Best overnight walks for remoteness and photography?

[Roniellay]

Hello,

over Christmas time we're planning to do Western Arthurs Range via K moraine in about 4-5 days and still have about 5 days left for another walk, ideally two 1 or 2 night walks.
It is our last time in Tasmania before returning to Europe, so we really want to see and experience "the best"..We're quite fit couple in 30's, did South coast track last year and found it very pleasant.
We're not worried about another challenging track after finishing WA and we also don't mind driving up to Cradle Mountain if that's what we shouldn't miss.
At the moment we're deciding between Mt Anne day walk, Walls of Jerusalem overnight, Dove lake to Scott-Kilvert Hut in Cradle Mountain or Freycinet Peninsula circuit (worried about the crowds). We should be able to fit the two of such tracks into our itinerary.
Which one would you recommend for the overall experience, scenery and photography? We would also appreciate any advice regarding other possible tracks that would be worth, especially around Cradle Mountain area?
Thank you so much guys for any advice!

Jana

[Graham51]

Anne circuit is a wonderful two days and you're in the area already if you're doiing Western Arthurs.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Lake Rhona is as lovely a place as you'll ever see. Might be busy up there at that time of year, but then any of the popular walks like Anne will be.

[stepbystep]

If you are already doing the Western Arthurs and want some variety before you go I'd do some daywalks, Mt Anne, Freycinet, Tasman Peninsular, and some of the tracks at Cradle Mountain to mix it up a bit.

[bluewombat]

All good suggestions, for mine Frenchmans gives you a very different perspective, Mt Anne is really good either out and back or do the circuit and exploring the peaks around Pine Valley is also fun. Walls, Pine valley and Freycinet are likely to be rather busy (by Tasmanian standards not Euro standards)
bw

[JamesMc]

Why not take a bit longer and do the whole Western Arthurs?

[mjdalessa]

Lake Rhona is as lovely a place as you'll ever see. Might be busy up there at that time of year, but then any of the popular walks like Anne will be.

Over new year we were there 3 nights and only saw a person on night one. Just have to be lucky I guess.

The Labyrinth is also a great option, but this can get very crowded in summer at the main camping tarns. Probably can't recommed more secluded places to camp in line with forum rules. This could also involve climbing the Acropolis which is a nice mountain. Depending on your experience of following poorly defined routes there are plenty of options.

[Roniellay]

Thank you guys so much for your suggestions!
We won't do the whole WA just because it is our last time in TAS (at least for very long time) and we want to fit more variety into our itinerary...
We'll do Mt Anne day walk since we are in the area already and it really looks like it would be one of the best day walks...It still leaves us about 4 days.

Another one we want to do is an overnight walk in Cradle mountain...could you recommend any other walk than the one from Dove lake through Scott-Kilvert Hut? Or is that one quite spectacular? I wasn't able to find much overnight walks in that area on the internet...:-/

If you really have to choose (normally I don't like those questions because I know it's impossible to compare, but we only have time for one of them) between overnight Lake Rhona or Walls of Jerusalem, which one would you go for? Lake Rhona is really spectacular, but the Walls give you bigger variety of dramatic scenery, I guess?
Thank you so much!

Jana

[stepbystep]

Hi if you turn the SK hut walk into a circuit you can see lots of things there are many options for this, you can also camp at Waterfall Valley which makes climbing Barn Bluff an option you can also turn much of that walk into a circuit.

The Walls is on a very good track whereas the Rhona track is braided and muddy. Rhona is best suited to 3 days so you can explore the range behind but you are right you can see more in 2 days in The Walls. Enjoy

[Hallu]

I heard some really nice things about The Walls, I hope to do it one day. It's not very advertised, because the only way to enjoy it is an overnight walk : maybe you should try it, nice way to avoid the main crowds, lots of lakes and wildlife. In Freycinet, the track till the lookout is crowded indeed, but once you get to Wineglass Bay, 75% of them are gone (it looks steep that's why, even though it fairly easy), and if you go further and do an overnight walk, you'll leave probably 95 % of them behind. I did the walk to the bay in late February this year, and once on the bay, almost everyone was gone. But you don't feel very isolated, you know the car parks aren't far away, it's easier to get this feeling of remoteness in Ben Lomond or, I'm guessing, near The Walls of Jerusalem.

