Mill Creek Fortescue Bay

[abowen]

Does anyone have any track or helpful notes on using Mill Creek to access Mt Fortescue? Please PM any information.
It is described as a loop circuit by Leaman in 'Walk into History in Southern Tasmania', but don't know whether this route is used all that often. It may be too scrubby or rocky for some.
I have seen some ribbons marking the junction when traversing the ridge line back towards Cape Hauy, but have often wondered if it is fully marked all the way back to the Fortescue Bay Camp ground or is it just a rough uneven under foot track as decribed by Leaman which requires a lot of self navigation.
Cheers
Andrew

[stu]

I tried to head back this way to Fortescue Bay from Mt Fortescue a year or so ago.
There is an obvious cairn / marker indicating the start of this branch track nearing the top.
I was able to follow a pad + (pink?) tapes for some distance but these soon petered out in the forest until I couldn't find the next one at all.
aljscott had a similar experience recently.
I didn't have a GPS which would have helped, the pad / tapes may have become more prominent again past where I got to + the forest was very open so would be easy off track walking.

[abowen]

Thanks Stu,
Planning to start this route from the camping ground and see how I go. If it is fairly open then it should be straight forward. I want to stay away from the creek line as much as possible as it appears to be choked up with a scrubby looking plant that is common on the peninsular (can't remember the name of it, and its not all that attractive to walk through).
Cheers
Andrew

[DonQx]

As you probably know, the Mill Creek Track used to be the only track to Cape H & Mt F.

Then it got replaced with the current more scenic & easier to maintain track. Musta've been in the vicinity of 15 years ago.

The current 1:25K map still shows the Mill Creek Track and not the new Cape H track (http://www.thelist.tas.gov.au/listmap/listmapsearch.jsp?layers=17, search for Mill Creek).

David Leaman's book was published 1999 methinks ... Mother Nature has had plenty of time to do things since then ...

I haven't tried the old track for quite a long time, but my guess is that you'll find the first km or so fairly easy and then all of a sudden you're going to be in very vigorous thick scrub way over head height. Roughly where it says "Cape Hauy Track" on the 1:25K. We used some of this scrub to demonstrate to people on training courses what "cover only 500m per hour" scrub looks & feels like.

Let us know how you go.

a.

[abowen]

Leaman's book shows another route which differs from the old Cape Hauy track on List. One of his sketch maps shows a route running directly south from the camping ground up onto the spur. Interesting to know there is another route to cape Hauy, but as you say I suspect by now it would be practically unuseable or not easy to find. I'll be staying away from area and hoping the spur is alot clearer.
Cheers
Andrew

[DonQx]

.. a route running directly south from the camping ground up onto the spur. ...

haven't looked at David's book for a long time, so take this with a grain of salt ...

sounds to me like that may be describing the actual track as opposed to what's marked on the map (or does David's sketch show a route and the track separately?)

from memory ... this is more like what the start of the track looked like on the ground ...

[abowen]

David's sketch only shows a route and it is ditinctively different to the old Cape Hauy track. The notes indicate that you walk to the resorvoir and then - from David's sketch map - head something like SSW up onto the spur - which is close to the 'ES' of 'FORTESCUE' in your map above.
I will need to scan his map to give you a better idea of his approach, but you can see from matching up the contours lines where the route goes. There is also mention of a signal station site which the map indicates as located on a flattish part of the spur - this would make sense rather than building on a sloping site or somwhere that is not easily accessed.
Cheers
Andrew

[Azza]

As Stu said I tried coming down that way from Mt Fortescue a few weeks ago.
It was late in the afternoon about 3:30pm I was trying to take a "shortcut" back to the carpark. The route started off okay with a reasonable amount of tapes and pretty easy to follow, but it petered out and I ended up spending ages searching for the next tape.
I could have probably just gone off track but it was getting late in the day and I really wasn't in the mood for a night scrub bash.
I was sort of getting to the top of the spur but the rate of progress was so slow I had to abort, at that point its fairly open.

Had it been earlier in the day I may have persisted, but its way way quicker to go back the normal track.

