Southern Ranges Traverse with dramatic ending

[Nick S]

A quick write up of a recent trip with Pete and Rose over the Southern Ranges and back via the South Coast Track.

Day 1.
After camping overnight at Cockle Creek and leaving a bike hidden in the bushes, we drove to the trailhead at Lune River and climbed upto Moonlight ridge. It was pleasant walking up on the plateau, which normally has a
reputation for being windblown. We reached Pigsty Ponds around 7pm after many long breaks enjoying the sun and good views.

Moonlight flats

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Hippo, Leillateah, Cocks comb

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Day 2.
A shorter day today after sleeping in to allow the clouds to lift. Explored the flat expanse of Mt La Perouse and much wonder about the size of the pile of rocks there, which could be seen as far away as PB! An early camp was had beside Ooze lake.

Mt La Perouse

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Pindars Peak and the Ironbounds in cloud

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Day 3.
Yet another perfect day. Up Pindars Peak by 10am, with awesome views of the surrounding mountains and the Arthur range. There was a blanket of low cloud covering the sea to the south and extending up the huon valley, making us feel much higher than the 1153m that we were. The rest of the day was spent following the scrubby route across leaning tea tree saddle to Mt Wylly, spending the 3rd night at Wylly plateau.

Precipitous Bluff from Pindars

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[Nick S]

Mt Victoria Cross

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Slopes of Mt Wylly

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Day 4.
Dreading the described 5-6 hours of scrubby walking to Low Camp, our group pushed on through and actually made good time, reaching Low Camp for lunch, and saying goodbye to the last section of overgrown track on the slopes of Precipitous Bluff. The track up is certainly not as steep as it looks, but the stone stairs leading to the the top were unexpected, What an awesome campsite on PB! Only seconds away from incredible cliffs and views over New River Lagoon a vertical km below us. The combined views of rugged mountain ranges and wild coastline has got to be one of the best views in Tasmania. We spent hours on the PB summit trying to absorb the view, retiring to a calm, star filled night back at the tents.

PB

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View to Prion Beach

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Day 5.
What's that? Another bluebird day? We'll take it. A steep descent below the clifflines of PB and then down through lush forest to Cavern Camp. Manged to avoid any sinkholes. Make sure you take time to drop the packs and explore the cave at the mouth of the creek, it just keeps going in! Can't beat the feeling of taking a dip in the warm lagoon after the past 5 days of some tough walking.
Finished the night feeding mozzies and playing Gin Rummy.

PB from New River Lagoon

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[Nick S]

Day 6.
Spent the morning wading up New River Lagoon. Quite enjoyable to just plod along through the tannin stained water and not have to worry about scrub for once. Most of it was mid calf deep. Almost fell into the water at one creek as it suddenly became deeper, but we found a taped track inland which crossed over a few logs. Joined up with the South Coast Track and followed this for another few hours to reach Suprise Bay. The best campsite along the SCT I reckon. Nude swims were had all round, then we spent the evening cooking and chatting to another group of 3 who had spent the past 2 days chilling out at Suprise.

Prion Beach

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Rugged coastline

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Suprise Bay

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Day 7.
Our first cloudy day! Not to matter, it suited the dark mood of granite beach very well, and the cool misty climb upto the South Coast range was appreciated.

So here is where the drama began; I was walking alone over the top of the South Cape Range as our group had spread out - going at our own pace up the hill. I had met up with the group of three walkers from Suprise bay just half an hour earlier as we stopped for a break, but shortly after pushing ahead I heard voices calling out, and returned to find Rose and the remaining 2 members of the other group searching for the missing group member. Apparently He was only walking 50m ahead of their group, but they realised that they hadn't seen him for the past 15 min and began calling out.

After retracing steps for an hour and lots of calling out, we considered that maybe he had skipped ahead of me without my realisation. Although the likelihood that the missing man had overtaken me was slim, we just couldn't work out how else he could have disappeared. Although considering the misty conditions and multitude of sidetracks due to the deep mud, we knew that losing the track was certainly possible, but surely the track is so obvious! We decided to consider the possibility that he had passed me and so we continued the few hours down to South Cape Rivulet.

