Saturday December 3, 7.7km/4.8mi

Cockle Creek to Fortescue Bay (0.0/7m) to Bare Knoll Campground (7.7/263m) (TAS)

I packed up my tent and was standing in the parking lot by 8am, hoping to hitch a ride. In one hour, I saw only 1 car, and they were arriving not departing. I began to directly approach people I saw walking around, asking for a ride. A few said they would give me a ride if I was still there in the afternoon, when they returned from their hike. So I started walking down the dirt road, hoping to catch more traffic. After I had passed a couple of campgrounds, I saw a few more vehicles and one of them stopped to give me a ride. Sweet! I rode with them for an hour to the town of Geeveston, about halfway to Hobart. From Geeveston I could catch a bus to Hobart for $7, so while I waited for the bus I occupied myself by doing their short “platypus walk”.

I didn’t see any platypus (platypii?), but I did find a bakery with a really good cinnamon bun, and that’s pretty close. The bus took an hour and I made it into Hobart at 2pm, and I walked directly to a car rental place I had researched beforehand. Most of their cars were already reserved, but there were a few manuals available. The manager was rather apologetic that was a Hyundai, since they reverse the controls for the turn signals and wipers. But I got a good price, and I’ll have a really clean windshield every time I want to make a turn. Ha!

Driving on the other side of the car didn’t seem that awkward, and shifting with my left hand was fine. But that turn signal required some thought!

I picked up a few groceries, and then drove the 1.5 hours to Fortescue Bay. The map at the trailhead showed a good overview of my hike. It’s pretty short, basically 41km/25mi and 1.5 days.

I signed the trail register, and noticed that a couple people had started this hike yesterday, so I might run into them on the track.

I started hiking kinda late at 7pm, but it was only 7.7km to Bare Knoll campsite.

The trail was pretty nondescript, and the distance went by quickly.

This first part of the trail was a standard wilderness track, with some roots and rocks. Tomorrow’s section of the trail will be much nicer, as it was purpose-built to handle 50 hikers per day, who pay $500AUD to have a 3-night glamping trip with fancy huts and perfectly manicured trail.

The occasional boardwalk over the potentially wet areas was a nice feature.

At 8:30pm, I came to the turn off for my campsite. It was only 100 meters down the side trail.

The forest here is very rocky and uneven, so they build tent platforms to make camping possible.

Many people do not have free-standing tents (meaning they need to be staked in to be setup), and their solution to that problem was quite innovative. There are chains spaced at regular intervals across the wooden platforms, and the chains are adjustable length, so you just clip them to the corners of your tent.

A little while after sunset (8:45pm), I heard a noise in the tree above me and my headlamp showed it was a brushtail possum!

It was a long day of hitchhiking, bus riding, food resupplying, driving, and then finally hiking for 1.5 hours. But tomorrow will be worth it!

Tomorrow I will hike to Cape Pillar (on an out-and-back trail), pack up my camp, and then hike to Cape Hauy (refer to map above).

Friday December 2, 30.2km/18.8mi

Osmiridium Campsite (58.1/8m) to Cockle Creek (88.0/3m) (TAS) +0.3 campsite

I had a great camping spot in the trees, and woke up to a condensation-free tent and the sound of the ocean in the distance. I got moving after 7:30am, and much of the morning was on overgrown forested trail.

Sometimes it was a nice trail.

The short beach sections were definitely the highlight of the day, the first one was Surprise Bay, a short 1km beach. There were a couple spots to weave thru some big rocks, which was fun.

I had to time the waves just right to get thru this gap in the rocks. Exciting!

The beach was easy walking, and the waves were extra-large today.

I was back in the forest for a couple kilometers, before dropping down to another beach.

This one was Granite Beach, slightly longer than the previous beach.

It started off sandy…

And the last half of the beach was these big smooth rocks that were challenging to walk on. They were cantaloupe-sized wet stones, and sometimes would shift under my feet.

The exit to the beach was marked by a nice 10m waterfall, which also made a perfect water source.

