Mt Bobs

[wello]

I'm thinking about heading up to Mt Bobs in the week between Christmas and New Year. I think I read somewhere that Stu (forum member) climbed Mt Bobs in a day, but I'm expecting to take 2 or 3 with a camp at Lake Sydney.

Are there any forrestry access restrictions to the start of the track?
Is the turn off from the main track in to Federation Peak obvious?
Chapman's book mentions 3 - 3.5 hours from the turnoff to Lake Sydney. Is this reasonable, and how bad are the fallen trees? Moss ridge style?
Anyone been up the Boomerang?

Cheers

Wello

[ILUVSWTAS]

Hi Wello, Yeh Stu and a mate did it in a day, but they were in the peak of fitness and it was still a 10+ hr day, I wouldnt recommend it.
The turn off is very obvious, there is a totem pole with several multi coloured tags on it marking the turnoff, about 2hrs from Farmhouse Creek. I have not been in there, but I believe the tags in the forest can be a bit vague, but should be followable with a bit of hunting around. MJD has been to the Boomerang, I believe it is very easy from the Bobs saddle. I dont think it's Moss ridge style, Moss ridge is mostly Horizontal, there will be a few fallen trees, but nothing too sinister.

HWC has a trip in there in one weeks time, so you may have a fresh trail to follow if your going in soon....

The road is usually open all the way down, but a call to Forestry Tas in Geeveston will tell you all you need to know!!

[MJD]

The turn off to Lake Sydney is well marked if you are looking for it. I always think of it as being in the middle of the first extended muddy section. Of course this is more noticeable if it's wet. The first bit after turning left is flat and slightly overgrown. You then head up in a forest, which was a little vague at times but may well have a few more tags now. You get an amazing few of Federation Peak at the top of the climb before dropping down south of Pine Lake and then a short flat, wet and muddy section to Lake Sydney. There wasn't a track from Lake Sydney last time I was there. I did find some tags in the forest on the eastern side but these petered out. Someone had also cut through some of the scrub higher up. The going is generally quite easy although there some cliff lines and bits of scrub that will prevent you heading in a straight line to the saddle. The Boomerang is easily climbed from the saddle between itself and Bobs.

[mjdalessa]

Anyone been up Bobs Knobs? Thinking about heading out that way... Advice would be great

[eggs]

You should PM scrubmaster - he did it a few years ago.
I saw some pictures from his trip - I think he had a GPS which they used by climbing up the vegetation and holding it up in the air to get a fix.
He said it was so thick that was the only way they knew where they were.

[ILUVSWTAS]

MJD and I attempted it a few nonhts back, it was very scrubby, we went about 100m in an hr. still had 1k to go so we bailed.
Scrubmaster did it as part of a trip to Vanishing falls, and he did confess it gets wrose from where MJD and I were.

I also know of a few strong walkers who have failed in an attempt, but also know of some who have succeeded. seems the best chance of success is to wait for a perfect forecast and camp up high on Bobs. Very little shelter, but there is water. Carrying a pack from Lake Sydney yup to Bobs however wouldnt be much fun, having a daypack was bad enough.

I hear from bobs to the knobs could be done in around 10-12 hrs.

[mjdalessa]

Carrying a pack from Lake Sydney yup to Bobs however wouldnt be much fun, having a daypack was bad enough.

Does this mean that just climbing bobs is more of an effort than I think? and is it worth it... lake sydney looks real nice but how harsh is the scrub on bobs?

[ILUVSWTAS]

From lake Sydney to the saddle is only about 1k, but it took us an hr at least. Once at the saddle it's pretty straight forward. the climb up to the saddle was more of a challenge than i expected

[ak83]

I'm heading down to tackle Bobs this weekend! Planning on camping at Lake Sydney. Might set up camp before tackling Bobs or maybe just dump the o'night gear at the lake and make my way up with a small day pack, setting up camp later when i have come back down. Any usefull advice? Any recent updates on local conditions?