Both stu and I have done a fair bit of off track walking over the years. I'm usually pretty good at finding my way, but this one really tested my patience.

Cheers

Aaron

[abowen]

Thanks for the feedback. Was planning to do this walk yesterday, but I bailed on Friday due to the weather forecast. As it turned out, the weather was superb. At some stage later in the year I will tackle this approach and see how I go. May wait until the daylight hours are longer, carry a gps and prepare for a bush bash. Should be interesting. Particularly keen to see if I can pick up the site of the signal station as identified by Leaman. Of interest I also noted that Chapman has this track marked in his Day Walks Tasmania book. There is some mention of the junction in the track notes, but that's about it.
Cheers
Andrew

[Azza]

I'll be interested to hear how you go.

One of his sketch maps shows a route running directly south from the camping ground up onto the spur.

I think this must of been what I was on. Because the old route shown on the list doesn't fit.
It also started from much higher up on Mt Fortescue than I was expecting, but it was definately heading towards the spur.

I could see the water through the trees, so navigation wise shouldn't be too hard. Just don't attempt at 3:30pm in the afternoon
in the middle of winter.

Cheers

Aaron

[DonQx]

Finally got around to having a look ... this is what David's 'Step into History in tas Reserves' 2001 has ...

Leaman Mt Fort Route sketch.jpg (12.26 KiB) Viewed 4639 times

Also on p 256 a brief route description ... mentions a cairned junction.

[DonQx]

Found a copy of David's 'Walk into History in S Tas' 1999

map E Fortescue Detail Leaman WalkintoHist SthTas 7.jpg (36.36 KiB) Viewed 4608 times

[Azza]

That track going to the signal station fits exactly what I was experiencing.

I reckon I got down to the 90 degree bend and started scratching my head as it didn't seem to make any sense.
One minute it was descending along the side of the ridge then it started sidling, then it just disappeared.

Tags were pretty scarces and lots of them were obscured or had even fallen on the ground.

Signal station looks interesting..

[abowen]

Yes, that's the track I was considering. I will most likely tackle it from the camping ground end and do a circuit returning via the Rauol track. It will be interesting to see if the signal station site is obvious or whether it is too overgrown to see anything at all. Will also be interesting to see where the route comes out on the Mt Fortescue side.
Cheers
Andrew

[stepbystep]

Yes, that's the track I was considering. I will most likely tackle it from the camping ground end and do a circuit returning via the Rauol track. It will be interesting to see if the signal station site is obvious or whether it is too overgrown to see anything at all. Will also be interesting to see where the route comes out on the Mt Fortescue side.
Cheers
Andrew

Hey Andrew,
was down there today and had a good look about for the track from Fortesque track side, think I found it but it disappears into scrub very quick(if I found It) - mixture of open forest and thick yukky stuff.
Think you are right to approach from the other end. I was using Chapmans daywalks book as a guide.

Cheers, Dan

[abowen]

Hi dan,
Thanks for the heads up. Did you see any tape at the Mt Fortescue end? Last time I went through I noticed some old pink stuff, but didn't stop to see whether it lead off the hill.
Cheers
Andrew

[stepbystep]

Hi dan,
Thanks for the heads up. Did you see any tape at the Mt Fortescue end? Last time I went through I noticed some old pink stuff....

Hi Andrew,
I found the pink stuff, there was one in particular at about the location I thought the track should come out. This is where I explored into the forest, and as I said a real mix of vegetation with no obvious pad and I could find no other tapes - would definitely consider it off track. I think I marked a wpt on the GPS at this spot.
I also explored some other leads off the track in the approximate area but with no success in finding tapes or a track.

Cheers, Dan

[abowen]

Checked the Fortescue Bay end just recently and there is little evidence of any pads. A significant fire has gone through this area around 2004/05 resulting in a lot of scrubby regrowth coming through. This would explain why the tapes just disappear at the top end near Mt Fortescue.
The current caretakers of the camping ground also indicate that there isn't much at the old signal station site - if you can find it.
For the moment this exploratory walk is off my list. There are too many other nicer places to go where the going isn't so hard (I must be getting soft in my senior years!).
Cheers
Andrew