Bushwalk Australia

Here are a few photos of the Penguin Cradle Trail.

Some more photos.

G'day Tas-man,
Thanks for the photos. This is a walk I am very interested in doing soon, however I will do it in stages starting with the
leven canyon section first with an overnighter at Blackwood Camp. (cant get six days in a row off work). In his book
Chapman describes a narrow descending ledge crossing a rock face just south of Tulip Creek which is potentially dangerous.
I'm not afraid of heights, just big drops and the sudden stop at the bottom! How difficult is it? Is it relatively safe and just a head thing? Have you got any pictures of it and also Blackwood camp? I have done the walk from Loongana Rd to Griffiths Ridge and back,- pretty speccy and I didnt have any problems there.
Thanks
Geoskid.

. . . and a few more . . .

geoskid wrote:<SNIP> In his book
Chapman describes a narrow descending ledge crossing a rock face just south of Tulip Creek which is potentially dangerous.
I'm not afraid of heights, just big drops and the sudden stop at the bottom! How difficult is it? Is it relatively safe and just a head thing? Have you got any pictures of it and also Blackwood camp? I have done the walk from Loongana Rd to Griffiths Ridge and back,- pretty speccy and I didnt have any problems there.
Thanks
Geoskid.

Here is a photo of that part of the track that had my knees "trembling" when I first did it in heavy rain in 2004. The surface is loose with grass tufts and parts with nothing secure to hang onto, so VERY careful foot placement was necessary. However when I took this photo in 2007, doing it in the dry, I wondered what my concerns had been! - so the weather conditions DO make a BIG difference.

I have scanned my photos from December 2003 when I walked part of the Penguin to Cradle track from the Cradle link road to Gunns plains where we had to abort the trip. These will fill in a few more gaps for those considering doing all or part of this walk.

Our next two days through the Leven Canyon were too wet to take photos, and my other trip photos show this section

nice

brings back memories.

Ta!!!

While I am updating this gallery thread, here's some from a Launceston Walking Club day walk in March 2007 that covered the start of the P/C track from Marsdens Hill to Purtons Flat.

Great photos.

Having recently done a couple of sections of the P2C trail recently - Leven Canyon and Fourways to Cradle Mountain Lodge - great track. It is just a shame that it is a bit run down in places.

Are there issues with camping at Fogg Flat's at the moment?

P

Here's a bit of historical background to the tramway track section of the PCT. The stills are from a historic 16mm movie about the Lobster Creek Tramway that is in the Launceston Walking Club's possession.

I recently walked the start of the Penguin-Cradle Trail with scockburn and his mate from Brisbane Bushwalkers and the track along Keddies Creek has a lot of tree fall that makes for lots of detours. Myrtle Creek was flowing well and a photographers delight with the mossy banks, tannin froth, and ferns. Here's a selection of photos to fill gaps in this thread.

Fresh tree falls over track along Keddies Creek.

A couple of us did the Penguin-Gunns Plains section a couple of weeks ago. I'd say some work must have been done because there were only a handful of trees over the track of which only one or two were a hassle. Nice section of track .

Hi,
Good to hear that a lot of those trees have been cleared. And wonderful photos too. We're hoping to do the whole Penguin to Cradle walk in Feb. and wondered if anyone knew what the state of the rest of the track is at the moment? Are there any trouble spots to watch out for? Plus how realistic is it to do the track in 8 days in a single carry? Do people cache food along the way eg at the wilderness holiday cabins? Oh and one last thing we're counting grams and wondered what's the longest distance we'd need to carry water for?

Thanks a lot for any advice.

Wow, wonderful stuff, thanks for sharing. Some nice and interesting pics among them. Cheers

JBC130213 wrote:Hi,
Good to hear that a lot of those trees have been cleared. And wonderful photos too. We're hoping to do the whole Penguin to Cradle walk in Feb. and wondered if anyone knew what the state of the rest of the track is at the moment? Are there any trouble spots to watch out for? Plus how realistic is it to do the track in 8 days in a single carry? Do people cache food along the way eg at the wilderness holiday cabins? Oh and one last thing we're counting grams and wondered what's the longest distance we'd need to carry water for?

Thanks a lot for any advice.

I haven't done any of the track since earlier this year. But I expect there would be a few trees down and other minor hassles, but on a track like this it's to be expected (it is much harder and less maintained than tracks like the Overland Track/Walls of Jerusalem etc).
8 Days should be quite doable, especially so if you can manage to cadge a lift for the Gunns Plains road section. If you are a fast walker side trips like Mt Beercroft or (if really fast) Reynolds Falls are doable in 8 days.
Some people do make food caches, but it's only 8 days so quite possible to carry enough. It's up to you if carrying the extra weight or organising food caches is the most hassle.
Water can be a real issue on the Black Bluff range in February. When I did the Loongana to Pencil Pine section in February this year (not a dry summer) the only water we found from Paddys Lake to Four Ways were some stagnant puddles at Bare Mountain camp. You won't die but without carrying plenty of water you may have to descent off the range to find reliable water on the surrounding plains. It all depends on the weather leading up to your walk - it's unlikely but possible you way find mud/snow more of a hassle than dehydration.

At the risk of sounding like an old woman I will just say if you have done little walking this isn't an easy intro to the 'sport'. It covers some quite rough terrain, has the odd navigational challenge, is very exposed to extreme weather in parts and over the past few years a ridiculous number of people have been rescued by helicopter from the PCT and it's various side trips, many of them from basically underestimating the difficulty and ending up lost, freaked out or injured. If you find the first section to Gunns Plains hard then you may be in for a real shock in the Leven Canyon. But it's a fantastic walk, perhaps my favourite multi-dayer due to the variety, challenges, scenery, heritage and, hey it's practically in my backyard

Many thanks for this information. We have some experience, more so in other states. We're looking to get as much information about conditions before we set out so we can devote more energy to enjoying the country. Good advice to see how we feel after the first section to Gunns Plains though and we'll keep an eye on the rain-fall. Hoping that it is only our food that is dehydrated.