Southern Ranges

[biggbird]

The Southern Ranges were out other big trip planned for this summer. We had a rough start; being yelled at by another walker who wasn't interested in talking at Pigsty Ponds, followed by some average weather and some very nasty gastro for my partner. Thankfully our enforced rest meant that the weather cleared, and we had an absolute ball for the rest of the week. Walking Prion crossing to South Cape Rivulet on Christmas day was tough, but worth it when we got out in time for lunch in Hobart the following day! A couple of beautiful sunsets along the range, including one from the calmest night I have ever had in a tent, at high camp on PB of all places! Magic.

Started with a family trip to Mystery Creek Cave


Evidence of the recent fire on the way up Moonlight Ridge


Beautiful open walking along past hills 1-4


Descending to Pigsty Ponds


Descending La Perouse. We climbed this from Reservoir Lakes on our second day. It took us about 5 hours return, with my partner having to make "rest" stops every 20-30 mins. Still not sure what gave her the gastro. I also got it, but in a much more mild form. Neither of us ate much this day.


South coast including Prion Beach from Pindars


Sunset from Wylly Plateau. Another beautiful, settled night.


Morning light on Mt Victoria Cross the following day.


PB and Kameruka Moraine. The track really wasn't as scrubby as we had thought it would be. Well, let me re-phrase that - it was scrubby as all get out, but there was a great pad/track underneath at all times, making progress fairly simple. Without the pad, it would have been some seriously hard going. Hats off to those who did it without the pad. Kameruka was just irritating at times as there was a lot of crossing and re-crossing the ridge, but it was made up for by the feeling of PB becoming palpably closer.


Treated to one of the most beautiful sunsets of my life up on top of PB. Sea fog rolled in up all the valleys, some nice cloud in the sky and a grandstand view of the SW. Not bad.








Still a few more I haven't gotten to yet from the wade down the lagoon (ankle deep, for the most part) and the trip out the SCT (not too muddy), so I may add a few to this thread as I get around to them. Tried to use bigger photos this time too. Thanks for looking!

[eggs]

Great photos and nice weather. Looking forward to more..

[stepbystep]

We had a rough start; being yelled at by another walker who wasn't interested in talking at Pigsty Ponds...

Oh dear, don't take it personally, some of the finest humans I know can be really rude at times...I do know this prickly so-and-so! Great pics, love those ones from PB...magic...

[Tortoise]

Stunning, Biggbird. Thanks for posting. What an amazing trip, complete with lows and highs. Can't wait to get there.

[bushwalker zane]

OMGOLLYGOSH! What beautiful photos. Thank you!

[farefam]

That's a magical sunset on PB.... lovely photos of it (especially the last one),....most envious!

[biggbird]

We had a rough start; being yelled at by another walker who wasn't interested in talking at Pigsty Ponds...

Oh dear, don't take it personally, some of the finest humans I know can be really rude at times...I do know this prickly so-and-so! Great pics, love those ones from PB...magic...

Yeah, I think it came as a pretty big shock at first, just not accustomed to that sorta stuff out on the track! But after a little while, we got over it and it just became kinda funny, a bit of a novelty I guess . I guess some people go out their for solitude, and I'm pretty big and obnoxious

Thanks all for the kind words. That sunset was pretty special to see!

[biggbird]

Finished up the rest of the photos. We headed up to the PB summit (Abel 87!) the following morning and had beautiful, clear views.


We found the logbook without any trouble, but the pen appears to have run out in October this year! We didn't have another with us, but would have brought one had we known. If anybody is heading that way, a couple of pens would be greatly appreciated by all future walkers I'm sure.


We found the descent of the cliffs fairly easy, and were well ahead of Chapman's times. The descent through the forest was a little more difficult... We were careful to stick to the taped track, which did take us to Cavern Camp eventually, but what was a good track towards the top became just a taped route towards the bottom, which made it a bit slower.


Had a fairly easy wade down the lagoon, mostly ankle deep on me. Had a brief escapade whilst crossing the two deep creeks inland, as I took a poor direction and tried to cut cross country to Prion crossing, but it was soon rectified and we made it down the lagoon in about 3.5 hours (including 30 mins of wandering around the forest time, courtesy of yours truly!).


At least it was beautiful forest to wander around in.


We then had a nice night at Prion crossing camp. We got some water from the creek a few minutes up the lagoon, just walking a little ways upstream to make sure it wasn't brackish. It wasn't the best water we had ever had, but caused us no problems. A couple we met the following day thought that they had gotten sick from the same water, for what it's worth.


I assume this to be Ile Du Golfe.


We then had the long walk out to South Cape Rivulet on Christmas day. Thankfully there has been a lot of trackwork over the South Cape Range, which meant it only took us 4.5 hours, whilst fairly tired and not pushing very hard. More fit, determined groups could do it significantly faster I should think. It was a mighty contrast to 5 or 6 years ago when we did the same section twice in two days on our first ever overnight walk together - it took us 9 hours each way back then!

We made a stop in at Osmiridium Beach, which was well worth it. Beautiful spot, and the coast was looking its wild best.


Surprise Bay was also lovely.


Spent the night at South Cape Rivulet, got up early and were back in Hobart by midday for lunch with dad before he headed north. Quick stop at Lion Rock on the way.


All in all, really quite a nice trip, with both the highs and lows adding to it as you said Tortoise. Definitely one to remember, and all the more so for the fact that I'm moving to Townsville in a couple of weeks and might not get much of a Tassie mountain fix for a while!

[north-north-west]

You weren't obnoxious (at least you can take 'no' for an answer - you'd be surprised how many people don't), but I'm not social at the best of times, and that wasn't the best.

Anyway, I didn't yell. May have spoken louder than necessary but, being deaf, I'm often unaware of my volume. And at least I did say 'please' & 'thank you'. And the funny thing is I kind of suspected who you were (not for any particular reason, just a feeling) and it was kind of cool to have that suspicion confirmed later by a mutual acquaintance.

Glad you had a good trip. It's such a stunning area. Nice photos, too.

[cams]

Great photos! Those ones with the sea fog are very special in particular. Looks like an amazing trip.