilmot River walks

Tasmania specific bushwalking discussion.
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Tasmania specific bushwalking discussion. Please avoid publishing details of access to sensitive areas with no tracks.

Wilmot River walks

Postby billshep1 » Tue 20 Dec, 2016 8:21 am

The walks along the Wilmot River, Dooley and Lucy's tracks, have been repaired after the Flood devastation of June 2016. There are walks from the Alma Bridge 12 kms south of Forth to Spellman's Bridge.

Full details are available on my blog at https://wilmotriverwalks.com/

Please Ignore the old blogspot blog which might still come up on search engines. It has been deleted.
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Re: Wilmot River walks

Postby ofuros » Tue 20 Dec, 2016 10:08 am

Thanks for your passion,time & effort, spent working on these tracks, Bill + volunteers.
Maybe i missed it, just had a quick look, but there's no overall map to visualize the tracks on your website.
Opening page map is blocked by the heading box.

I've explored sections of this great wriggly serpent when I used to live at Erriba, eons ago,
so may have to string the sections from Lk Lea tributary, Lk Gairdner, South Nietta from the old fishing shack
to the dam, Spellmans, Ellis Flats & Gentle Annie...together one day. 8)
I'll add it to the things to do before I die list. :roll:

Ooroo,
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Re: Wilmot River walks

Postby ofuros » Tue 20 Dec, 2016 10:43 am

Scratch that about the overall route map...just found Dooley's roughly marked on my
digital Castra 4242 (2010) topo map.....all good.
Mountain views are good for my soul...& getting to them is good for my waistline !
https://ofuros.exposure.co/
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Re: Wilmot River walks

Postby billshep1 » Tue 20 Dec, 2016 11:27 am

Thanks for your input Ofuros. Its great to get feedback.
There is a wee map of the East Ellis circuit on the blog which is by far the most popular walk. As you say its all on tasmap, they are very good corrected a mistake the other day when I notified them. have you tried Avenza's pdf maps on your phone? Free download of maps commensurate with tasmap. You can combine them with gps on the phone, very useful
Before the Flood of January 2011 we had routes as far south as Anderson's Road in South Nietta but gave up work south of Spellman's after that disaster. the Flood of 2016 was even more destructive. I do have a nice little track down to the Gorge at South Nietta but I still have to check this out again. I have walked/swum the whole river from Lake Gairdner to Anderson's Road a few times, lovely country and so seldom visited. I don't think walking clubs ever go there. Best on a hot summers day due to the pools which have to be swum.
There are only two of us looking after over 50 kms of track, we get very occasional help from others. There is a good Third Man but he has just had a kidney transplant!! he still hopes to be back in action by May 2017.
I am off to Spellman's now to check the circuit there. Last time I was up that way I found a miserable thief had stolen my cement and stainless steel bucket from a worksite 20 mins in! How mean can you get? There has been petty vandalism for years. One bloke stole an entire shelter - roofing iron, picnic table, roof timbers woodheater - the lot. We lose signs maps ropes etc.
So it means a lot to get feedback from decent folk! Where does the Ofuros come from? Japanese bath tub??
best wishes Bill
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Re: Wilmot River walks

Postby ofuros » Tue 20 Dec, 2016 12:35 pm

billshep1 wrote:I have walked/swum the whole river from Lake Gairdner to Anderson's Road a few times, lovely country and so seldom visited.
I don't think walking clubs ever go there. Best on a hot summers day due to the pools which have to be swum.
Where does the Ofuros come from? Japanese bath tub??
best wishes Bill


Ahh, the memories come flooding back...sweaty rock hopping & cool swim through's & a
soggy sandwich in the fishing vest. :)

Some people just can't keep they're hands to themselves.... :roll:

Your on the money, Bill. I changed ofuro (japanese bath) slightly....probably should have gone with onsen though,
as just thinking about soaking in a natural hot spring rockpool...is relaxing me ! :wink:

Enjoy your mooch down at Spellman's.
Mountain views are good for my soul...& getting to them is good for my waistline !
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Re: Wilmot River walks

Postby Teegan » Fri 27 Jan, 2017 1:22 pm

Hi bill, I have looked at your page and have been wanting to do dooleys track for a while now but have been to jamisons rd opposite alma reserve *camping sopt* and was deterred from walking the track after reading private property and turn back signs. Is this walk open to ghe public? Thanks in advance
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Re: Wilmot River walks

Postby billshep1 » Fri 27 Jan, 2017 4:44 pm

Hi Teegan Don't be put off! you can walk along Jamiesons Rd and cross private property following orange flags or just drive up the Wilmot road for .9 km and park at small layby - yellow sign on tree. Cross road and pick up Lucy's track down to the river. Maps and info near top of zigzag. Lucy's track connects to Dooley at Shoestring crossing. Take care when driving off as the road is bendy and can be busy.

