Ben Lomond Plateau Traverse

[crazyone]

Just for a bit of fun I thought I might walk from the sk village to Stacks bluff and back. This time I thought I might take a mate and also not spend the night lying on pineapple grass and wombat poo in a whiteout. I know it sounds like fun, but...

So we traipsed, nice and early from the car park across meadow vale and plunged thru alpine scrub and scree to the top of Rodway valley. Let me say, if one likes rocks, big ones in fact, they will be ecstatic in Rodway. Moving on we took the short cut into long valley and made great time to lake Youl. Alpine beaches never cease to amaze me and the one at lake Youl is only little but certainly an amazing sight on the otherwise bleak (beautiful) plateau. After photos we darted around the corner into Foster vale. I had memories of difficult scrub here but it seems I should have gone rock hopping straight up Lewis creek dead easy mate! Stacks then loomed I front of us, a bit more strolling and the cairned track from story's creek was found making the last k or so pretty easy. Then the highlight! The view from stacks is outstanding, sitting in the stone fort/cairn eating my peanut butter cheese and being able to see half of tassie is always a soul lifter and today was no exception. Mathinna even came to the party with some 4G reception allowing me to post a live update on Facebook. So sandwiches and chocolate consumed it was time to put it in reverse and bid a fond farewell to stacks. I was even able to survey the overnight spot on the return, my companion being sure to remind me where the "campsite" was. Haha. I'm sure he only did it when it was clear we were actually going to return!

So Ben Lomond traverse is a magic alpine walk. Great views, easy walking if you are observant, a beach, a fort, stark beauty, all the flora you can poke an Orites acicularis at and no doubt a thousand other things that I love about the Ben. Be well prepared, it can be dangerous but if alpine plateaux are your thing, this ones a cracker. So don't hesitate. Of course unless the cloud ceiling is under 4000 feet. Hesitate then.

Seriously, a great place. You'll be lucky to see another soul. The plaingermarriner knew their homeland was special and so will any visitors who spend even a short time there.

[dee_legg]

Great write up! Would love to see some photos too

[crazyone]

Thanks Dee. Just a few photos. They're not great, iPhone 5 but give some idea.

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Lake Youl

[crazyone]

Another.

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Stacks in the distance

[crazyone]

And another.

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A view from Stacks Bluff

[crazyone]

And this.

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Tarns are cool!

[slparker]

Nice report, one of my favourite walks.

I recommend the walk from youl's tarn to the western edge of the plateau (with a circuit around heimdall and asgard crags) to the outlook looking over the nile gorge and the eastern midlands.

Since you love big rocks, the sight of that massive cirque of dolerite is something to behold!

[whynotwalk]

You had me smiling with recognition crazyone! Nice report. As you say, in the right conditions, it is a lovely walk. We did it as a walk-through, from the ski village and out over Stacks to Storeys Creek. We also camped at Lake Youl. Our way of doing it involved a rather lengthy car shuffle, but it worked well, especially as we got to do the spectacular, knee-jarringly steep walk down from Stacks Bluff and past Tranquil Tarn (see pic)

There are more pix and a fuller write-up on my blog:
http://www.naturescribe.com/2013/12/a-ben-lomond-traverse-part-1.html
http://www.naturescribe.com/2013/12/a-ben-lomond-traverse-part-2.html

Descent from Stacks Bluff

cheers

Peter

[Tortoise]

Seriously, a great place. You'll be lucky to see another soul.

Hey crazy. Thanks for the report. It brings back fond memories of a week there on my own, when the only evidence I saw of people were a couple of cars in the carpark. I didn't camp at Youl, but had a wonderful lake to myself, and had a lovely time exploring and bagging a few peaks.