All this time I was mulling over the possible scenarios which could explain what happened. Had he answered the call of nature and then become lost? But where was his pack? And then more serious possibilities like a snake bite, heart attack, or a fracture began to take hold. My spirits rose when I saw boot marks in the mud over the top of group member Pete's own distinctive Vibram five finger shape. Surely this was proof that the missing man was ahead of us!
But an hour later we then came across an English couple who had left from Granite beach that morning. After a brief discussion I asked to see her boot sole and was dismayed to see the familiar shape which I had been seeing in the mud.

On arrival at South Cape Rivulet with still no missing man to be seen, we discussed with the remaining members of the group of the need to activate the EPIRB. Although it was the other group breaking the seal and extending the antenna, I could see it was still a difficult decision to make. The Westpac helicopter arrived in 2 hours and the search party was arranged to start in the morning.

A quick hike back to Cockle Creek on the last day, followed by a 25km bike ride by Pete to pick up the car from Lune River and return for Rose and I. While waiting for Pete we enjoyed a swim in the bay and talked to one of the friendly parks volunteers, which happended to be peak bagger Dave Harris.

As we drove home we were informed of the good news that the walker had been found. Turns out the man had very much lost the track and was found back up in the south coast range, 500m away from the track, certainly a EPIRB activation that was well justified. Still I'd like to know what the man was thinking.. Guess it can happen to the best of us though..

Anyway, yet another incredible trip in our own backyard.

Activated EPIRB

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[ofuros]

After seeing your pics, my heart aches to explore that area some day....its simply breathtaking.



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[Nuts]

Wow, look at all thet blue sky Nice !! I like the PB pic on day 5.

[tasadam]

Jealous of that weather. Great photos.
The Sony NEX-7, 24 megapixels. Looks good. http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonynex7/28

[phan_TOM]

Sounds like a great trip Nick and love the photos. Not often you get a bit of rescue action, thats a bonus (especially as the guy turned up okay)

ps. oh yeah, nice photoshop work putting in all the blue skies

[tigercat]

Great report and photos tempting me to go further than Pindars on my next Southern ranges Trip!

[north-north-west]

I hate yo0u guys.
Not for the drama, but for the weather. The only blue I saw was my jacket . . .

[Nick S]

Thanks for the comments. Every day was just perfect.. Only had to pack up a wet tent on the last day!
I'd be reluctant to walk that route between Pindars and PB anytime soon... Actually I would like to know how long ago the track was made.. Summit of PB certainly made it worth it, and I'm not sure I would want to climb up PB from the lagoon having gone down that route.

Adam - I've been pretty happy with my Nex 7 so far. I have a few other lens but only took the kit 18-55mm on this trip, which is pretty sharp once it's stopped down to f8. There might've been a few extra shots if I'd taken the 55-200mm but it's a pretty lightweight package with just one lens. Rose took a Nex 5 with a 16mm pancake plus the ultrawide converter, so we were able to interchange at times..

[north-north-west]

I'd be reluctant to walk that route between Pindars and PB anytime soon

Funny. I'd been dreading that section due to everything I read about it but - apart from the weather trapping me at Leaning Tea Tree Saddle for . . . er, OK, we agreed I wouldn't mention that again . . . it was far easier than I expected. Even Kameruka Moraine was fairly straightforward. Only lost the route once below Pindars and that was pretty brief.
The only part I'm reluctant to repeat is the walk out over the South Cape Range. Even going back through Moonlight Flats would be better than that.

[pazzar]

I'd be reluctant to walk that route between Pindars and PB anytime soon

Funny. I'd been dreading that section due to everything I read about it but - apart from the weather trapping me at Leaning Tea Tree Saddle for . . . er, OK, we agreed I wouldn't mention that again . . . it was far easier than I expected. Even Kameruka Moraine was fairly straightforward. Only lost the route once below Pindars and that was pretty brief.
The only part I'm reluctant to repeat is the walk out over the South Cape Range. Even going back through Moonlight Flats would be better than that.

I found that section to be pretty good. I ran into some guys who thought it would take me 9 hours to get to Wylly Plateau from Pindars. And apparently there was thick scrub in there. I reached the plateau about 4 hours later, still wondering where the scrub was!

