Walls of Jerusalem in Spring - weather, mood etc.

[ant_eater]

Hi

At the end of november myself and 7 other friends are doing a trip to the walls of jerusalem for a year 11 school trip all the way from darwin for the first time. we start at the mersey forest road car park and work our way through 'the walls''. Then around dixons kingdom and up to mt jerusalem, the temple and solomonds throne. Then around lake ball, adelaide and meston. then head up to mt ragoona and camp at lake myrtle. Then onwards past lake bill and through the blizzard plains and finally descend back to the mersey forest road.

I was wondering what the weather will be like temperature and precipitation wise in detail at the time we go. I assume it will be cold for darwin standards haha.

It should be fantastic

thanks.

[tasadam]

In short, unpredictrable weather in spring.... Similar to the Overland track.
viewtopic.php?f=25&t=4523
Probably many similar topics here - viewforum.php?f=25

From Darwin with no climatising, you are really really going to notice the cold, simple as that.
With such a big trip, it would pay to plan some exit strategies if the weather demands it.

[Drifting]

This sounds like a great Overland Track trip to me. Maybe walk out of Cradle, and go Cradle-Pelion-Lees Paddocks-Pine River or Cradle-Pelion-Arm River TRack.

[walkinTas]

wondering what the weather will be like temperature and precipitation wise in detail at the time we go.

If you want a detailed weather report you better tell us exactly which days. How long do you think this walk will take you?

[ant_eater]

sorry haha. The walk starts on the 29th of november and the walk is planned for 6-7 days

[ant_eater]

This sounds like a great Overland Track trip to me. Maybe walk out of Cradle, and go Cradle-Pelion-Lees Paddocks-Pine River or Cradle-Pelion-Arm River TRack.

I would love to go to lees paddocks but what the teacher sais goes.
I cant wait to see the pencil pines, and i hear that there is deciduous fagus around lake meston? i hope so. im dying to see them

cheers

[tasadam]

You'll see the Fagus then, but it won't be yellow until April.
Unless you look here
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4027

Or here
viewtopic.php?f=25&t=3860

Or here
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2037

[Drifting]

I thought you were going it alone. That'd be a bad choice for your first walk in Tassie if you didn't have a guide. But with a guide- sounds like a great trip!

[ant_eater]

I thought you were going it alone. That'd be a bad choice for your first walk in Tassie if you didn't have a guide. But with a guide- sounds like a great trip!

yeh there is 7 of my friends, 2 teachers (which are experinced tassie walkers and 2 guids

[ant_eater]

I thought you were going it alone. That'd be a bad choice for your first walk in Tassie if you didn't have a guide. But with a guide- sounds like a great trip!

of cource, i just want to see them annyway lol

[ant_eater]

You'll see the Fagus then, but it won't be yellow until April.
Unless you look here
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4027

Or here
viewtopic.php?f=25&t=3860

Or here
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2037

of cource, i just want to see them annyway, im obssesed with tasmanias alpine flora

[ant_eater]

Hi
I was just wondering what the precipitation and colour of the walls area will be like at the end of nov to the start of dec (eg. dry faded colours due to poor precip or deep greens and dark colours ect)

I know it sounds silly but will it be nice and green at that time of year? because one of my hobbies is photography and i would like to take some really moody shots of deep green pencil pine/beech forests and drizzly tussock grass bogs.

thanks.

[tasadam]

Aw C'mon... We tell you everything and there will be no surprises!
You are going to love the old pines around Dixons Kingdom... Old? Some over 1000 years old!

[ant_eater]

haha yeh i guess i am ruining the suprise, its just ive wanted to go to the walls for years and now i cant believe i can actually go

i heard some can reach over 2000 years old :O

[tasadam]

If you search the gallery for "walls" or "woj" or "Jerusalem" you might find some pics, have a look and see if you can work out when they were taken from the discussions, likely you will find some from the rough time you're interested in.
You can still get snow though.

[tasadam]

"Walls of Jerusalem mood" topic merged with "Walls of Jerusalem weather in spring" topic, title changed to
Walls of Jerusalem in Spring - weather, mood etc.

[GerryDuke]

A sampler for you ant_eater. The scoparia may be starting to flower for you when you are there.

