Bushwalk Australia

Monday 10 May 2010

A few days prior to this walk the weather forecast was for rain and winds, but fortunately it was amended to a fine day. It was although quite windy and cold on top. Two others from BWT joined the walk (stepbystep and pazzar) as we headed up the Myrtle Forest track to arrive at the fire trails in sunny conditions. On arrival at the summit of Mt Marian we found it a bit windy and cool so walked aver the summit plateau to a sheltered sit for an early lunch.

SBS and pazzar then started off on the 2k cross country journey to Mt Charles, whilst SueOfTheSouth and I headed back to the fire trail through the bush. This proved to be much slower than using the formed pad and it took us over an hour as against 40 minutes for the ascent. On arrival at the fire trail two pairs of footprints were noticed and we realised that the other two must have made impressive progress getting over to Mt Charles and back.

We will have to wait for SBS or pazzar to let us know how they got on.

And maybe we let SBS explain why that was the case....

Interesting....... Do tell??

pazzar wrote:And maybe we let SBS explain why that was the case....

Thanks for that......

We did indeed make impressive progress across the plateau and up the next ridgeline to the next high point where we managed to convince ourselves we had indeed summited Charles, there was a rather unimpressive peak further west about 500 metres. With no map of any real meaning and a GPS with a severely dodgy operator and only a basemap that did not contain a Mt Charles we figured this highpoint was indeed Charles, there was quite a bit of evidence of human traffic on this non-summit to help convince us. As we scrub bashed back to the fire trail an impression of the map Peter had shown me formed in my mind that Charles was slightly NNW of Patrick, only to be confirmed when we got home. I was a little anxious to get home as I was avoiding some pressing work issues(which I'm still avoiding) so didn't bother venturing further West along the fire trail in search of a pad up the next bump.
I had indeed reconciled loooong before reaching the car we had led ourselves on and would have to settle for the single summit. The ridge did have a nice view though
Just goes to show, you should always take a REAL map.
The proposed circuit is quite achievable though, despite what some might say We arrived back at the carpark at 2.45 and the pace was quite leisurely until 12.30. I could see a trip to Patrick on the same trip quite possible also.
Thanks to Peter, Sue and pazzar for a good day, especially enjoyed the morning tea spot with the sea of Pineapple Grass and the ascending of Mt Marian with great views back to Collins Cap/Bonnet/Trestle and Montagu(it was out of the wind too).

Here's a couple of my pics, cheers, sbs

Hi All,
Sounds like you had a good day. I have been to Marian a few times but don't recall a large patch of pineapple grass like the photos. Is this on the taped/ cairned track to the top? From my memory this is how we followed the pad to the top. It has me intrigued as to why I would not have remembered seeing it.
Cheers
Andrew

abowen wrote:........... I have been to Marian a few times but don't recall a large patch of pineapple grass like the photos. ......... It has me intrigued as to why I would not have remembered seeing it.

Your eyesight isn't blown, perhaps we should have asked eggs to guess where the photo was taken from. The patch of pineapple grass is at the foot of Trestle Mt not far from the fire trail. A fairly unique spot I think. Some 350 metres from the junction of the fire trail and the shortcut one

The only way I would be able to tell is if the Google satellite image goes down to a fine enough resolution.
It can vary quite a lot from place to place.

Thanks Peter,
I am assuming that is away from the short cut fire trail towards Marian. I must keep an eye out for it next time I am in the vicinity. Always interested in finding some new features on the mountain.
On another tangent, I recently followed some of your track notes to Salters Point. Unfortunately, we were very confused at the beginning and found a locked gate not quite where indicated on any of the maps that we had and there is a multitude of roads in this area running around plots of pine forest which aslo had us confused. By instinct we moved to higher ground to see if we could get a bearing on some feature and came across the stone cairn leading onto Moonlight Hill. It was very easy from there. Have you walked the section from the Tunnel Bay lookout down into Tunnel Bay? Is it well marked or cut through? Some of the track gets reasonably tight on the way off down into Salters Bay and I should imagine it would be the same on the other side but steeper.
Cheers
Andrew

Google satellite has cloud or smoke hazing this section, but the following spot might be where you are talking about.
[Note this clip does not have north at the top.]

Yep thats the spot!

abowen wrote:I am assuming that is away from the short cut fire trail towards Marian.

It is in the first dip which usually has a few puddles and the scrub is lower. you need to weave through the more open spots until you come out in the lovely open area of pure pineapple grass

On another tangent, I recently followed some of your track notes to Salters Point. ..... Have you walked the section from the Tunnel Bay lookout down into Tunnel Bay? Is it well marked or cut through?

It is some years since I went through that section. There was a short section that climbed the hill from Tunnel Bay that was a bit indistinct. If it hasn't had much use in recent years it may be even more so. However there is not a great deal of difficulty in following the route.

Haven't been out for a while so took the opportunity to head out locally last week after all the snow. A very still day, so quiet in the snow basically all day from the Myrtle Forest car park up and back. I didn't see another soul so very peaceful indeed, especially surveying the scene from a snowy seat atop Marian. The cairns weren't that visible in the snow so once the green poles ended it was find your own way to the top without falling in too many holes....not too far though. A beautiful spot with nice views so close to Hobart.....I thought for sure there would be hordes taking advantage of the great conditions...thankfully not. Collins Bonnet was shy until it popped out while I walked the Fire trail across it's face. I'll have to go back in summer to seek out the paddock of pineapple grass. So here are a few pics.