Ironstone Mountain

[sthughes]

Well on the 28th of March a group of 4 of us (forumers NickS, Sheldahl and I plus my sister) headed up Mt Ironstone on a fantastic sunny day. We also had the pleasure of Mother and Father 'S' as far as Ironstone Lake.

We got away from the walk start just after 9am and made a steady climb up to Whitley’s Hut, arriving just after 11.30. After a short break and a couple of those "Tasmanian moments" (we ran into an old soccer mate of Nick's and the people in the hut log book only days before us were friends of my sister) we headed on to Lake Ironstone.

The track between Whitley’s & the Lake became a little difficult to follow, but the terrain was pretty easy. We arrived at the lake at about 12.20. After a 20 minute rest we then headed up towards the summit.

Although we could find no track we headed for a small scree field and after crashing our way through some scrub and scorparia that at times appeared to have been used by others as a route, we made the much easier going of the scree field. At the top of this things opened up somewhat and we made fairly good time to the summit, following a (at times infrequently) cairned route. We arrived on the top at about 13.43.

The view from the summit was excellent, albeit a bit hazy, particularly to the east and north. Hopefully Nick will expand but we could at least see as far as Mt Field, Mt Olympus and Cradle Mountain. I'm sure there were more distant peaks too but not too sure what they were off hand.

After spending half an hour on the summit we descended basically straight to Whitley’s Hut (a much quicker route if you don't want to see Lake Ironstone). Once again there was a bit of scrub bashing but it was mostly fairly easy going all the way to the hut, arriving at 15.10.

After a 10 minute stop we then headed down the Western Creek track again, meeting up with the others at a nice waterfall on the track. After a short break we made a rapid decent to the car park, arriving at 16.38.

I had a great day and could have spent even more time kicking back on the summit but for other engagements. It was excellent to catch up with Nick and to meet his folks, but especially to meet Sheldahl - all the way from Iowa in the USA!

Below are just a few snaps from the day...

Excellent scenery on the way up on the Western Creek Track:






Whitleys Hut (not what I was expecting):


On the way to Lake Ironstone:






On route to the summit:



Nick prepares for World War 3??:


On the way back down:

[Speculator]

Big ups to you guys for making the trek up there. I'm disappointed I couldn't join you myself.

Thanks for the photos particularly, they really make me want to get up there before the snow and ice set in for winter.

L8r.

[corvus]

Looks like you had a fantastic walk sorry I missed out on that one and are we likely to be expanding our BWT Strollers in the near future.
Would it be worth an overnighter at Whitely's ? to fullfil L8r's wish to do it this year b4 winter.
c

[Nick S]

Great report sth.
The walk up the western creek track was one of the best forest walks i've been along for a while. Unlike the Higgs track, it didn't feel like much of climb up to the plateau, maybe because we were distracted by the crystal clear rock pools and waterfalls along the way.

Well I couldn't help myself, I get annoyed if I can't name every peak on the horizon. But there were heaps of distant peaks to the south which were just too far for me to guess.. Anyway here is a few labelled photos to give you an idea of how far we could see.

View west from Mt Ironstone

View south from Mt Ironstone

View east from Mt Ironstone

[Penguin]

Sthughes - thanks for another report that makes us feel that we could have been there. Great that you had good weather for a great walk.

Nick - don't let anybody try to convince you that you are obsessive with naming the peaks! I love it - now I roughly know which on is which when I am up that way.

Cheers P

[sthughes]

Lets do it then ,who is up for it?
c

Yeah y not I have been walking 4 weekends in a row now, Murchy will make 5 !

Nick - don't let anybody try to convince you that you are obsessive with naming the peaks!

Nah obsessive would be naming them ALL! I would if I had a whole day and a state map to spare

[corvus]

Great report sth.

Well I couldn't help myself, I get annoyed if I can't name every peak on the horizon. But there were heaps of distant peaks to the south which were just too far for me to guess.. Anyway here is a few labelled photos to give you an idea of how far we could see.]

Nick S thanks for the heads up on the peaks as some of us dont read maps as well as you
c

[Son of a Beach]

Great labelled shots, Nick.

I'd be keen for the Ironstone trip, but my weekends have all been organised for me right up to the end of April. So I might just have to do it myself another time.

[Son of a Beach]

NB: (Most of) the posts relating to another proposed Ironstone trip have been split off to a new topic. Please use the new topic for further discussion of the proposed walk.

[tangles2]

just a question guys. How did you combine the GPS map with the track record, then save it as a JPEG image to include it in the article.
Tks T