[tas-man]

With the rain we have had the past few months, it is possible that the Lake Sydney sink hole may be full, so the track between Pine Lake and Lake Sydney might be more than a little wet! The latest Google Earth image of lake Sydney dated Oct 9th 2010 shows Lake Sydney so full that not only is the sink hole covered but the water level is up into the adjoining forest, which would make traversing the lake edge much more slow going that when there is a shingle beach to follow. Here's a map from THE LIST showing the lake with sink hole for comparison.

[tas-man]

There's an old thread from 2009 on Bobs/Sydney that I contributed photos to here - viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1842&p=31749 There's a great panorama from Mt Bobs looking back over Lake Sydney and the Boomerang. Here's a look at the Farmhouse Creek track just before the turnoff to Lake Sydney.

[ak83]

Oooh...looks like it will be a muddy weekend! Oh well, good training! Will definitely pack extra socks!

[ak83]

Well i don't know if there are any threads about "epic fails" but this weekends attempt of lk sydney/mt bobs for me was and EPIC FAIL!

To start walk partner fell through at the 11th hour so i carried about 2-3kg more weight than needed but used it as good conditioning practice for longer walks! Anyway, so i headed off solo at farmhouse creek at around 8am. By the look of the walkers rego book only the 3rd group/person along this track in the last month. The going was a little slower than i had planned due to the very muddy conditions (read: shin to knee deep mud) and reached the totem pole in about 3hrs. For the last hours wasn't feeling all the best, i figured that i wasn't drinking enough so i made myself a gatorade.

The next section of the track was quite overgown and at the same time very muddy (read: knee deep mud and having to literally plough through bush) lucky it was so muddy as it was the only way i had to follow the track as there are 0 markers. Interestingly i only noticed one set of footprints! I had a lunch in the forrest and headed up the the knoll above lk sydney. At this stage i was about 5 hrs into the walk. By the time i had reached the knoll i was quite sick....i had the sweats BIG time and regular stomach cramps! To make things workse it was very hazzy and cloudy so not even a view if fedder.....i yelled some expletives at fedder and told him that i would be back! The rest of the track down, and given the amount of water everywhere, look equally as muddy and dense! Not really enticing given my condition.

Not really wanting to be stuck solo in a damp remote campsite at lk sydney with some sort of sickness i bit the bullet and turned around. I wont go into details but the walk back was slow and progressed into stumbling delerium. I pretty much walked with a trowel in hand ready for those events and drank about 3 litres of gatorade....weak so i could make it last and stomach it. I eventually arrived back at the car at 7pm very tired, sore and unwell, although the symtoms had significantly settled over the last 2 hrs. In total around 10hrs of walking, as opposed to the 6-7 it may have taken to get to lk sydney! To add insult i lost one of my water bottles somewhere between the small clearing on the lk sysdney track and a little after the log crossing (farmhouse side).....if any one finds it please PM me, its a clear and orange kathmandu wide mouth bottle with a clip on it.

Would i attempt again....yeah when these memories fade and there has been more dry weather
Lessons learnt: solo walking sucks! especially with an unfamiliar track
Thank god for gatorade and freash tassie water!

Sorry to paint a nasty picture of what is a quite nice track, until the mud after the log crossing. It actually would be a nice day strole and picnic along the shores of farmhouse!

[mjdalessa]

So is it really that overgrown that it would be really hard to follow with out the mud?

[ak83]

Yeah...on the flat section after the turn off on the lk sydney track all you can see is scrub and canopy. There is the odd broken/sawed tree that you can only see when it is right in front of you. You could rely on pieces of sawed wood in the forrest and other signs of man made intereference. The one set of footprints kept me at ease that it was the track, as sometimes the path turns into a little creek! On the otherhand the farmhouse track is well marked!

[ak83]

Just spoke to two guys who were down at Lk Sydney this weekend (and who found my waterbottle!). They said the water levels were not too high and the sink hole was clear and obvious. They attmpted to climb Bobs but ended up on the Boomerang. The track around pine lake was in similar condition as the track off the turnoff. They were interested in the route up to bobs and also where the water flows to?

