POW and Diamond Peak

[Ent]

Content removed by poster

[ILUVSWTAS]

Looks like I won't be lonely, 3 of us are setting out just prior to Christmas to traverse POW's from North to South

seems the LWC have a group doing just that starting Boxing day.

[Beeper]

If planning a trip to the POW consider water availability. In a long dry spell you will have trouble finding any/much water, apart from yabby holes. Best to go after recent rain. There is a small creek near Observation Peak, some ponds/pools a few km north of Humbolt and not much elsewhere, unless you're prepared to descend down gullies and fill up.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Yup, all catered for. Getting some co-ords of some soaks. And Yabbie poles will be packed!!

[DaveNoble]

Being Tassie I would be prepared to hazard a guess that someone out there knows someone that know where the book it. Hopefully the State library will be its final destination.

Cheers Brett

The book I'm talking about is some sort of cheap novel I think. Not a summit log book or anything like that.

Yes - water is a big problem in the range. There are no creeks or lakes! Northern end - you can find soaks and small pools. Not much as you head south. Take at least a 3 - 4 m yabbie tube (to get a height difference for syphoning) and the capacity to carry a fair bit (we carried 2l water bottles - and when we found water - we filled them). Some water sources - eg a drip in the Humbolt section took 10 mins or more to half fill a cup. Water is a major problem on the yop-yop section if you do that (southern part of the range - if you are planning on doing a full traverse). We took a large clean hanky just for squeezing moss - but it was useless. the moss juice was like a jelly and refused to go through the hanky (and could not be filtered with toilet paper or anything else we tried) - but it was drinkable if you added drink powder to the nasty looking black liquid. One guy on our first trip took to squeezing drops of liquid out of the "bum" of March flies. We too tried this - but it was not too nice!

Dave

[Son of a Beach]

One guy on our first trip took to squeezing drops of liquid out of the "bum" of March flies. We too tried this - but it was not too nice!

Yikes! You guys must have been mega thirsty!

[ILUVSWTAS]

Theres some nice pics on Daves webpage of this guy with his flies.....

http://www.david-noble.net/Tasmania/POW ... Wales.html

[PeterJ]

....the article in question was titled "Prince of Wales range - Diamond Pk or bust", it was written by Peter Frankland and the other people in the group were Chris, Mary, Arthur and Philip..... .

Excuse me scrub master the author was Peter Franklin (or PeterJ for this forum).

Mention was made of the track to Firths valley, well even the section from a few kilometres down there after leaving the dam at Butlers Gorge is now overgrown, so it would now be hard work trying to get through to the old air strip and the Firth. John commented on camping near Observation Peak, well we used a spot there to camp on two trips. On the first occasion the Arthur in the party spent a lot of time trying to find a suitable spot, but unfortunately for him heavy rain put his tent in a flood way and items in the vestibule were floating away (Arthur by the way was quite experienced in the south West, so it just shows anyone can get caught out). Anyway this forced us to pack up and leave.

[ILUVSWTAS]

I thought that was you Peter!!
We used your track notes (I think) on our recent bash to Mt Leillateah

[scrub master]

a bit of dyslexia and old timers creeping in there, yes the article is credited to Peter Franklin, not Frankland. There was also a Dave and Allen in the party as well - a big group for that neck of the woods.

[Morph]

Hi all
having started this discussion and the fantastic reminiscences, thought I would let you all know that we (4 of us) completed the journey across the Spires (from Lake Rona and Lake Curly), Denison River and northern POW's - exited via the JR track on 21st December and I still can't believe we made it!
We took 12 days and 11 nights. This is certainly the most remote walking I have done and it is quite life changing - you come back to civilisation and talk to people about the trip but it is obvious that they don't really grasp what the experience was like.
The only small disappointment was that we didn't bag the summit of Diamond Peak owing to a long period of nasty weather that arrived pretty much as we did on the ridge of the POW's. In fact we spent 3 pretty rainy and windy nights on the POW's without much visibility - water was not a problem! The storm reached its peak on the 3rd night but we were then rewarded with a crystal clear, completely still evening at a campsite on top of Algonkian from which to survey the entire walk.

Thanks again for the advice - I thought the Jane River track was very quick going after the preceding 10 days but I really noticed the occasional rubbish along it. In the end there is probably not that much, but I guess we had seen none at all since passing through Gordonvale so it was a bit of a shock. Didn't see the hut as we took a route off Algonkian that hit the track 1 - 2 km from the southern end.

Happy New Year and happy walking
Simon

[ILUVSWTAS]

Thanks Morph! cant wait to head off on this one!!

[wayno1007]

We'll be in there well after that.. I hope for your sakes you arent still in there........ We're going in Feb

Be sure to report back here with a trip report though!!

