Woolleys Tarn tape chase

[silvereye]

Had a beautiful walk up the Snowy Range on the weekend. Original plan to summit Nevada Peak had to be abandoned due to adverse weather conditions just near Snowdrift Tarns (sound familiar to anyone?:), but had a very enjoyable walk through the forest to and from Woolleys Tarn, with a bit of off-track adventuring up on the plateau.
Was with a group which included one of the guys who originally cut this track in the 70's, so it was particularly interesting to get a little history lesson on the area - along with a few hairy tales of life and near-death adventures in the mountains
Just above Woolleys Tarn though, we got waylaid on a bit of a wild goose chase following a line of newish-looking yellow taped trees. It crossed the main inlet river just after leaving the tarn (heading up the hill towards Nevada), and then seemed to follow a fairly hap-hazard route up the opposite (western) river bank in the direction of Wetpants Peak. There was no evidence of any kind of track on the ground - just this yellow tape.
We gave up on it when it hit the scrubbier line of pandanni forest and it became obvious this was NOT the correct track up to Nevada.
As soon as we first crossed the river, the guy who cut the track said he recalled the track crossing the river further upstream. Should've listened to him of course! Sure enough, once we re-crossed the river we picked up the correct track (marked with orange tape) which did indeed take us further upstream before crossing.
Anyone have any ideas where this yellow tape leads or the purpose of it? Climber's route to Wetpants perhaps?
Just curious.
Anyhow, just in case anyone makes the same mistake we did - ignore the yellow tape! Unless you want to see how deep the rabbit hole goes...

For anyone interested, here's a bit of the track just near Woolleys Tarn:

Attachments

[ILUVSWTAS]

Funny old business following tagged routes... In my experience tags aren't always the best way to go. In fact many times I get the feeling i've followed tapes put up by someone who was all but lost and taped a route to be able to either backtrack or just to feel better about themselves. I recent;y followed some new tapes in the St Clair reserve that nearly followed an old track that is slowly overgrowing, The new tapes lead you off the old track in several sections and push through light scrub.
I do find following a trail of brightly coloured bits of plastic through the bush a bit over the top at times. They can be helpful on some routes but often you waste more time looking for the next tag rather than following your own navigation.

Maybe these yellow tags were put up by someone who was trying a new route? Or maybe they were put up by someone who was lost? Maybe they were put up by an independent walker employed by tourism to mark a new tourist track from the Snowy's to Maydena.........

[RicktheHuman]

Interesting, I'm planning to get up there in the coming weeks. Could they maybe the start of a shortcut traverse to Snowy North? Instead of traversing from Nevada summit...
If i find myself with the time, I may investigate these yellow tapes

[eggs]

Curious - pretty sure the red tapes we were following south from Petrarch went astray and petered out in deep tea tree well off track.

[stepbystep]

Uni students had a project up that way a few years ago, it might be a remnant from that work? I didn't see them 4 or 5 years ago and di the loop through Woolleys from the top...

[silvereye]

Interesting ideas all round. Love a good mystery

Interesting, I'm planning to get up there in the coming weeks. Could they maybe the start of a shortcut traverse to Snowy North? Instead of traversing from Nevada summit...
If i find myself with the time, I may investigate these yellow tapes

Be great to hear if you are able to follow this to its conclusion. Not sure about the Snowy North "shortcut" though - the direction these tapes were heading would mean traversing across the steepest face of Wetpants Peak (above the tarn) to get around and back onto the ridge-line. I think if I was plotting a shortcut I would probably look to cross the outlet creek on the eastern shore of the tarn and go up that way. Probably quicker just to follow the existing path up to the plateau anyway!

Uni students had a project up that way a few years ago, it might be a remnant from that work? I didn't see them 4 or 5 years ago and di the loop through Woolleys from the top...

Could quite possibly be that. The tapes looked to be fairly new. However, the first tape on the creekline would be very easy to walk past on the way down the hill - much more visible from below.

[RicktheHuman]

I have been through Woolleys Tarn twice in the last week, found the yellow tapes, but did not follow them. Didn't really have the time after visiting Nevada last week, then Snowy North yesterday.
Another thought on the yellow tags....maybe cave exploration, After viewing Wetpants Peak from Woolleys Tarn it looks like it may be hiding some caves on it's eastern face...?