Lots of people are deterred by these signs at Alma unfortunately, nothing more can be done, as the landowners are touchy. I usually go by Lucy's track.

Let me know how you go. I hope you enjoy the walks - they are lovely just now. There is a Rainbow camp at East Ellis just now lots of latter day Hippies, nice people. Normally you will have it all to yourself.
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Re: Wilmot River walks

Postby MrWalker » Sun 23 Apr, 2017 8:15 am

billshep1 wrote:Hi Teegan Don't be put off! you can walk along Jamiesons Rd and cross private property following orange flags or just drive up the Wilmot road for .9 km and park at small layby - yellow sign on tree. Cross road and pick up Lucy's track down to the river. Maps and info near top of zigzag. Lucy's track connects to Dooley at Shoestring crossing. Take care when driving off as the road is bendy and can be busy.

Lots of people are deterred by these signs at Alma unfortunately, nothing more can be done, as the landowners are touchy. I usually go by Lucy's track.

We went along Lucy's Track and back via Dooleys and it was a really great walk. Although there was no single "must visit" spot, the whole walk was interesting with a wide variety of plant types along the way, interesting rocks, high and low views of the river. But what really impressed us was how well looked after the track is. It is obvious that somebody really cares for the track and keeps it in good condition.

My wife spoke to one of the owners of the property that Dooleys track goes through and she was assured that there is no problem with people walking along the track as long as they stay on the track and don't camp or mess the place. It is definitely a right-of-way and you can go through the private property sections (on the marked route).

So my advice is to park on Jamiesons Rd, walk in along the road, (get back to the road after going through the pedestrians' gate), then follow the road and orange markers until Shoestring Crossing. Cross there and follow Lucy's track upstream to Ellis Crossing, then cross back to Dooleys Track on the west side and walk back to Jamiesons Rd. Or walk the same route anti-clockwise if you prefer. But there is no need to take the more difficult and possibly dangerous route up and down the hill to the start of Lucy's track.
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Re: Wilmot River walks

Postby billshep1 » Sun 23 Apr, 2017 8:59 am

The route down from Gentle Annie Road is a beautiful zigzag track which is really not at all
difficult or dangerous!! Its the most direct access which most of us use.
Just take care when leaving the small parking layby on the bendy Wilmot Road.

Yes Max and I work very hard looking after 50 km of track . I have been on it for over twelve years, usually several days a week, but its a labour of love and its great when I get good feedback.

For all details see my blog at https://wilmotriverwalks.com
Last edited by billshep1 on Sun 23 Apr, 2017 2:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Wilmot River walks

Postby Nuts » Sun 23 Apr, 2017 11:47 am

https://wilmotriverwalks.com (Good work, well done)
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Re: Wilmot River walks

Postby MrWalker » Sun 23 Apr, 2017 5:47 pm

billshep1 wrote:The route down from Gentle Annie Road is a beautiful zigzag track which is really not at all
difficult or dangerous!! Its the most direct access which most of us use.
Just take care when leaving the small parking layby on the bendy Wilmot Road.

Sorry, I didn't mean the track was dangerous. In fact for a track down a steep slope it is well graded due to the zigzags that make it a relatively easy walk, up or down.

However, the lay-by is small, so parking there all day is not a good idea. But walking along the narrow road to the parking at the intersection is the dangerous aspect I was referring to.
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Re: Wilmot River walks

Postby billshep1 » Sun 23 Apr, 2017 6:32 pm

Thanks - yes the parking area is not great although I have parked there for 15 years without incident, nobody has touched my vehicle and I take great care when driving off.
Walking up and down the Wilmot Road is not much either!! But the walking clubs often do this.

We often think if we had better signage and parking we would get more walkers but obviously we cannot make the little layby "official" There was a big commercially made sign at the Alma end of Jamieson's road which listed all the people who had worked on the Dooley track. It was stolen. The landowner Robert Medwin who has the nice paddocks on the east bank at Alma would never allow walkers to cross his land so that's out. We just have to live with this. Max and I find walking along Jamiesons Road boring and slow - we are often carrying tools and heavy loads. When the river is low we jump across at the site of the former Gold River bridge if we want to maintain the section through the private property. I have never had any trouble with the current owners at the end, but some thoughtless people have given them hassles.
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