North coast to South coast - Tasmania

[LoaferBread]

Has anyone walked from the North coast to the South coast? Or know of any website that has information about this?
I think it's a bit of a long-term goal of mine. A tentative plan would be to first to the Penguin-Cradle trail, then the Overland...but I'm not sure which route one could take to get from Lake St. Clair through the FGWR park and then south from Strathgordon and on to the Port Davey + south coast tracks. Is there much marked track between Lake St. Clair and the Port Davey track that's West of Lake Gordon / Lake Pedder? Perhaps it would be easier to go down via Eastern Lake Gordon, through Maydena for example.

One can dream

[Ant71]

Hi there this may not be what you are looking for but I was looking at it last night it may help
http://www.tasmaniantrail.com.au/

[Orion]

You're not the first person to have had that thought. But the gap you are wondering about is the problematic part.

There's a guy who is planning on attempting it this winter, without any food resupply just to make it more interesting for himself. So you could perhaps study what his idea is for that part of the walk. He's done that section once before, about ten years ago. The rest is straightforward.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=27288

As an alternative I suppose you could link up a bunch of roads but that doesn't sound all that fun to most people.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Andrew Hughes did a walk from Penguin to Cockle Creek. Took around 60 days I think. There was a feature in Wild magazine many years ago about the epic.
As you said the section from lake St Clair to Strathgordon gives the most problems, to answer your question no there are no real tracks in that area, but there is plenty of scrub...
Andrew walked down the King William range, through the Vale of Rassalas to Lake Rhona, then he met his brother there and they rafted across lake Gordon to the Frankland range, walked down this to the Port Davey track and so on.... I think he had 5 food drops along the way.

[MrWalker]

Hi there this may not be what you are looking for but I was looking at it last night it may help
http://www.tasmaniantrail.com.au/

The Tasmanian Trail goes from Devonport to Dover, so not quite to the South Coast. I started in the sea just north of the official start (at the river in Devonport), and walked on for an extra two days to reach South Cape Bay, so I have walked from north coast to south coast. However, it is not as interesting as your suggested route.

[Pink Cap]

Mr Walker, I’m thinking of doing this in January next year. How long did it take you and were you able to go through enough towns to get food regularly? Did you use the official guide book and did you have to get a key? I have the gps but no other info. I prefer the idea of walking the route to cycling and I thought I might be able to embellish things with a few detours. Thanks!

[MrWalker]

Mr Walker, I’m thinking of doing this in January next year. How long did it take you and were you able to go through enough towns to get food regularly? Did you use the official guide book and did you have to get a key? I have the gps but no other info. I prefer the idea of walking the route to cycling and I thought I might be able to embellish things with a few detours. Thanks!

I walked this is day stages, with breaks in between, so it took me about 6 months to complete. I did 20 days of walking, averaging 27 km a day (but note that I only ever had a day pack, so no heavy load).

I had a copy of the official guide book, but I think some sections have changed a bit, so my copy is no longer current.
There was no need for a key, since that is needed to get horses or bikes through gates. You shouldn't need it for walking.
My main detour was staying on the edge of Great Lake from the Inlet to Todds Corner, rather than the boring walk down the road.

If you are doing this without a loving family member to drop you off at the start of each day and pick you up at the end, then you will need to detour a bit to find towns to resupply. But I think you would never need more than three days without being able to find a shop.

[headwerkn]

Becca and Em did the "Tassie Traverse" last year. They took the PCT, OLT, KW Range/Denison Range, Scotts Peak Dam Rd, PT, SCT route, over 26 days.

https://rockmonkeyadventures.wordpress. ... dle-trail/

This is arguably the most logical route to take, though it does involve a fair bit of road walking between Clear Hill Road and Scotts Peak Dam. Apparently there were plans/calls to formalise the link between Lake St Clair and Scotts Peak Dam in the 1960s/1970s, around the same time the Penguin Cradle Trail was being drawn up, but obviously it never happened. Probably not a bad thing from an environmental point of view, though it's interesting to think just how bushwalking would look today if a formal track snaked the full length of the state.

Going around the Prince of Wales, Wilmot and Frankland Ranges would definitely be more adventurous than taking the road And likely take the best part of a couple of weeks, rather than a couple of days.