Wylds Craig Access

[bludger]

G'day,

More of an FYI than a trip report. We had plans to climb Wylds Craig on the weekend and stay overnight at Lake Laurel. We drove in from the southern end of Tiger Rd because I wasn't sure about the state of the bridge at the northern end. It was a wise decision - the bridge is blocked by a couple of impassible dirt mounds:

Tiger Rd bridge blockage on the eastern side (not our car, we were parked on the western side)

That was the lesser of the troubles though; Tiger Spur 21 has lots of downed trees, starting directly off Tiger Rd. We clambered through them till the first junction, but gave up due to the number of trees and the time of day.

First of many fallen trees across Tiger Spur 21

So we returned back along Tiger Rd and decided to head to Mt Field instead! We found the start of the old Wylds Track on Tiger Rd, marked with a cairn and some surveyors tape. It looked overgrown, but we didn't have a good look.

A bit of a bummer really, as Sunday would have been a perfect day on the mountain. We'll have another go a tackling it, but will allow a full day to get up there.

[waif]

Thanks for that Bludger, so the old track start is quite obvious? Just seems to add another few hundred metres climb according to listmap

[bludger]

I wouldn't say obvious - we didn't spot it when driving past slowly so got out of the car and walked along the road till we spotted the small cairn and surveyors tape.

[devoswitch]

Does anyone know what the access to the track head is like at the moment by any chance please? Thanks

[frenchy_84]

I was there Australia day and the road was blocked by lots of trees. Had to walk from the river, it added abit over an hour on the way up and about half an hour down. It's still not a long walk to Wylds from memory it took me about 5-6 hours return from the florent one.

[devoswitch]

Thanks frenchy

[frenchy_84]

just better specify that i walked the road rather than the old track

[devoswitch]

Thanks mate I gathered that was the case.

[mikeymikeytutu]

My partner and I are moving to Hobart next year after many years of travelling to and hiking in Tassie.

Im a keen backcountry skier in NSW and have been going for annual backcountry jaunts onto the Main Range. Im hoping to do as much backcountry skiing/snowboarding as possible in Tassie next winter and have my eyes on Mt Field NP and Mt Rufus as the main destinations.

But Im also really enticed by the idea of hiking up onto some of these harder to get to peaks (at least in winter). Seeing the photo attached of Wylds Craig covered in snow got me wondering whether a winter mission with the aim of getting a couple of runs down the top section of the peak would be feasible. Im a sucker for the uphill slogs, so the 1000m vertical from Florentine River is intimidating but not entirely off putting. However what is the state of the track? I.e. is it overgrown and likely to rufuse entry of a pack with a snowboard hovering above my head?

Has anyone ever attempted a winter hike up on Wylds? Or is anyone keen to join me next year, or keen to join me for a winter ski/board at a different mountain?

Anyway first post - happy to be here

Mike

Attachments

[Azza]

Has anyone ever attempted a winter hike up on Wylds? Or is anyone keen to join me next year, or keen to join me for a winter ski/board at a different mountain?

Anyway first post - happy to be here

Mike

Heaps of people would have been up there in the winter - no big deal. Wylds is not a hard walk by Tassie standards.
Been quite a while since I was up there, but the track from memory was never particularly scrubby.
The hard part is driving there now, with the roads and bridge access being more of an issue.

The next hard bit is actually having the snow conditions to make it worth while.
A lot of the time the snow doesn't hang around long enough to make backcountry ski missions worth while, although being a similar height to Mt Field and further west helps.
When the snow comes you usually have to get out there quickly to make the most of it, which is why Mt Field is popular with easy access - you can drive up for the day and go for a tour.

I've done Walls of Jerusalem, Rufus and King William I - all are worthwhile if there is enough snow.

Cheers

Aaron

[mikeymikeytutu]

Thanks for the reply and insights Aaron. King William is a good suggestion.

Cheers

Mike

[Mp3robbo]

2017 update.