[ILUVSWTAS]

Just spoke to two guys who were down at Lk Sydney this weekend (and who found my waterbottle!). They said the water levels were not too high and the sink hole was clear and obvious. They attmpted to climb Bobs but ended up on the Boomerang. The track around pine lake was in similar condition as the track off the turnoff. They were interested in the route up to bobs and also where the water flows to?

The route up Bobs is pretty obvious once your at the saddle. There is a cairned route, but we only found it on the way back, pretty straight forward from the saddle! Getting to the saddle however is a touch on the scrubby side...

[clonanster]

ak83 - sounds like a pretty uncomfortable experience!! I was contemplating tackling this walk in about three weeks time - but I guess I'll wait and see what the weather does in the mean time!!


Thanks for the update!

[ak83]

clonanster - its a great walk if your not unwell. Make sure you got good boots and gators, and if you are in a group it would be less sapping. The guidlines in Chapmans book are pretty good, but it is muddy so be prepared to be a little slower than you normally walk. In nice weather the view at the top of the knoll would inspire you to keep going!

[rohjoe]

Dear Bobs Experts,
Is the saddle between Bobs and The Boomerang best approached via the western shore, or the eastern shore or Lake Sydney? Possibly a tough question unless one has been both ways, but it would be interesting to know if there is a consensus on this.
Cheers,
Rohan

[ILUVSWTAS]

Dear Bobs Experts,
Is the saddle between Bobs and The Boomerang best approached via the western shore, or the eastern shore or Lake Sydney? Possibly a tough question unless one has been both ways, but it would be interesting to know if there is a consensus on this.
Cheers,
Rohan

G'day Rohan..

The Southern side (hehehe) or side nearest to the sinkhole (I guess Eastern then?) has a pad all the way around it... I know Chapman says to go along the other side, but for the life of me I do not know why. It is longer, and as I said there's a pad around the obvious side.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Just make sure you go far enough, or you'll be forced to climb directly onto the Boomerang like MJD and I did. some of the chasms there are intense.

[pazzar]

If you are lucky you may hit a line of tapes. I found that if I headed towards a cliff line. and sidle to the right, it was generally clear underneath them. The last cliff line I encountered had tapes that lead right to the saddle. There is a reasonable pad up the Boomerang from the saddle, but it requires you getting on your knees and crawling if you use it all the way up.

[ILUVSWTAS]

There is a reasonable pad up the Boomerang from the saddle, but it requires you getting on your knees and crawling if you use it all the way up.

Hmmm not the one we came down.. :p It was pretty good all the way.
There's also a line of cairns going up to Bobs, but they aren't necessary as from the saddle it's pretty open.

[pazzar]

There is a reasonable pad up the Boomerang from the saddle, but it requires you getting on your knees and crawling if you use it all the way up.

Hmmm not the one we came down.. :p It was pretty good all the way.
There's also a line of cairns going up to Bobs, but they aren't necessary as from the saddle it's pretty open.

Obviously I went the wrong way

[ILUVSWTAS]

Wouldn't be the first time for either of us I doubt Jazz.

[rohjoe]

ILUVSWTAS wrote:
The Southern side (hehehe) or side nearest to the sinkhole (I guess Eastern then?) has a pad all the way around it...

OK, South East side then.......

Following the creek seems to be a reasonably strategy. And yes, I've already had people recommend against dropping off the Boomerang in a direct line to the lake! Your info appears to confirm this.

Thanks gents, that is just the sort of info I was after!

R

[ILUVSWTAS]

No worries Rohan. It's a great place (though I know you've been there already) and the sinkhole is a wonderful wonderful campsite.

The ascent straight onto the Boomerang wasn't all THAT bad, in comparison to the 2 hrs we spent going a few hundred metres on the Knobs attempt at least.....

[rohjoe]

Actually this will be my first visit so I'm very much looking forward to seeing the mysterious sink hole and lovely camping area everyone talks about.

Bobs Knobs is not on the menu this time. Think I'll wait for your successful trip report!

[ILUVSWTAS]

Ah my mistake! I thought you were there with Koolix and Dr.M a while back...

Enjoy. You will love it.