Bushwalk Australia

Has anyone crossed the Gordon, within the gorge area.
I'm interested in an o/night trip from Clear Hill Rd and crossing the Gordon from the Clear Hill plains to get quickish access to The Stepped Hills.
Has anyone crossed the Gordon in the gorge proper?
Any info or pics from this area much appreciated.....

Peter said.... Yes he has walked across the plains, camped by the river,looked at it... decided to come home. Is that any help?? It was a long time ago but the gorge wouldn't have changed. Went up Stepped Hill from near Mt. Wright

I told Dan a similar story about the Gordon Bend. It was wider and deeper than where the newer Richea creek track crosses.

I can only imagine the gorge is only passable by some sort of flotation device. ??

I found the depth of the water in the Gordon Bend wasn't a problem, mind you the Flying Fox wasn't too easy to operate. That was a long time ago as well.

The flying fox was a rusted heap of metal at the side of the river when I was there. And many trees were growing from the black water. It was half in flood and looked VERY uninviting. My depth gage (a long stick) indicated it was well over 4-5 feet deep.

SueOfTheSouth wrote:Peter said.... Yes he has walked across the plains, camped by the river,looked at it... decided to come home. Is that any help??

Thanks Sue (and Peter), will probably do the same - the gorge does look like a pretty cool place to explore even if the river can't be crossed there - does Peter have any pics?

Here's a picture looking upstream (away from the Gorge) from near where the Huntley Rivulet enters the Gordon. I thought at the time that it wouldn't be too bad getting across. Some of the bits are deeper than they look and this is when the level is down. There is still a flying fox wire cross the river just downstream (may have some pictures at home) but I wouldn't be keen on using it. Didn't go very far downstream.

OK, still haven't got to the gorge yet, but was reasonably close on a trip to The Stepped Hills, which did whet the appetite for a future trip from the Southern side, this is the best 2 pic I could get on my happy snapper, does anyone have any decent pics?

I'm surprised that noone has found a picture of the gorge yet. Here's a telephoto picture taken from near the summit of Clear Hill. Not exactly a masterpiece but you can see into the gorge.

Very cool, thanks MJD, that's me sold! I'll be heading in for a night sometime this season, in my pic there is a very nice looking lead up The Thumbs and there's bound to be some descent camping on the plains.
Finding a way into the gorge may be a little more interesting....

Wow, that's awesome! If you want any company when you go, Dan...

I wonder if you could packraft down? Enter from the old aerial crossing and pop out in Boyes Basin. What is the drop through here in metres. Are there any significant rapids that could be hairy? Could be a mini version of the Franklin River. Has anyone done this before?
Cheers
Andrew

Dont forget a very respectable walker died there in the 70's Andrew...... or was it the 80's??

Hard to tell if it's possible Andrew, know-one from BWT seems to have gone in too close! It looks pretty steep and scrubby from MJD's pic - I'd be happy to take a walk along the edges and if I found a gully to get down to the river it would be a bonus!.

It's a bit of a surprise more people haven't checked it out or indeed tried rafting through, there must be a reason!!!

Perhaps some time in mid-January I'll find a couple of days to check it out, will let you know Rachel.

An acquaintance of mine has kayaked through there, I'll try to find out something about it.
ff

ILUVSWTAS wrote:Dont forget a very respectable walker died there in the 70's Andrew...... or was it the 80's??

Didn't this occur in the Splits?

Have walked into the gorge couple times years ago. Access is (was) from an indistinct dozer track on the right at the top of the hill past the Adam Falls bridge. This took us quite close to the gorge. Fire has burnt up to the Gordon from the south side. North side still fully forested. Rock in the gorge is orange. Looks stunning in early/late light. Logs jammed into crevices from past floods way up into sides of gorge. Suggest a lilo or similar to cross. Alternatively, inflatable up into the gorge from Boyes Basin at end of Clear Hill Rd. Amazing bit of country-worth the effort! Some big Huon pines left in there. Have 35mm trannies, but too slack to scan them LOL.

Andrew - in your signature: Mt Weld (almost) - what happened???

Buddy wrote:Have walked into the gorge couple times years ago. Access is (was) from an indistinct dozer track on the right at the top of the hill past the Adam Falls bridge. This took us quite close to the gorge. Fire has burnt up to the Gordon from the south side. North side still fully forested. Rock in the gorge is orange. Looks stunning in early/late light. Logs jammed into crevices from past floods way up into sides of gorge. Suggest a lilo or similar to cross. Alternatively, inflatable up into the gorge from Boyes Basin at end of Clear Hill Rd. Amazing bit of country-worth the effort! Some big Huon pines left in there. Have 35mm trannies, but too slack to scan them LOL.

Thanks heaps Buddy, some good info(at last), but how can a man that's walked into the gorge be too slack to scan a couple of slides!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!

stu wrote:Andrew - in your signature: Mt Weld (almost) - what happened???

Andrew was on the same trip as Shaz and chose to stay in his tent rather than climb to the summit in clag. The 4 pts aren't important if you don't count Stu

I was going to add 'don't tell the hydro about it!' Looks as if it may have been a prime site. With dozer tracks someone must have had a look Buddy!

Gerry

No. The dozer track was put in to circumvent a bushfire started by a fisherman some years ago. Had they not done it, it would have got into Adamsfield and then the Gordon forests.

A friend has canoed the gorge a couple of times and he says there are plenty of places to cross but would involve a bit of a swim, or a lilo or pacraft. No pics yet unfortunately.
ff

People have Paddled the Gorge, the following link is a river guide from Paddle Tas.
http://www.paddletasmania.canoe.org.au/ ... Page=15800
Am hoping to head down the Gorge myself in a couple of weeks, as long as there is no rain between now and then.

Thanks shermy, hadnt thought to look online for river notes Beats the little handbook that was around,good link.

Nuts wrote:Thanks shermy, hadnt thought to look online for river notes Beats the little handbook that was around,good link.

Double that, thanks shermy will bookmark that link - still haven't made this trip, might have to wait until next season.....

I just bookmarked it too!

Excellent link.
Cheers
Andrew

Looks like an interesting venture! Possibly cold if timed wrong! See below link... Would be interested to hear the trip report.

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&sour ... 9&t=h&z=15

Finally got to the southern side the other day, descent off Clear Hill to the plains give spectacular views of the gorge.
Some pics.

Here's a couple of different ones...