WALLS_OF_JERUSALEM-194.jpg (208.5 KiB) Viewed 8920 times

Dixon's Kingdom looking west from near the base of Mt Jerusalem.

Gerry

[taswegian]

ant_eater - all jokes aside above this is one of the most unpredictable times of the year here and it has seen some unfortunate outcomes in past.
It is not uncommon to get some of the heaviest snow falls of the year at that time of the year.
That is reality, but I wouldn't discount 7 days of good weather.
I live not too far from the walls and often the weather can be 'good' there and lousy in the reserve just across the Mersey valley. But if its snowing in the central reserve then you can bet it will be in The Walls. I'm refering to mist and drizzle which can be rather perplexing.

As to amount of ground moisture, I would suggest unless we have no more rain between now and November then the area will be wet underfoot.

In years past we have seen some drama from mainland school trips coming to The Walls at that time of year and coming against the elements and meeting undue attention from the local authorities, not to mention the media.
Don't be put off by all this BUT be prepared and DONT (please) do anything silly if things 'clag up'.
my 2 bobs worth from a local

[ant_eater]

ant_eater - all jokes aside above this is one of the most unpredictable times of the year here and it has seen some unfortunate outcomes in past.
It is not uncommon to get some of the heaviest snow falls of the year at that time of the year.
That is reality, but I wouldn't discount 7 days of good weather.
I live not too far from the walls and often the weather can be 'good' there and lousy in the reserve just across the Mersey valley. But if its snowing in the central reserve then you can bet it will be in The Walls. I'm refering to mist and drizzle which can be rather perplexing.

As to amount of ground moisture, I would suggest unless we have no more rain between now and November then the area will be wet underfoot.

In years past we have seen some drama from mainland school trips coming to The Walls at that time of year and coming against the elements and meeting undue attention from the local authorities, not to mention the media.
Don't be put off by all this BUT be prepared and DONT (please) do anything silly if things 'clag up'.
my 2 bobs worth from a local

thanks for the advise

[ant_eater]

What kind of nightime and daytime temperatures are we to expect at the verry start of december? Im really interested curious now haha.

[taswegian]

Here's some useful info from Bureau Meteorology (BOM)
Scroll around and you will most likely get some idea.

Liawenee - Min -1.6 to max 27.4° C - Novemeber 2009
-2.4 to max 28°C December.
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/ ... 6065.shtml
this shows extremes of the area - not necessarily typical though is indicative
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/20091 ... 0911.shtml

Cradle Valley
http://reg.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/ ... 6005.shtml

If you ring or email they should be able to give you some previous years.

I've spent many a day in the Walls and enjoyed good dry walking and looked across to Ossa and Pelion (well where they ought be) and its a different storey. Thats what makes it so special for me.

That whole area is just fabulous and you should have a real ball. Walking is releatively easy in most areas and with a good map and local knowledge you should not have navigation problems if due attention is taken.
We look forward to some reporting at the end of year.

[ant_eater]

thanks taswegian, im kinda half hoping for dark overcast skies and drizzle because i think the area looks so ominously beautiful in inclement weather. But i realise that if there is poor weather when im there ill think "oh why did i wish this "

[walkinTas]

Also ant_eater you can download this bom pdf - 3.6Mb form (http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/mwr/) with detailed info for december.

[ant_eater]

again, thanks

[walkinTas]

You can see from the maps on pages 9-12 that for the first week of December 2009 in the Walls, the min temp was 0-6 °C, the max was less than 15°C and it was fairly dry.

[Thomas]

Hey ant_eater...

This pic was taken in early Feb this year......looking at Cradle Mountian thru Herod's Gate.

As for the pencil pines, i can still smell them..!! Given the right conditions, the smell hits you as you enter the Central Walls thru Herod's...

Such an awesome place......hope you enjoy your time up there..!!

Regards,
Clayton

[Phil]

Hi ant_eater

You will definitely love the place!

I assume you've checked out a few other posts and pictures regarding WOJ.......here was my report from a trip in the first week of December last year - we copped some pretty awful weather as you will see

http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3153&p=34031&hilit=walls+of+jerusalem#p34031

Phil

[ant_eater]

thanks phil