I refilled my bottle at the bottom of the falls, getting kinda wet in the process. A few minutes later, I discovered the trail went across the stream at the top too. That would’ve been much easier. Oops. For the next 2 hours, I hiked uphill on an insanely muddy trail. I was too focused on not falling to take any photos, except in this one short stretch of boardwalk.

On the descent, the muddy trail added a new challenge of being weirdly channelized. It was hard to walk in such a narrow trench.

Thankfully, towards the end of the descent was a rather long stretch of boardwalk. It felt good to just walk and stretch my legs, without having to focus on each step.

I love the views of the southern ocean, the photos don’t really capture the enormous size of the waves crashing on the cliffs.

I emerged onto South Cape Beach, a very short 500m beach that started with a shallow river crossing.

The second half of the beach had some rocks, but those were easily avoided.

This little viewpoint was a nice surprise, I climbed up 100m to a clifftop, and saw this behind me. The beach I had just hiked:

After 30 minutes in the forest, I was on the final beach of the trail, Lion Roch Beach. It’s only 7km from the finish and a carpark, so I saw a few dayhikers out enjoying the sand (but not the water – too dangerous).

Leaving a beach always means a staircase to get up on top of the dunes and cliffs.

My favorite section of the day was the short walk along the top of the seaside cliff. Apparently they can spontaneously collapse, which was alarming.

Cairns!

The trail wrapped around the edge, I could feel the mist from the waves crashing violently below.

The last 7km were on an easy trail that went thru unremarkable forest and meadow. I enjoyed the flat, wide, smooth trail, and had a good 5km/hour pace going. This guy slowed me down, since he didn’t stop eating or move out of the way for a few minutes.

The nice boardwalk continued almost to the end.

The finishing trail register! I signed out, and searched the book for other hikers who finished today, to potentially get a ride out with them. But nobody today, darn.

I finished at 6pm and got my finish photo! It was a nice 4-day hike, I’m not sure who established the “6-8 day” guideline.

Southwest National Park is a world heritage area. And Cockle Creek is the “end of the road”, since this is the furthest south you can drive in Australia.

As I was walking over to the free campground to setup my tent for the night, I passed this seal pretty far up the beach.

The camping options weren’t great, as they were either in grassy meadows (wet), or in spots that were rutted from cars’ tires. I settled for a flat spot that will surely be dewy and damp in the morning.

Tomorrow I will hitchhike back to Hobart, which is a 2-hour drive. This is literally the end of the road, so it sees very little traffic. Should be interesting!

Thursday December 1, 28.2km/17.5mi

Louisa River Campsite (30.2/41m) to Osmiridium Campsite (58.1/8m) (TAS) +0.3 campsite

I left camp at 7:45am, a little later than usual to give the morning fog time to burn off. Everyone else has already left camp it seemed. The first few minutes of the day were on a nice flat section of trail, giving me a preview of the big climb ahead, up the Ironbound Range.

And then, for the next 2 hours, I climbed up….

Up….

Occasionally I would turn around to see how far up I had come.

Still going uphill. It got pretty rocky near the top.

I got one final look behind me, before I lost the view.

The top ridgeline was a more gradual uphill, traversing a wet area on some old boardwalk.

I kept pausing to watch the clouds swirl around the ridges below me.

The top section was mostly boardwalk, which was a nice change from the thousands of stairs I had just climbed.

Finally, at 10am, I was on the summit! I had climbed 900m/2950ft over 5km/3mi, so it was quite steep. The view behind me:

And ahead of me:

I had caught up to John, Murray, and Sean, they started the descent just before me.

And now the trail started going back down the other side, initially on a nice boardwalk.

More boardwalk descent.

After a short while, the trail dropped into a wet gully. The boardwalk disappeared and everything was a wet muddy mess.

Sometimes there were wet slabs of rock to walk and scramble down.

Eventually, after 2 hours of descending, I made it to the bottom. I enjoyed a brief walk thru a flat forest.

It was after 12pm, so I stopped for lunch as soon as I was a suitable spot. This was a campsite at Little Deadmans Bay.

I always enjoy watching the waves crash on the rocks.