SCRUB
That about sums up our 11 day trip from the Lyall Highway, Jane River track, Algonkian and south along the ridge.
The walking times were longer than those that had been before us around 10 years ago.
Many sections including the Jane River Track are now slow and scrubby.
I knew the route around Algonkian south to the start of the POWs was scrubby, no surprises there
Once on the range itself, rather pleasant, the southern facing slopes scrubby due to rarely being burnt in the past, a natural SW Tassie feature.
We got parked behind a large boulder on the ridge just north of Princes Peak while the wind, a pre-frontal roared from the NW on New Years Eve. We were then treated to a thunderstorm which started fires well to the North and South. These are being extinguished by Parks at the moment via a chopper and teams of parks staff.
Funny how PWS discourage visitors in these remote wilderness areas due to impacts on sensitive areas, yet they interfere with the nature of the fire generated buttongrass and other species by extinguishing fires as and when they occur. Many documented buttongrass leads we followed were choked 10 years later by tea tree with the buttongrass mounds underneath dead or dying from lack of daylight! The fires are natural yet the protectors of this stunning and diverse world heritage listed area are anxious to extinguish them which will kill this diversity with kindness and the open areas are continuing to close. We found evidence of Wombats but only occasionally, no roos or wallaby were seen.
Our only viable escape route option was taken up as we got low on food and enthusiasm to continue south of Mt Humbolt. We went down at the foot of Humbolt to the Denison then out via boat from Pearce basin to Strathgordon with 1 day of food left.

Didn't find much in the way of books with pages stuck together

Didn't find too many signs at all of those who passed this way before. A pad was followed occasionally when found. A couple of cairns were appreciated as confirmation of the correct route near Humbolt as we lost body heat in the cold wet Southerly rain

Found a commemorative plate at the foot of Diamond peak along the western side which was placed earlier in December. Detracted from the wilderness experience but left it there anyway. What is the story there? What do others think of this? Having seen it in other National Parks interstate I would be annoyed if my friends or relatives did this for me when I expire.

Sheltered from the rain under a fly found erected on the Jane River Track and found lots of rubbish strewn in the bush nearby. Another such site was found further along the track with rubbish in the bush as well. Will be getting in touch with parks on that score.

Wrote off my trousers in the scrub, totally wore out my new leather gloves and finished the trip in my overpants!

Wayno

[ILUVSWTAS]

I agree with the fires thing, I sometimes wonder if the PWS are doing whats best for the landscape at times! they do frown upon off track walkers yet many stories I hear seem to indicate some individuals who work for them are doing many things worse than off track walking. And fire is an important part of the regrowth process. Anyway times are as they are....

Thats interesting to read about your trip, thanks! We are expecting scrub on the Algonkian-POW section, Jane river track sounds a bit more overgrown than I personally would have liked/expected, and I'd imagine getting from the Spires to the POW is going to be a world of hurt at times. Hopefully besides that and the first part of the trip getting to the spires shouldnt be too bad.....

Got any pictures to post for us Wayno???

[DaveNoble]

Wrote off my trousers in the scrub, totally wore out my new leather gloves and finished the trip in my overpants!

Wayno

On my first trip - we spent several hours each night sewing up clothes on the last few nights (on the Yop Yop section) - eg cutting off shirt pockets and using them as patches to cover holes. Shirts, long pants (knees) and gloves all suffered. I actually found that my cheap nylon overpants were quite good in the scrub. On the second trip - I can remember Tom Williams unpacking his scrub gloves for Algonkian and finding he had 2 right gloves (or 2 left gloves) - and then groaning - as he knew how essential scrub gloves would be. But no problem - Bob Sault suggested to him to turn one of the gloves inside out (to change the handedness) - a simple but very effective suggestion. BTW - you can read of an epic NZ trip of Tom's in the current Wild Mag.

Dave

[ILUVSWTAS]

Sadly due to some overseeing in the planning of our trip...... We have had our access across the Gordon fall through. Spires/POW will have to wait. Back up plan is almost equally exciting though, 5 of us are doing a trip through the Frankland range!

6th of Feb departure date!

[Taurë-rana]

I've been invited on a walk probably along The Pleiades, Pokana Ridge, North Star and Lake Rhona later this month. I know very little about it so would like a bit of info such as, how much scrub to expect, which high bits through there have points attached...

[ILUVSWTAS]

Jealous!! There will be a bit of scrub from the Curly to the Denisons stage, maybe a few scrub bands here and there in other places.
Points are on all the peaks you mentioned also 3 on the Denison range, plus Mt Curly and Conical.

[scrub master]

two words to describe this area - hard & scrubby. I was there early this month while the rest of the crowd were galavanting through the Franklands.
If you're intending on the Pleadies, I'm presuming you've got boat access to the range from Lake Gordon. If this is the case, there is no easy access from the lake to the Pleadies ridgeline, in fact I would rate it as one of the hardest days walking I have done. Admittedly, this was probably due more to the 33 degree heat and the total lack of water on the range - even the yabbie holes were empty, but there was a fair deal of unpleasant scrub to contend with along the way We got as far as the lakes about 1km north of Pokana Ridge on the first day and it took us around 10.5 hours.