[Roniellay]

Thank you all!

It looks like we have no choice but to do the Walls overnight . We'll also do Cradle Mountain overnight, but after calling the visitor centre they told me we can't camp in Waterfall Valley without $200 OT permit. Are there any other less "luxurious" campsites in Waterfall Valley or just the one shared with OT walkers?

[norts]

That's wrong
viewtopic.php?f=25&t=10864
look at this topic, posted from Tastrax who works for PAWS
"1. The OLT must be walked in a north-south direction from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair. Exceptions to this rule are the sections of the track from Cradle to Waterfall Valley, Cynthia Bay to Pine Valley turn-off, Pelion to Pelion Gap and Pelion to West Pelion."

[mjdalessa]

Does that mean walkers get fined for proceeding past the Pine Valley junction to do a Du Cane traverse?

[pazzar]

No, but if you were found at Kia Ora hut Is suspect that you would be questioned. I've been in via Arm River several times and never been questioned.

[Roniellay]

Well, they obviously want to discourage as many people as possible who are not local not to camp at official OT campsites...I personally spoke to the guy from Cradle Mtn Visitor Centre who said that camping near Waterfall Valley hut counts into official number of people hiking OT and its not possible without the booking...Now I read that it should be possible unless it's more than one section of the track... Anyway, I'll have a look in the map and see what fits better into our itinerary, camping at Scott-Kilvert or Waterfall Valley hut...

[MrWalker]

Well, they obviously want to discourage as many people as possible who are not local not to camp at official OT campsites...I personally spoke to the guy from Cradle Mtn Visitor Centre who said that camping near Waterfall Valley hut counts into official number of people hiking OT and its not possible without the booking...Now I read that it should be possible unless it's more than one section of the track... Anyway, I'll have a look in the map and see what fits better into our itinerary, camping at Scott-Kilvert or Waterfall Valley hut...

It doesn't make sense to claim that anyone staying at Waterfall Valley Hut is hiking the OLT. There must be plenty of people who specifically want to climb Barn Bluff and staying at Waterfall Valley seems to be the recommneded method of doing that. Maybe that's why they published the guidelines about being OK to do one section of the OLT, because their staff were giving conflicting information.

However, in this case I'd stay at SK hut unless the aim really is to climb Barn Bluff.

[sthughes]

If you're doing the Western Arthurs in 4 to 5 days then walking all the way to Waterfall Valley via Scott-Kilvert should be dead easy. Bag the Cradle or Barn Bluff summit on the way back (or do the Ballroom Forest or perhaps Twisted lakes if the weather isn't suitable for peak climbing).

[Mark F]

I am taking my partner on the OT this January - I have done it several times (1st time 1969) but this will be her first. We plan to climb to Kitchen Hut on the normal route, hopefully climb Cradle and then head across the face track, visit Twisted Tarns and down to SK for the night. Next day we will continue up to the cirque and possibly climb Barn Bluff before heading down to Waterfall Valley and off to Windemere. For a 2 day trip just head back the normal route to Waldheim after climbing Barn Bluff - no need to go into Waterfall Valley. This itinerary gives 2 days around Cradle and allows climbing both Cradle and Barn and avoids the "$200 do not pass WV" - hopefully with 2 days you will get to climb one of them and hopefully both.

[eggs]

If you haven't visited Cradle Mt, then the loop around the mountain via Hansons to Scott-Kilvert and then the return with the option of Barn Bluff or Cradle Mt climbs is very good.

No one has suggested Mt Tyndall and views over Lake Huntley yet - camping on the plateau.
Its a great trip - and depending on what time of day you start / finish you should do Mt Geikie as well. We did this as an overnighter with our 2 youngest kids.

On the same trip we did an overnighter to Lake Myrtle and climbed Mt Rogoona. It gives a grandstand view over Cathedral into all the peaks in Cradle Mt / Lake St Clair NP.

If you want to fit in a day walk if weather or timings don't suit an overnighter - consider Mt Murchison.