I had passed 2 other groups on the downhill section, and I was hoping to see them again. But after 30 minutes, it was time to move on. After crossing a very short rocky beach, I was back in the meadows.

My favorite parts of the day were the beach walks. First on Turua Beach:

It even had a short rocky section, which was fun to taunt the ocean from.

There was a short section of forested hiking, and then back on the beach! Prion Beach was longer, and I strolled down it for an hour.

These massive seaweed clumps were washed up everywhere.

It’s a long beach.

Eventually I left the beach by scrambling thru the sand dunes, and I stood on the shore of a lagoon behind the beach. I saw where the trail resumed on the other side of the lagoon.

It was time to paddle!

Like the Bibbulmun Track, they provide boats for hikers to get across the ocean inlets. Unlike the Bibbulmun, these weren’t lightweight canoes. These were solid aluminum heavy rowboats that were nearly impossible to push into the water. With 2 people, I’m sure it’s much easier, but I couldn’t sit there for a day and wait for someone to show up. Eventually I devised a system to drag the boat down to the water. I took all the paddles out of the storage box, and removed the oar part so it’s just the round handles. I put all 8 oars underneath as rollers, and pushed the boat into the water. The actual rowing across was easy, and only took 5 minutes.

I had to leave a boat on each side, so I towed the 2nd boat back to my starting shore, tied it up, and paddled back a final time to my ending shore. I made sure to only barely pull the boats out of the water, so other people don’t have the same struggle. Definitely the crux of the hike. All those shenanigans took 45 minutes, and it felt nice to be hiking again.

The trail felt rather brushy and unmaintained for the next 30 minutes, so I was quite surprised to see a new metal bridge.

After crossing the bridge, the PUDs ended and the trail became nicer. I could see ahead to Osmiridium Bay.

Which means I was almost at camp!

I turned down the 300m side trail to Osmiridium Campsite, and it felt good to sit after a long day.

Eventually I convinced my legs to stand up, and walk down to the beach. It was an easy 5 minute walk, and I’m glad I got to experience this neat little beach.

There was nobody at the campsite or the beach, I had it all to myself. I like the remoteness of this trail, it’s so much quieter than the Overland Track. I think I’ve seen 7 people so far in 3 days. Tomorrow is the last day, and it will be interesting to see what else the South Coast has to show.

Wednesday November 30, 18.5km/11.5mi

Freney Lagoon Campsite (11.7/6m) to Louisa River Campsite (30.2/41m) (TAS)

It rained overnight, but had stopped by the time I started packing up at 6:30am. Thanks to my nice camping spot in the trees, my tent was barely wet. I stepped out onto the foggy morning beach.

Within 20 minutes, I came to Point Eric, a treed peninsula on the beach where most of the other people had camped last night. There was even a trail register to sign!

When I stepped back on the beach on the other side of the peninsula, I had to time my steps more carefully. Even though it was low tide, the beach was much smaller here, and I carefully avoided the waves.

I was on the beach for probably an hour, and even though it didn’t rain, the clouds looks tempted to drop some water.

I left the beach using a brand new set of stairs, and briefly returned to the forest.

Every time the trail enters /exits the beach, there is a post with a trail marker, but also a huge buoy that is much more visible.

As I walked the last section of beach for today, the sun was trying to break out of the clouds. It was neat hiking in the only ray of sunshine in the area.

When I left the beach the final time today, there was a pile of trash people had made from stuff that has washed up from the ocean. Most of it was plastic bottles, which are a completely unnecessary form of trash. Gross.

The walk thru the grasslands was a mix of muddy trail and boardwalks.

The rays of sunshine are still following me, ha!

There was a small 200m climb to a hilltop, and I had a neat view behind me.

Ahead of me looked cloudy, and I was hoping that mountain would be cloud-free by the time I got there this afternoon, since the trail goes over it.

There were dozens of these caterpillars on the trail all morning.

I started to descend, and it started to sprinkle a little bit, but I was too distracted by the views to care.

Still going downhill…

I stopped at a creek to refill my water bottle, and I noticed how yellow the water was. It looked like a weak tea! I think it’s all the tannins from the leaves and grass, and it tasted fine.

