Best way from Trapper's hut to Pelion

[matthias]

I'm planning a trip from Lake St Clair to Pine Valley and then to Walls of Jerusalem. Depending on how things go I may not want to end the walk at Trapper's hut, so I thought about walking to Pelion hut from there and then walking out on the OT to Cradle Mtn.
From what I can see on the map I just need to follow Mersey Forest Road, then cross the river and walk Lees Paddock Track. Now the questions I have are:

- Is it feasible to walk this in one day? How long do you reckon it takes?
- Is Lees Paddock Track easy enough to follow? My map isn't very conclusive, it's indicated as a faint track.
- I remember I read a post about some issues with the bridge at Pine Hut Plain. Has this been resolved?
- Do I need to expect trouble by walking the OT in the opposite direction from Pelion to Cradle without an OT pass? As far as I know you only need an OT pass when you walk the whole distance, right?

Thanks

[corvus]

G'day matthias,

The walk from Trappers Hut to the start of the Lees Paddocks track is easy if not a tad boring at the start as you need to descend then walk South up the Mersey Forest Road for about 6km once on the fantastic LP track(bridge is fine) you have nice going to Lees Hut and the start of "the Reedy Lake track" once you locate the start of the track it is comparatively easy to follow the at times indistinct pad to the Ruin of McCoys Hut on the edge of the plain at the northern end of Lake Ayr then onwards to Pelion.
Dont know you fitness level or experience however it would be a Big day walk to Pelion from Trappers and I would suggest camping in the" magical" Paddocks prior to heading to Pelion .

Grab a copy of the 1:100 000 8114 Map this covers your intended route from WOJ to Lees and yes you do not need an Overland pass to do this just your All Parks Pass.
Have a great walk.
corvus

[walkinTas]

If you were planning to walk from Trappers to the Car Park and then up to the Lee's paddock track, this would involve a rather boring 10km road walk. Via Lee's to New Pelion is about 15km (from the road) so very doable. Picking the track up from Lee's paddock up to Lake Ayr is just a touch hard. You need to walk to the northwest corner of the paddock where the bush, sloping bank and paddock all meet. Look for the sign in the northern bush line.

There are other ways to get from WOJ to Lee's paddock that don't involve a road walk, but as far as I know they will all take a lot longer. For example, coming from Dixon-kingdom down past Lake Ball and out to the Meston Track, then up to the Lake Bill track and out. This is about 24km to the start of the Lee's track and very little road to walk. Coming from Dixon-kingdom via the WOJ track down past Trappers and up to Lee's is about 20km with 10km of road.

[matthias]

Thanks for your replies, that's really helpful. I see I have a couple of options. Instead of walking down the Mersey Forest Road, I could maybe walk down Junction Lake Track and out via Lake Bill. Longer, but more pleasant walking. I will come from Dixons kingdom, but since I want to walk in via Lake Ball I'd like to take the other route via Solomon's Jewels out. If it all works out I'll end up at Trappers hut and then simply decide what to do and where to walk.
So it is possible to camp at Lee's hut? That's another good option. Then I'd have a short next day to Pelion and could climb Mt Oakleigh. We'll see.

[corvus]

Camping at Lees Hut is permitted if no one else is in residence you can also use the Hut.
c