I set off along the Overland Track along the Western side of the lake and walked leisurely for about 3 hours to Echo Point Hut. There's not that much to see along that walk but if you're into photographing fungi it can ease the boredom somewhat.
- Purple coral fungus.jpg (208.94 KiB) Viewed 4573 times
I arrived at the hut and hooked into some noodles on the warf. The boat rocked up as I was chowing them down and 5 people got off. One was continuing the Overland track and the other 4 were coincidentally heading to Lake Oenone. Seemed at that point I had not really picked such a solitary spot to go! One of them offered me some brief instructions on the route to the lake as I was simply going to pick a spot on the Overland Track and bush bash with the compass.
The instructions were...walk for half an hour north on the Overland Track across three major creeks (Major being the word as there are plenty of small creeks) and after the third creek turn to face the hill and go up. Keep the creek on your left and eventually you'll end up at Lake Oenone. There are a couple of small cliffs to negotiate on the way. The first has a spot to go up further to the right of the creek where some tree roots allow you to scuttle up. The second is not quite as big and is a choose your own adventure.
I set the alarm for 30 minutes and headed off. Sure enough I was on the bridge crossing the third major creek when the alarm went off. I turned up the hill and set off into the trackless bush. At first the terrain is pretty open and it's not long till you hit the first cliff face. I located the roots and climbed up. The second cliff I managed to find a way up closer to the creek.
From here the bush became thicker and as I got closer it became thicker again. Fagus is not something easily pushed through! After about 2-2/12 hours I emerged into some eucalypt forest and the terrain eased. I located a few small tarns on a flat area below the lake and meandered up to the camp site. The area around the tarns is magnificent.
- The track
- The track.jpg (279.07 KiB) Viewed 4573 times
I found myself a small camp site leaving the larger ones for the others when they arrived. The fagus was still there but only just. Unfortunately the fog was also there and there were no views of Mt Olympus. I set up camp on the Eastern edge of the lake and spent some time just wandering around the lake and tarns.
I didn't see the point in continuing up Mt Olympus as there would not have been any views anyway. I eventually crawled into bed for a cold night's sleep after cracking the ice off the fly. I woke up with my hip feeling cold and realised I had a slow leak in the airbed. I pumped it up again and this time heard the air rushing out just below the valve. I crimped the top of the airbed over which seemed to almost stop the leak and continued on with my futile effort to sleep.
Come morning the fog was thicker than the previous day. Again it was pointless to try Mt Olympus so I headed to Lake Helen. The easiest way seemed to be to head only slightly East of the camp site and go North to the ridge. You could see down into Lake Helen from there but it was even thicker with fog on that side so again I just meandered around Lake Oenone where the fog was starting to thin. I had a good chat with the others who were part of a plant appreciation society. Nice group of people who thought that getting out and doing this sort of thing keeps you young. I always thought that Oil of Ulan was the key but they proved me wrong!
I didn't have all that long before I needed to head back so I waited as long as I could and eventually got views of Mt Olympus just before heading back down the hill to Lake StClair. The walking down the hill was much easier than coming up and I made some good time. I actually headed down the other side of the creek at first which had some very easy pads to follow. I got about half way down and crossed the creek to the North side again and continued down. The track eventually appeared and then it was just a matter of the easy walk back to Cynthia Bay.
- Lake Oenone and Mt Olympus
All up the trip was great despite the cold and excess fog. I would gladly go again and on a fine day it would be great to head to the top of My Olympus. On speaking to a well walked friend after the trip he seemed to think there was a better track up the hill about 45 minutes north of Echo Point Hut. If anyone knows of a better track feel free to add it to the comments on this report.