It’s still better than the water down low, which is potentially salty from the ocean tides. I had to cross 3 unbridged streams today, all of which had ropes for a handline.

The water in the first two was mid-shin deep, so they were pretty easy. I walked for another couple hours on easy undulating trail, keeping an eye on that mountain in the clouds.

It looked like the clouds were starting to lift…

The last unbridged stream crossing of the Louisa River was almost knee deep, which made keeping my pants dry a little more challenging. I caught up to another group, Sean, John, & Murray, whom had rode in the plane with me yesterday. They setup camp at the Louisa River Campsite, and I paused to assess my options. It was only 2pm, so usually I would keep walking, but Ironbound Mountain (900m elevation) requires clear weather to hike over. I turned on my inReach and downloaded an updated forecast…low clouds and 50% rain. It felt so strange to setup camp at 2:30pm but that’s what I did! Tomorrow should be dry and clear weather.

Tuesday November 29, 11.7km/7.3mi

Melaleuca Airstrip (0.0/6m) to Freney Lagoon Campsite (11.7/6m) (TAS)

I left the hostel at 7:30am, and took a taxi to the small airport in Cambridge 20 minutes away. The airport has the usual General Aviation companies and flight schools, and Par Avion, who provide transport to the start of the South Coast Track.

I talked to the woman at the front desk, and she said they had a spot available today, or Friday. I chose today, as the good weather window is Wednesday thru Saturday. She seemed surprised that I could be ready so quickly, as most people book these plans months in advance. After promising I would definitely be ready by 1:30pm, I walked down the road to the grocery store to get some final supplies. This is the plane I’ll be riding in, it fits 6 people total.

I bought some food at Woolworths, a map at a camping store, and had lunch at KFC. I was back at Par Avion at noon, and sat in their waiting room for 2 hours, talking with the other passengers as they slowly arrived. After some safety briefings and backpack weighing (mine’s 12kg), we boarded the plane at 2:30pm.

It was a cozy ride, with 6 of us and huge backpacks.

It was a 45 minute ride to Melaleuca, a small airstrip on the south coast. It was fun to see Hobart as we flew over.

The plane stayed low in elevation, to remain under the cloud ceiling. I think they did this to follow VFR rules. Further along, we flew over some mountains and it was like looking at a live map.

We landed at 3:30pm, and I got to check out the controls as I was leaving the plane.

Everyone removed their backpacks, the pilots gave us fuel from the local storage cabinet (it’s not allowed to fly), and off I went!

The first task was to sign the trail register and fill water bottles, which took a few minutes with the queue of people.

Another group and I exchanged photography services at the starting sign. Time to hike!

The trail immediately crossed the runway, a short strip of gravel. In the distance is our plane departing.

Within 5 minutes, it was time for the waterproof socks. It’s wet here.

After a kilometer, I came to an old shed. An old miner named Deny King used to mine tin here, and he built an engine shed to service his equipment. He also built the airstrip we just landed on, making this hike possible.

I walked thru coastal plains for about 2 hours, mostly on boardwalks. It was enjoyable and went by quickly.

The scattered clouds were making some interesting dark/light patterns on the surrounding mountains.

As the trail wrapped around a mountain, I could see the ocean coming into view. Freney Lagoon is on the left.

The walk along the ocean was nice, and it was low tide.

I had plenty of flat, wide beach to walk on.

After a kilometer on the beach, I had to cross a stream, where the lagoon emptied into the ocean.

It was just over ankle depth.

It was 6:30pm, so I decided to setup camp at one of the many little spots tucked into the trees off the beach.

There was even a little stone bench seat to watch the ocean.

As I was making dinner, a group of women walked by, aiming to camp a little further on.

They seemed surprised that there were more campsites than their map showed, haha. I had an easy hiking day, but I’ve heard the next 3 days will be harder, with more mud and a big 900m climb. It’s hard to believe I was in Hobart this morning without definite plans, and now I’m on the South Coast Track!