Was talking to a parks ranger before I did the walk and she said that there are currently trees over the Tiger Rd just south of where the old track starts. We decided it was best to tackle the track from the northern tiger rd bridge. We walked along Tiger Spur 21 until we hit the coupe at the top of the road and found the cairn which showed us where to cross the coupe.
From what we could see in the bush the old track was no longer marked. We didn't look very hard though.
Walk was pretty decent, the track was reasonably straightforward. There were a lot of logs over the track though, if anyone here owns a chainsaw sawing through a few logs along this track would be mint.
The walk took us 7.5 hours with a moderately fit group.
Also on the way back when you re-enter the coupe make sure you head straight ahead (where you came from) and not to your right. Otherwise you'll end up bashing through a bunch of regen to get back to the road (as we found out).
Hope the map below is helpful.

Rob

[waif]

TO emphasis what Rob said about track start, don't just walk up to the end of the road expecting the track to start there... Check for the cairn / ribbon on the left on the way up. It is a bit overgrown currently.

If you miss it and end up at the top of the road you need to follow the edge of the coupe west, slightly up and then downhill until you intersect the track. There are a lot of deceiving bits of ribbon on the coupe boundary but the track is quite definitive.

Also not sure about coming in to access the walk from North (Wayatinah way), we just followed Florentine road from near maydena to the Tiger Road bridge.

09-08-2017 09-32-04.jpg (101.71 KiB) Viewed 49166 times

Cheers

[pazzar]

Does anyone know about the current state of the bridge at Wayatinah? Wylds has a beautiful cap of snow on it right now and I'm hoping to camp up there on the weekend if the bridge is open again.

[LeftRightShoot]

Also wondering on the condition of the road from the river to the coupe. Is it mountain bikeable? (for a competent mountain biker)

AHH: Yes it is, found advice here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjqmX74h5Kg

[L_Cham_67]

Some info here as well: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=30263

[RicktheHuman]

Access using Eleven Road and Tiger Road may be clear by now with the Richea Creek track being re-opened. Which means you could drive nearly all the way to the coupe. It would be worth a try, it's not all that far back to the original bridge starting point if there are still tree's down. That's exactly what I done last year and just walked up the road which took about 25 mins

*Edit- just noticed Lucas pointed you to the same info i just typed

[biggbird]

Clear all the way along Tiger road and up the spur to the commencement of the track in the coupe a couple of days ago.

[Twilson]

A few post winter falls across the road past the disused forestry bridge up to the trail head.

A small chainsaw would do the trick.

Also STT are logging plantion right adjacent to where you would park on Florentine Rd. UHF ch 16.
Didn't seem to mind me parking up there

[Mp3robbo]

2022 Apr update, the road is clear to the start of the track

If you're going to use the ford I believe it's quicker via Jungle Rd, but if you aren't it is probably slightly quicker coming via Maydena and driving the full length of Tiger Rd?

[Billybob_Baggins]

Update Feb 2023.

Florentine Road access still good from Maydena end, and we had a lovely night camped at the turnoff to the bridge over the Florentine (so we could get an early start). STT still VERY active in that last 10km or so, and I would not be keen to drive that during working hours. The turnoff is mossy flat ground at the bridge, but gravel underneath - impossible to get tent pegs deeply in.

We walked across the bridge and up Tiger spur to the trailhead - took us about 50mins. The Tiger spur road has been completely cleared and is easily driveable. We chatted to a couple who drove up just as we were setting off on the walking track, and they drove up from Maydena via Tiger Road without any problems.

Trail as described above, we got lost in the initial logged section, and the cairns/tape not always obvious. Lots of fallen trees in the WHA area above, and slow going. Took us 5hrs up (from the Florentine bridge) and a bit less coming down. But absolutely incredible views from the summit!!

[Lostsoul]

Update….I went out today,drove across the ford,it was only 30cm deep.Can now drive all the way up to the track start if you have a 4wd or car with high ground clearance.Was two trees over road further up which I removed.Saves a 3.5 km road walk.

[phATty]

Another update, walked Wyld's Craig coming in from Maydena on Florentine Rd in November 2023. The road condition was good, bring a saw though for downed trees. Also beware a small but deep pothole about 3 or 4ks off the turn off to the logging coup on the left side of the road, nearly obliterated my mate's Outback.