North of Pokana Ridge is pleasantly easly going, with a only few minor scrub bands along the way to Lake Curly. Just south of Pokana Ridge is a nasty little obstacle we affectionately named "horror-sidle hill".

We came out a slightly different way back to the boat at the lake which was considerably "easier" in the much cooler and wetter but no less scubbier conditions .

All of the "stars" - North, Centre & South, look like a scrub-fest and the trip from Curly back to Rhona is a tedious scrubby button-grass slog which can take from 1 to 2.5 days depending on the party. From Rhona back to the Tiger Range is an easy but muddy 1/2 day buttongrass bash.

I don't mean to put you off, but the trip was a lot harder than what I was expecting it to be. If you think you're up to it, then jump at the opportunity. The area is truly stunning and well worth the pain of getting there.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Nice one SM! I must admit im kind of happy to hear it was harder than you expected. I had heard it has it's difficulties, and when we were planning our trip in a few of us seemed to think it was going to be fairly easy. I was fairly doubtful we would get as far as planned in the first 2-3 days.

Rohan and a few others got stuck in some really nasty scrub (by their reports) on their recent failed trip to the Spires, they bagged Nth Star on the way out and apparantly this star isnt too bad, but im pretty sure Paulpeakbagger has told me south and centre star are very difficult!

[ollster]

I don't mean to put you off, but the trip was a lot harder than what I was expecting it to be. If you think you're up to it, then jump at the opportunity. The area is truly stunning and well worth the pain of getting there.

From personal experience of SM's exploits... this definately means BEWARE!

[scrub master]

I don't what you could possibly mean Ollster

[Taurë-rana]

Thanks sm, I will pass this on to the trip organisers.

[Morph]

Rohan and a few others got stuck in some really nasty scrub (by their reports) on their recent failed trip to the Spires, they bagged Nth Star on the way out and apparantly this star isnt too bad, but im pretty sure Paulpeakbagger has told me south and centre star are very difficult![/quote]

On the route we took recently between the Denisons and Curly there were only a few small bands of scrub. (and a lot of buttongrass aptly described by Scrubmaster) However we did find a pad coming off the Denisons and we were not aiming to bag North Star.Without the pad it would have been very hard going. From a distance the country around North Star looked pretty scrubby to me. We took 1.5 days from Rhona to Curly but we were taking it easy as it was the start of a longer walk. In total it was about 13 hours walking time (including breaks and with 12 day packs)
I would reccommend a trip to the Font on the Spires - it is a specdtacular camping spot. However, from the Font to Curly is a good day and does involve a decent section of scrub.
Good luck

[Taurë-rana]

Thanks Morph, I talked to my friend who invited me tonight and he assured me that where we'll be going won't be too bad and that we'll just wander along and get to wherever we get to with no pressure so I think it will be fine. He's done all the other ranges in there anyway apparently so is familiar with the area.

[sirius Tas]

Hi Taurë-rana,
You previously asked for info regarding what peak bagger points were available in a particular area.....you may be interested in a kmz file I've created which lists the complete set of peaks....and to any one else who may be interested of course. I've only just twigged as to how I could transfer all the waypoints from my Mapsource into Google Earth. While I've entered data to the best accuracy available there may be the odd error...but hope not.
Hope it helps any how...Cheers.

[stu]

Not sure who it came from now, I think someone off this site?
This one is similar to sirius' but has additional info flagged from every peak.

Tasmanian Mountains v5.kmz

(720.88 KiB) Downloaded 698 times

[Taurë-rana]

Thanks guys, interesting. I'm getting excited about going, although a bit nervous about going out for 7 days, especially somewhere like that - after 24 years it's like starting all over again. I think I'm most worried about the potential lack of water - that is one thing I've never struck before when bushwalking. What diameter tube is the best for yabby tubes?

[stu]

On our recent Franklands walk, which you were a part of, at least for half a day, I took about 1m of 6mm dia. tube, readily available from most hardware stores. Seemed to be enough to siphon when we needed it, which was only once or twice really, we got lucky with the water situation. I was very surprised to get 3L+ from 1 hole near Coronation Peak, we filled a 2L bladder, had a big drink each (3 of us) & there stiil seemed to be heaps left over...not sure if all yabby holes are quite as plentiful tho?

Sounds like a great trip Rachael, don't be nervous, be excited...we are all jealous

[Taurë-rana]

Sounds like a great trip Rachael, don't be nervous, be excited...we are all jealous

Good, that makes a change!
Bought a yabby tube today, seems like very cheap insurance. Next question, how much water do people generally carry if water is a problem, and how do you carry it? (I suppose I should check to see if there is a thread on this already).