Monday November 28, 0km/0mi

Cynthia Bay Campground to Hobart City (TAS)

I didn’t do much today, it was a lazy morning, and I showered and checked-out at 11am from the bunkhouse. I spent the next 3 hours in the cafe, enjoying pizza and a couple Pale Ales, and hanging out with the same group from last night. They are a fun bunch! I boarded my shuttle bus just after 2pm, and napped for most of the ride. I arrived to my hostel, Narrara Backpackers, just after 5pm.

I took some time to take inventory of my gear and food, and made a shopping list. I like to combine everything into one trip, it’s too far (1.5km) to keep walking back and forth. I went downtown to a seafood restaurant, and saw some interesting buildings along the way.

The waterfront area, of course, had the best seafood restaurants.

I devoured an amazing seafood platter, with some good fish and calamari…but the scallops were the best I’ve ever had. Fish Frenzy was a great little seafood place! I strolled over to Woolworths (grocery store) and saw the city’s Christmas decorations along the main street.

By the time I finished my shopping, it was 8pm and threatening to rain soon. So instead of walking back, I tried a new e-scooter service called Beam. I downloaded the app, and rented a scooter, dropping it off directly in front of my hostel. I arrived in half the time, and it was only $5…seems decent. Tomorrow I am planning on trying to book a flight to the start of the South Coast Track, as the weather for that part of the island looks great for 4 out of the next 5 days …which is rare. Fingers crossed!

Sunday November 27, 15.8km/9.8mi

Narcissus Hut (60.2/748m) to Cynthia Bay/ Southern Terminus (76.0/748m) (TAS)

After another night of bad sleep, I crawled out of my sleeping bag at 7:30 and wandered down to the lake to look for platypuses (platypii ?). I didn’t see any, just some undecided weather.

I went back to the hut and packed up, it was only a 16km walk to the finish so I wasn’t in a hurry. I finally left at 8:30 and enjoyed a nice quiet morning in the forest.

The clouds were getting lower and threatening to rain, but it stayed dry for now.

The trail followed along the west shore of the lake, but usually away from the shore, though a couple times it did emerge from the forest for a view.

After a couple of hours on a muddy, rooty trail I arrived to the final hut, Echo Point Hut.

It isn’t nearly in the same class as the previous huts, I would describe it as an emergency shelter only. It had 4 bunks, was dark and dirty, and I was greeted by a rat while sitting there.

It has a jetty on the lake, since the ferry occasionally does pick-ups here if requested.

Mt. Ida is looking very pointy across the lake.

I packed up and left the hut, and hiked the final 10km thru dense green forest to the finish.

One section of the trail was blanketed in ferns, which was a fun surprise to see.

Near the finish, I started seeing more trail junctions and signage. Platypus Bay!

This was an excellent specimen of clubmoss, a very ancient species of plant.

I crossed a river on a large bridge, right at the confluence of two streams. Neat!

The Overland Track finished at the visitor center, a large building with a cafe, bar, gift shop, and bathrooms.

I asked some passing dayhikers for a photo, and they told me to pose like the statue.

Part of the finish monument is a plaque with a bunch of random statistics about the track.

I signed the final trail register, marking my hike complete!

On my way to the cafe, I noticed this sign, and it was impossible not to oblige.

A Peppermint chocolate chip cone tastes better after 76km of hiking!

I made it a few more steps to the bathrooms when I noticed they had showers too. Free showers!

I knew my bunkhouse tonight had paid showers, so I decided to get a shower now instead. A hot shower never felt so good. After a week in cold wind, snow, and feeling flu-ish…it was amazing. After getting clean, I finally made it into the cafe.

I ordered a chicken burger and chips, and had one of the best pale ales I’ve ever tasted. Trapper & Miggins is a Tasmanian local beer.

While I was waiting for my food, I noticed a plaque on the wall, showing the annual speed records for the Overland Track. 7.5 hours for males, 8.5 hours for females… that’s crazy fast.

It takes most people a week to hike the 76km/47mi. I finished my food and walked 5 minutes over to the bunkhouse, which was a clean & simple setup.

