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Mt Patrick
Mon 05 Jul, 2010 5:25 pm
Inspired by sbs's notes on Quoin I thought I would tell you about my jaunt on Mt Patrick yesterday. It was the last on my list of obscure peaks in the Mt Wellington park area. I scouted out the start a month back when I walked up Mt Charles.
First drive up Jeffries Track (Lachlan end) as far as you dare in a 2wd, which leaves about 45 minutes of unpleasant walking on a chewed up muddy 4wd track until you get to the western end of the east/west fire trail. Walk east up this for about 40 mins and you will find a cairn on the southern side of the trail, if you get to Mt Charles you have gone too far. I won't give more precise info because this is sort of off track. From the cairn there is a pad with pink track tape that winds through a variety of scrub including tea tree cutting grass, bauera and also some open rocky terrain. The closer you get to the peak the poorer the definition of the route. As I was heading out to the peak I could see it was going to be difficult following the pad back primarily because of how it is marked and the profusion of animal trails heading in all directions.
Anyone who looked at Mt Wellington yesterday will know it was not clear up there, indeed by the time I got to the summit 45 minutes later it was quite foggy. From the summit rockpile there were no views but I suspect on a clear day they would be pretty good.
The main point of interest for me was a ruin consisting of 3 stone walls and what appeared to be a stone fireplace inset into one wall. This is found on the small plateau just below the summit ridge. If anyone knows more about the history of this structure I would be interested.
On the return the inevitable happened and the pad was misplaced. I spent the next hour and a quarter bashing my way through the afore mentioned scrub using the GPS on my sort of trusty Nokia and my compass, only to rediscover the pad about 20 metres from the fire trail. Not really a mountain I would rate highly, 2 out of 5 is about all I could score it. It is however one that is worth taking precautions with because of the somewhat tricky route following.
bluewombat
First drive up Jeffries Track (Lachlan end) as far as you dare in a 2wd, which leaves about 45 minutes of unpleasant walking on a chewed up muddy 4wd track until you get to the western end of the east/west fire trail. Walk east up this for about 40 mins and you will find a cairn on the southern side of the trail, if you get to Mt Charles you have gone too far. I won't give more precise info because this is sort of off track. From the cairn there is a pad with pink track tape that winds through a variety of scrub including tea tree cutting grass, bauera and also some open rocky terrain. The closer you get to the peak the poorer the definition of the route. As I was heading out to the peak I could see it was going to be difficult following the pad back primarily because of how it is marked and the profusion of animal trails heading in all directions.
Anyone who looked at Mt Wellington yesterday will know it was not clear up there, indeed by the time I got to the summit 45 minutes later it was quite foggy. From the summit rockpile there were no views but I suspect on a clear day they would be pretty good.
The main point of interest for me was a ruin consisting of 3 stone walls and what appeared to be a stone fireplace inset into one wall. This is found on the small plateau just below the summit ridge. If anyone knows more about the history of this structure I would be interested.
On the return the inevitable happened and the pad was misplaced. I spent the next hour and a quarter bashing my way through the afore mentioned scrub using the GPS on my sort of trusty Nokia and my compass, only to rediscover the pad about 20 metres from the fire trail. Not really a mountain I would rate highly, 2 out of 5 is about all I could score it. It is however one that is worth taking precautions with because of the somewhat tricky route following.
bluewombat
- The not very impressive summit rock pile
- Attachments
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- The rather foggy view from near the summit
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- Interesting ruin on Mt Patrick
Re: Mt Patrick
Mon 05 Jul, 2010 6:20 pm
Nice one bw, I have been warned that Patrick doesn't give himself up easily as you have found out, another 'summit' on the to-do list as a winter walk for me.
Sorry, no idea about the ruins, they look to be in relatively good nick as compared with some you see.....
Sorry, no idea about the ruins, they look to be in relatively good nick as compared with some you see.....
Re: Mt Patrick
Sun 19 Jun, 2011 2:03 pm
How can i find those ruins? and does anyone know if theres any nice campsites on one of the collinsvale peaks or at somewhere like fools tarn? I was thinking of doing a nice relaxed overnighter to claim my last few peaks in the area and do some exploring. Has anyone heard of a waterfall off Ringwood fire trail? I saw a vague refernece to one somewhere...
Re: Mt Patrick
Sun 19 Jun, 2011 2:21 pm
mjdalessa wrote:How can i find those ruins? and does anyone know if theres any nice campsites on one of the collinsvale peaks or at somewhere like fools tarn? I was thinking of doing a nice relaxed overnighter to claim my last few peaks in the area and do some exploring. Has anyone heard of a waterfall off Ringwood fire trail? I saw a vague refernece to one somewhere...
No idea about the waterfall, there is some camping off the Collins Cap fire trail, cut into the scrub on the left if you are coming from Collins Cap towards the E-W fire trail, after the gross looking tarn.
The ruins are easily found to the north side of an open rocky area about 100 metres before the summit. The start of the Patrick track is marked by a small cairn a few hundred metres past the Mt Charles track.
Have fun.
Re: Mt Patrick
Sun 19 Jun, 2011 4:09 pm
Thanks for the reply. It looks to me from the photo you could pitch a tent among the ruins, but not having been there, am I right? Have you visited fools tarn, and if so, how clean is the water? Sorry for being such an annoyance...
Re: Mt Patrick
Sun 19 Jun, 2011 4:39 pm
I suppose you could, a long way to carry your tent though......there is a nice grassy area, before you climb Patrick that would be a lot nicer, still a long way, there's a nice spot off the fire trail near Charles as well.
Haven't been to Fools Tarn so can't comment. There are a heap of fire fighting water supplies along the trail, not really a place I would choose to do an overnighter personally.
Haven't been to Fools Tarn so can't comment. There are a heap of fire fighting water supplies along the trail, not really a place I would choose to do an overnighter personally.
Mt Patrick
Sun 19 Jun, 2011 5:57 pm
Fools Tarn area is bit lumpy and can be wet. There may be camping in the trees beyond, but I wouldn't count on it. Water would be OK to drink.
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