Lake Rhona

[wobbly]

Hi
I'm heading to Lake Rhona next week and interested to know if all the poo stories are a bit of a beat up or if its genuinely bad and that I should treat or boil water from the lake. Also interested to know if there are any navigational gotcha's to be aware of and if there are reasonable campsites along the way e.g at the Gordon crossing. Any advise appreciated, but will understand (tho surprised) if this is considered one of the areas you don't talk about.

cheers
Peter

[corvus]

If in doubt treat the water

[ILUVSWTAS]

I drank from the lake and had no worries, but it was in august. I'd treat it and get it from the creek nowadays.
Good track all the way through (you going in from Richea creek??) Only takes 5-6 hrs to reach Rhona from the carpark, but there is good camping at Gordonvale is you went in late.

[Azza]

Hi,

The toilet situation is not fantastic.. but it more of a case of just about every spot around the camp site has been used..
I don't think you'll have any problems with the lake water.
The track is pretty easy to follow, there is one bit when you cross a creek just as your getting towards the bottom of the
range where there is an old pad running off to the left into the scrub. Eventually there are tapes and the track runs out.
Its apparently an old lead up onto the range, I have seen an old hand drawn map from decades ago that lists it.

The proper track continues along the button grass. I've had a situation where half my party went up that way and I was
standing down on the button grass calling out and we're having an arguement about who was on the right track

Cheers

Azza

[rohjoe]

Hi Peter.
I drank the water in March this year and had no issues. BTW it's only 5 to 10 minutes walk back along the track and out of the lake catchment if you want to avoid contributing to the problem.
If you're heading up to Great Dome, Reeds Peak (& Bonds Craig) you can make a circuit by returning to Lake Rhona via Crooked Lake.
Cheers,
Rohan

[svEngineer]

I was in Lake Rhona two weeks ago, Natures providence has provided a massive fallen tree more than a meter in diameter that fully spans the Gordon right at the taped crossing to Richea Creek track. Nows the time for those who don't like getting their feet wet', until next winters floods when it may be washed down a bit. We were the first bushwalkers for the season after the lone Parks Ranger who was measuring the track width every 50meters (but adamantly not responsible for marking the track- this is a wilderness area! apparantly) Some thoughtful soul (obviously not Parks) has marked with pink tape, it is possible to loose the track at times normally around the creek crossings where multiple tracks spread out in the tea tree scrub. The heavy winds have fallen a few trees around the crossing and that can be confusing, it cost us about an hour trying to find the track again, would be nice if the track was cleared by chainsaw again. Mosquitos are out in force- don't forget the aerogard. the campsite at lake Rhona was ok, Heading up the track immediately behind the campsites there are noticable small amounts of toilet paper and holes dug. the poo trail. A toilet will be required at some stage, not sure where it would go. Try not to contribute to the problem and go for a 5-10 minute walk out of the catchment. There is a cairned route up the Gulley on the right to Crooked Lake- Reeds Peak etc, which starts about the entrance to Lake Rhona, Clear pad on top following close to the ridgeline.

Have fun

svEngineer..

[frenchy_84]

Bit of a late reply but i thought i would give my input. I was in a party of 6 who went to rhona and the surrounding peaks for 3 days in Dec 08. 3 out of the 6 of us had stomach issues for up to a week after the walk. As all the streams that we gathered water from were flowing quite quickly i can only assume it was from the water we got from the lake.
Cheers

[stepbystep]

As one that get's stomach "issues", I was concerned about this also.
I took my drinking water from the creeks flowing into the lake and boiling water from the lake itself, and had no dramas.
I would also have to say the evidence of "stinkholes" around the lake wasn't as bad as I thought, and did see evidence on the other side of the watershed, so perhaps(hopefully) people are learning.
sbs

[JamesMc]

Does anybody know if the giant tree over the Gordon River is still there?

JamesMc

[stepbystep]

The tree is still there and solid as a rock, we crossed it about a month ago - no way it would have been dislodged since.

[north-north-west]

Thank you, tree.

[stepbystep]

Thank you, tree.

They are helpful things, with all kinds of uses, and pretty too!

BTW it was flowing fast enough for us to have had second thoughts about crossing without said tree on the way in and had dropped considerably 5 days later.

[kazzamac]

Hi everyone!

I'm looking at doing a weekend trip into Rhona if the weather is fine, has anyone done the walk recently who can tell me what sort of condition the track is in?

I have done the trip twice before and expect lots of mud... but always good to know if possible what to expect!

Cheers

[flyfisher]

Watch out with the river level as the weeks forecast is for rain for two or three days.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Watch out with the river level as the weeks forecast is for rain for two or three days.

Good call.
We were in there about a month ago, track is muddy as usual.

[lyndoor]

Post by kazzamac » Sun 09 Jan, 2011 8:19 pm
Hi everyone!

I'm looking at doing a weekend trip into Rhona if the weather is fine, has anyone done the walk recently who can tell me what sort of condition the track is in?

How did you go Kazzamac? Boggy & busy with 'squitos? I'm heading in with a group on the 27th. What were the water levels like, any swimming involved!?

[mjdalessa]

frenchy_84, wheres your photo taken?

[tasadam]

frenchy_84, wheres your photo taken?

Which photo?
Can't see a photo here from him...

[johnw]

frenchy_84, wheres your photo taken?

Which photo?
Can't see a photo here from him...

He might mean the avatar image...

[mjdalessa]

Yea I do

[frenchy_84]

Avatar image is me sitting on the top of the minotour with mt Gould in the background

[tasadam]

Not enough lateral thinking on my part...