I turned on the heat pump, as it’s forecasted to be 2C tonight, and spread out my stuff to dry. A little while later, a group I had met a couple days ago at Kia Ora Hut had arrived. They were fun to talk with, and I spent the evening in the bunkhouse dining room hanging out and attempting to learn their complicated Italian card game, haha.

Tomorrow I have a lazy morning, and will catch a bus at 2pm to Hobart, where I will regroup and plan the final 3 weeks of my Australia trip.

Saturday November 26, 27.8km/17.3mi

Bert Nichols Hut (50.4/891m) to Narcissus Hut (60.2/748m) (TAS) + 18.0 Acropolis

I woke up to find this view from the hut, which is encouraging.

The weather wasn’t great the last 2 days, with low clouds, fog, and occasional rain. Today’s weather seemed nice enough for a side hike to Pine Valley and Acropolis Mt! The first 5km was on the Overland Track, and it was enjoyable walking.

These bright red flowers have started to make an appearance everywhere.

The trail follows the Narcissus River here, and the whole valley is pretty wet and green.

Just over an hour after leaving the hut, I arrived to the trail junction for Pine Valley. The weather was still looking great, so I turned up that trail.

Right away, I crossed the Narcissus River on a long swingbridge.

The lower part of this valley was more open with meadows, and I could see a bunch of mountains ahead to the north.

After awhile, I was back in the forest, with all these nice boardwalks to keep me out of the swamps.

The Pine Valley trail followed Cephissus Creek upstream for 5km, crossing it a couple of times on swingbridges.

I immediately noticed when I was in Pine Valley, as all the trees were various species of dense short pines.

The Pine Valley hut was a simple, but nice hut. I think it fits 16 people, though there was only one person there when I arrived.

I’m not sure what a coal-powered toilet is, and I didn’t want to find out.

I noticed that some of these signs up here had not been updated in over 50 years, this one still had the elevation in feet!

I had a nice snack break in the hut, and since the weather was still great, I decided to hike Acropolis Mt. I mostly emptied my backpack, keeping only food, water, and some warm clothing. I hiked a little further up Pine Valley before climbing out of it up a steep hillside. At the top of the hill was a nice ridge with a very long boardwalk, and excellent reviews of my objective ahead.

Once I climbed up to 1300m, little patches of snow started to appear on the trail.

Looking behind me to the south, I could see Lake St Clair, where I will be finishing tomorrow.

Most of the trail was easy scrambling over small boulders through here, and I kept wondering how I was going to get through the upper cliff band. The trail had an answer. It was one spot with a gap in the cliff band, but it still had one very steep move.

After pulling myself up on top of that block, the rest of the way to the top was easy. View to the south:

View to the North:

South again, from the summit:

The requisite summit selfie:

The view to the west, looking down at “The Labyrinth”, a maze of lakes and ponds. It was the other hiking option from the Pine Valley Hut.

View to the Southwest, I think that is Mt Gould, the Minotaur, and the Parthenon.

I stayed on the summit for half an hour, catching up on my phone messages and making plans for the next hike. I climbed and hiked back down to the hut, which was quite a bit faster.

After accidentally finishing my jar of Nutella, I decided I had eaten enough and it was time to continue hiking. It was uneventful, and I was back on the Overland track in just over an hour.

I could tell I was getting closer to Narcissus hut, as the boardwalks became more numerous.

I crossed the Narcissus River one final time, using the only swingbridge on the entire Overland track. (The others today were on the Pine Valley trail).

It was fun to follow the Narcissus River for a few minutes before arriving at the hut.

Narcissus Hut is at the top end of Lake St Clair, which is known for platypus sightings.

The hut itself was small, it fit only 12 people, and there were definitely at least 12 people there. I don’t like feeling claustrophobic so I took a walk down to the jetty to see the lake, and hopefully a platypus.

Many hikers (most?) pay $50 to take the ferry from here to the finish, skipping 16km/10mi of trail. Not me, I wanna walk the whole trail. I kept looking for platypus, or any signs of disturbance in the water, but it was difficult with the raindrops.

