Wentworth Hills - June 6 2020
Posted: Tue 23 Jun, 2020 3:16 pmHi all,
About time I caught up on the trip reports... first one, Wentworth Hills.
On the blog...
http://www.benderandxing.com/2020/06/21/wentworth-hills/
Video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m40fFrLpyW4&feature=emb_title
We'd originally planned to walk Wentworth Hills in the last weekend of March, but had those plans scuttled when Sustainable Timber Tasmania followed Parks' move to shutdown access just a couple of days before. Bummer.
Earlier in March we had scouted the location for alternative access to the summit, and discovered we could drive all the way around to the western side of the mountain range and up a logging coup. This would bring us within about a 1km of the top, hellishly steep no doubt, and completely offtrack, but an appealing option over the 'usual' route from Laughing Jack Lagoon via Lake Knight.
Of course, come the first weekend of full freedom, we found a locked gate. Dang. Back to the usual route. After about half a km through old logging spurs, the initial forest up to the east of D'Arcy's Bluff is open enough for pleasant off track walking. It was rather chilly this particular morning though, so the combination of a solid climb and wet/icy timber on the ground made things a little challenging.
We managed to drift a little too far south around D'Arcys Bluff towards the open marshland, and hit very dense myrtle in the process towards the more southern, unnamed knoll. Do yourself a favour and aim directly for the easternmost patch of marsh. From here the coral fern makes for easy walking straight to Lake Knight. The lake itself looked beautiful in a partially frozen state. Didn't see any Clarence Galaxias.
Past the Lake's outflow it's a less-steep climb up to the ridge towards the summit through masses of dead and fallen snow gums... again, the going was slow over slippery frozen logs and rocks. Mist had truly settled in and the first flakes of snow were falling as the summit trip came into sight. Thick ice on the boulders up top made the last 100m very tricky.
At the top we could just manage a brief glimpse of Lake King William, but otherwise it was a complete whiteout and with the snow falling solidly we decided we needed to get down to a safer elevation quickly, taking the western slope down to the original road and forestry spur we'd originally planned on using.
After a bit of a round about to the less rocky south-east - full of lovely pandani - to avoid the cliffline directly west, we dropped straight down the slope. The 500m were steep, dense and plenty of fallen timber to do negotiate, but it then opened up and the last 500-700m were actually quite pleasant until we connected with the logging coup. This would be a tough but very doable out-and-back approach, if that gate is ever left unlocked again.
We found the logging area deserted (it was still active in late March) and so enjoyed a 9km fast walk back to the car via the road, for 18.5km and over 8 hrs elapsed.
Cheers, Ben.
About time I caught up on the trip reports... first one, Wentworth Hills.
On the blog...
http://www.benderandxing.com/2020/06/21/wentworth-hills/
Video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m40fFrLpyW4&feature=emb_title
We'd originally planned to walk Wentworth Hills in the last weekend of March, but had those plans scuttled when Sustainable Timber Tasmania followed Parks' move to shutdown access just a couple of days before. Bummer.
Earlier in March we had scouted the location for alternative access to the summit, and discovered we could drive all the way around to the western side of the mountain range and up a logging coup. This would bring us within about a 1km of the top, hellishly steep no doubt, and completely offtrack, but an appealing option over the 'usual' route from Laughing Jack Lagoon via Lake Knight.
Of course, come the first weekend of full freedom, we found a locked gate. Dang. Back to the usual route. After about half a km through old logging spurs, the initial forest up to the east of D'Arcy's Bluff is open enough for pleasant off track walking. It was rather chilly this particular morning though, so the combination of a solid climb and wet/icy timber on the ground made things a little challenging.
We managed to drift a little too far south around D'Arcys Bluff towards the open marshland, and hit very dense myrtle in the process towards the more southern, unnamed knoll. Do yourself a favour and aim directly for the easternmost patch of marsh. From here the coral fern makes for easy walking straight to Lake Knight. The lake itself looked beautiful in a partially frozen state. Didn't see any Clarence Galaxias.
Past the Lake's outflow it's a less-steep climb up to the ridge towards the summit through masses of dead and fallen snow gums... again, the going was slow over slippery frozen logs and rocks. Mist had truly settled in and the first flakes of snow were falling as the summit trip came into sight. Thick ice on the boulders up top made the last 100m very tricky.
At the top we could just manage a brief glimpse of Lake King William, but otherwise it was a complete whiteout and with the snow falling solidly we decided we needed to get down to a safer elevation quickly, taking the western slope down to the original road and forestry spur we'd originally planned on using.
After a bit of a round about to the less rocky south-east - full of lovely pandani - to avoid the cliffline directly west, we dropped straight down the slope. The 500m were steep, dense and plenty of fallen timber to do negotiate, but it then opened up and the last 500-700m were actually quite pleasant until we connected with the logging coup. This would be a tough but very doable out-and-back approach, if that gate is ever left unlocked again.
We found the logging area deserted (it was still active in late March) and so enjoyed a 9km fast walk back to the car via the road, for 18.5km and over 8 hrs elapsed.
Cheers, Ben.