South Cape Range was the worst day of the trip for me.

[wander]

I would have to echo

A) great report and really nice pics and

B) no real issues between Pinders and PB and and the Sothern Ranges are worse in a track sense, luverly forest to wander though, though I think the section through the forest once you get up from Prion is worse again, I am assuming this is technically not the Southern Ranges.

[naturelover]

Thanks for beautiful photos and an interesting report. I'm jealous!!! My only attempt up there got blasted out by winds that sounded like 12 trains coming in.

[stu]

Yep, thanks very much for sharing Nick; one of the best multi day walks in the state IMHO (I say 'one of' as there are so many).
You were very lucky to get consistently good weather...we went from 40+ degrees from LTTS to PB low camp to 15 degrees and horizontal rain the following day...have to go back some day for those views from PB...just magic.
Glad the other groups mis-adventure turned out ok...certainly adds to the old rule of staying put if you think you're lost.

[tasadam]

I'd be reluctant to walk that route between Pindars and PB anytime soon...

Can't understand why...


It can have a wearing effect on certain people apparently -


From the comments of others that suggest they didn't find this, perhaps some discussion is required on the actual track vs the track that NickS and the guys in these videos found.
If it gets off the rails let me know & I will split the topic into a new subject.

[Nick S]

Thanks again for the comments guys.

Heh good one Adam. Yeah those vids were our experience.. Rose took a few videos herself, be fun to watch them later..
Its not like it was a hard route to follow, quite easy in that there is rarely any other way you can go.. and actually not that long timewise, (we took about 5 hours from pindars to wylly, and under 4 hours from wylly plateau to low camp) but just the scratchy overgrown track that I didn't enjoy as much.
Rest of the trip made up for it by far though.

Its the sort of thing that I will forget in a few years and will probably be keen to repeat, if there weren't so many other good trips in Tassie..

[tasadam]

Its the sort of thing that I will forget in a few years and will probably be keen to repeat, if there weren't so many other good trips in Tassie..

Swimming the 3 creeks at Horseshoe Inlet is exactly like that... First time & I didn't want to ever do that again, 2nd time was just as cold but the day was better on the way so we weren't already cold & wet but still very cold swims, and yeah I'd do it again - take the good with the not so good. Not hard swims, just struck it rather cold & windy twice.
Mind you maybe 3rd time lucky and the tide & weather might allow me an easier crossing in the bay a bit.
But that's another story.

[Penguin]

I agree with all the comments so far, fantastic walk, good report Nick and photos.

We had good weather till PB, when it dumped a few of inches of rain and howling winds on us. By the time we got to the lagoon it was in flood so we walked with water up to our chests most of the way. At the river mouths we had to go inland to cross as the current was too severe to swim across.

The south coast track out was mud, mud and more inglorious mud. I think I got a glimpse of the western front in winter in WW1. Would happily do the scaparia up to PB again, given how good the rest of the range is. The "walk" in the lake was an experience that I would to do again, preferably with the lake at is usual height, I am sure that it is a pleasant stroll on a hot day. Resolved not to do the southern part of the southcoast track again after heavy rain.

If only I could back there soon.

[norts]

I seem to have struck it lucky on SW Cape, at Horseshoe Inlet the tide was out only thigh deep and New River Lagoon was shallow as well, remind never to walk with you two

Roger

[north-north-west]

The "walk" in the lake was an experience that I would to do again, preferably with the lake at is usual height, I am sure that it is a pleasant stroll on a hot day. Resolved not to do the southern part of the southcoast track again after heavy rain. .

Yeah, I thought that would be worse but the Lagoon drops as quickly as it rises. By the time I reached it, despite all the rain that had been dumped over the preceding week, I never got water deeper than mid-thigh, and most of it shallower.

Have to go back to get the views from La Perouse and Wylly, though.
And to do Alexandra and Bisdee.
And just because it's the Southern Ranges . . .

[nickthetasmaniac]

Hey Nick, glad you got through unscathed... Looks like you had similar (ridiculously good) weather to us, although at least you got to see something from Pindars!