I walked the 300m back to the hut, and lounged on the front porch, which had a nice view of the Narcissus river.

I chatted with some of the other people, only one of which was an Overland track hiker. Most of them were a big family group enjoying a weekend out, and 2 them were ultrarunners… who were planning on leaving tomorrow at 5am to run to Jerusalem National Park. I think that’s like a 70km round trip!
I finished my dinner, and then stood on the riverbank looking for a platypus. After awhile it started to rain, so I went inside and went to bed. Tomorrow is the finish!

Friday November 25, 22.9km/14.2mi

New Pelion Hut (32.7/863m) to Bert Nichols Hut (50.4/891m) (TAS) + 3.6 Mt Ossa + 1.6 Hartnett Falls

The day started off with a surprise as I wandered into the dining room for breakfast…a real polaroid camera!

The owner is a guy from Wellington (NZ) who is using it for his hike, he said he wanted instant photos, ha! I packed up and left the hut just before 8am, and started up the long gradual 4km climb up to Pelion Gap. It was mostly thru forest and moss.

The trail was really well built thru this section, with really wide bridges over every small creek.

It must be a really wet place year-round, everything was so covered in moss.

At Pelion Gap, there is a trail junction to Mt Ossa, the highest point in Tasmania. This was a swampy area, so they built a massive boardwalk at the trail junction so groups could take a break.

Mt. Ossa is 1617m tall, and a 2.6km side trip, so it would add 5.2km to my day.

Even the side trail up Mt. Ossa was very well built.

It climbed pretty steeply up to the first bump on the ridge, Mt Doris, on hundreds of newly-built stairs.

At the top of the stairs I looked behind me and saw Mt. Pelion East (el. 1408m), another summit across Pelion Gap.

Looking ahead, I saw my intended summit hiding in a cloud (and Mt Doris to the right).

As I circumnavigated Mt Doris, I hiked through an area called the Japanese garden.

With less than one kilometer to go, I could now see the top of my intended summit, buried in a cloud and looking very windy.

Mt. Doris behind me:

I climbed about halfway up the remainder of the climb, and the leftover snow was getting deeper. It took me 15 minutes to travel 100m, while post-holing up to my knees…no thanks.

At that rate it would have taken me almost 2 more hours to get to the top, and I didn’t have 2 hours of good weather remaining, so I turned around. On the hike out, I got one final look at the summit that I will be back for.

Once I got back down to the trail junction, it started to rain. Sideways. I was glad to be hiking on these nice boardwalks, and not up on an exposed summit.

The next hut was only 4km away, and I made good time with good boardwalks underfoot and the wind at my back.

Kia Ora hut came into view, it’s another very modern hut that seemed like it was built only weeks ago.

Another cute welcome sign, this time with an Eastern Quoll.

As I said in the hut eating my lunch and reading the trail journal, this page caught my eye as it was especially applicable today. So many types of rain!

The view of Mt Massif from Kia Ora hut.

The rain had stopped for now, so I continued my hike. Most of the trail was in the forest this afternoon with a bunch of wet slippery tree roots.

Half an hour later, I came to a really old hut that clearly had not been used as reasonable shelter in decades.

The inside of Ducane Hut looked ancient, like a scene from a 1920s mining camp.

I had a nice snack break inside there, as the rain decided to come back for 15 minutes. These clouds are so indecisive up here in Tasmanian highcountry. I left the hut and in an hour I was tempted by a trail junction to Hartnett Falls.

I left my backpack on the bench at the junction, and jogged the 800m to the waterfalls. I was hoping the falls were raging after all the recent rain and snowfall, and I wasn’t disappointed.

It was so loud it hurt my ear, and I walked downstream a little bit to another viewpoint.

I couldn’t see as well thru the bushes, but I could tell the river was much higher than normal, the tree branches were in the water on the banks. Yikes. This spot is also a jumpoff point to Walls of Jerusalem National Park, but that route requires fording this river, which would currently be fatal. (I’ll visit in a car from another entrance). I jogged back up to my backpack and continued back on the Overland Track. The climb up to DuCane Gap was nice, into the afternoon sun and on boardwalks.

