We'd already delayed the trip by a day due to soggy and windy forecasts, and after some deliberation at Condominium Creek (not being able to see Eliza or Anne, and seeing a number of very soggy walkers at the car-park), decided to skip the circuit and go to Lonely Tarns via Red-Tape Creek. Two of us had been up Anne before and camped on Eliza Plateau in "disagreable" weather. We didn't really want to attempt a summit climb of Anne and traverse the infamous Notch and Lightning Ridge in the mist and rain.
Started walking about midday and stopped for lunch at the Anne River bridge. The track wasn't too unexpectedly muddy (until I fell up to my waist just before the Anne River junction anyway). The climb up Mt Sarah Jane was thirsty work - we'd heard that the scrub going up was hard to get through, the route proved to be scrubby but still easy to follow, however somewhat long (2-3 hrs) and steep. As we crossed over the ridge of Sarah Jane (about 6PM), the wind and mist had picked up, and it was really hard walking along the plateau with strong gusts blowing us almost off our feet. At this stage we were pretty glad we were not camping up on Eliza Plateau / Shelf Camp as previously planned. The climb up Sarah Jane had taken most of our energy reserves, so the amble down to lonely tarns was pretty slow going. Made camp around 8:30PM in a somewhat lumpy site, but shelterd from the strong gusts coming off Lightning Ridge.
The next morning started off clear and sunny. We'd decided that as the previous day had exhausted us, we'd walk back as far as Lake Judd (giving us an easier walk out on day 3).
We could see awesome views of Mt Anne, Lot, Lots Wife and Lightning Ridge - an area previously only imagined from spending hours looking at crowded contour lines on maps.
We re-traced our steps from the previous day up to the Sarah Jane plateau, stopping for lunch by an idealic track-side tarn on the eastern ridge. From the ridge-line we could see awesome views of Lake Judd, Schnells Ridge, and the Arthur Ranges behind (Mt Eliza still remained mostly misted up however). It appeared to be a long way down to Lake Judd and our destination that evening. The climb back down to the Anne River lived up to its reputation as a knee-jarring seemingly endless descent (we were hoping it would be easier than the previous day but were a little dissapointed). A 30 min scramble through mud and over logs brought us to Lake Judd, and our campsite for the evening at the headwaters of the Anne River at Lake Judd. Quite a nice campsite really - we could hear strong winds coming down the lake and through the trees, however the campsite remained very well sheltered.
Day three involved traversing the buttongrass bog once again (this time not falling in quite as far) and returning to our car at Red Tape Creek.
Was great to spend a few days out bush - even though we didn't achieve the planned circuit traverse - suppose that gives a good reason to return again another day.
- Red Tape Creek Track
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- A dip in the mud (complete with 4 leech bites)
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- Dinner?
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- Sarah Jane Plateau
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- Lightning Ridge
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