An hour after the Gap I arrived at Bert Nichols hut, named for an old hunter/trapper/guide in this area.

His welcome sign wasn’t as enlightening as the others.

The inside was huge, though not as fancy and polished as the previous huts. I think this one was built in 2000.

There were probably 20 other people there, and it looked like they had been there for many hours. It’s funny here on the Overland, when people arrive to a hut at noon, they just call it a day, instead of hiking to the next one like on most other trails. I shared a table with a nice couple from Melbourne, and they gave me some more Tassie hiking ideas, in case my plans for Western Arthurs doesn’t work out. I was in bed by 9pm, still feeling mildly flu-ish and coughing tons, which was annoying.

Thursday November 24, 22.2km/13.8mi

Waterfall Hut (10.5/1025m) to New Pelion Hut (32.7/863m) (TAS)

I didn’t sleep well last night, and had a mild fever and all the usual flu things, so I slept in until 8am. It was also still drizzling outside and it wasn’t forecasted to stop until 9am, so I was in no hurry.

I took some more photos of the hut’s interior, to show how insanely nice these things are.

As good as the best self-service huts in New Zealand! After some ibuprofen, decongestant, and caffeine I was feeling better. And the precipitation stopped at 9:30, so off I went!

The signs here give the distances in hours/minutes, which is a rather imprecise way to do it. I find I can usually hike in 2/3rds of the stated time. Much of the morning hiking was on boardwalks…but occasionally those just randomly ended. Thank goodness for waterproof socks!

The trail stayed high all morning, going across the alpine plateau. I think the park calls it moorland.

I would guess that 70% of the trail was on boardwalk this morning, it was rather nice. And the blue sky was also trying to make an appearance.

I came upon Lake Holmes, which to me looked more like a large pond.

Looking back on Lake Holmes:

Also in the distance in that photo is a large group, stopped at the trail junction to Lake Will, an easy 1km side trail. I didn’t make the journey because I figured there wouldn’t be any views with the fog. In another 30 minutes I was at a much bigger lake, Lake Windermere.

Along the lakeshore were growing all these gum trees. The stripey patterns on the bark are crazy.

Even with my late departure from the hut this morning, I still arrived at the next hut for lunchtime. These new huts are massive!

Each hut has its own animal to welcome you. Windermere hut!

The dining area looked like it belonged in an upscale cafe! I enjoyed my lunch burrito while staring at the surrounding mountains.

Even the bathrooms look extravagant. They are still wilderness composting toilets, but with much polish and shine.

Most of my afternoon hiking was on a trail that gradually descended into the Forth River valley, with views of Mt. Oakleigh ahead.

And of course it was nice to have boardwalks for all the swampy bits.

I came across a new feature of the boardwalks that I hadn’t seen before, the name of the area carved into the board.

More views of mountains in clouds.

The junction to the neat little lookout over Forth Valley.

The lookout was a short 50m down a side trail and totally worth it.

It even had a stone bench seat!

Soon the trail left the grassy moorlands and entered a nice mossy forest.

Soon after, I saw this uniquely Australian animal. What are you?

As I got lower in elevation, there were constant little stream crossings and waterfalls.

I loved walking thru this green carpeted forest.

I don’t know the names of these two peaks, but they had very unique profiles.

The final stream crossing was over the Forth River itself.

Then it was time to climb up out of the valley, which surprisingly was on a boardwalk (it had been a muddy rooty mess for the past 2 hours).

Just before 6pm, New Pelion Hut came into view.

It was a huge hut with 6 bunkrooms holding 34 hikers total. I opened the door…

And needless to say, the funk of 30+ hikers’ wet gear was the first thing I noticed. And most of their socks and shoes were outside on the porch!

I chose one of the remaining bunks and setup, and then enjoyed my salmon and pesto ravioli dinner on the porch. The view can’t be beat!

I eventually finished my dinner (still don’t feel well, and not that hungry), and ended up talking to two women from Adelaide for a long time about American backpacking gear. Apparently we take for granted how lightweight and cheap our gear is, and so widely available too. Who knew!