Alternate Walks to Lake Rhona

[Transition]

we are part of a grade 12 outdoor leadership class and are looking to lead a group of year 10 students on this walk. We need to know of any walks in the same area that we can go on in case the river is flooded and unable to be crossed. The walk needs to be similar length (about 2 nights/3 days), similar difficulty and the same sort of walking conditions and scenery. any suggestions would be much appreciated

[ILUVSWTAS]

What time of year are you heading in there? The river is uaually pretty good, but once up can take a day or 2 to drop again. I've camped at Rhona when it was snowing at the lake, but the river didnt rise past ankle deep on the return leg.

As for similar walks in the area, Theres the Thumbs, Mt Field area, Mt Anne area (it would depend on the group size for some of these locations)

[stu]

You could go up Wylds Craig & camp near the top somewhere, exploring the area on day 2 (tho past Wylds it is off track).
This is just back up the road from the start of the Rhona track.

Mt Field is very close & offers numerous 2 night options (eg. night 1 at Twilight Tarn hut, night 2 at K-Col (Peterson hut).
This may seem like a much easier option but is generally pretty safe walking on very good tracks.
If you made it to Mt Field West you get great views of the Denison Range.

Mt Anne area obviously provides numerous multi night options & can provide easier or very challenging walking - ie. the full circuit which is a good 2 nighter.

Western Arthurs - 3 days means you could go to Lake Cygnus on day 1 (a pretty long day tho), day 2 day walk to lake Oberon, day 3 back out & home.
Obviously very spectacular walking / scenery which rivals &/or exceeds the scenery of the Rhona area.

Refer to John Chapmans South West Tassie guide book for other ideas off the Gordon River Road / in the general area.

[Azza]

You might just want to be careful if you're considering Mt Anne or Western Arthurs.

Having done the year 12 Advanced Expeditions thing (years and years ago) where you take grade 10 for walk, you'll need to consider their walking ability very carefully. As its quite possible to end up with a group with little to no walking experience that might struggle with an overnight pack on.
Failing to get up moraine A or Mt Eliza would be a bit of a walk killer.

I played it safe and took my group to South Cape Rivulet, it is an assessment walk after all. Part of that is understanding the abilities of your party and not getting yourself into a sticky situation by exceeding their capabilities. Hence its a good idea to already have familiarity with the area you're going.

In the end they spent the first night smoking dope and drinking alcohol in the tent. But behaved for the rest of the walk and we had quite a successful trip.

I reckon Lake Rhona with Mt Field as a backup is a good choice.

Cheer

Aaron

[ollster]

Arm River Track to New Pelion Hut!

[Miranda]

Hi

To be honest, I would steer away from taking students to Lake Rhona in Spring at all. For two reasons, the mud, and hygiene around the lake.

While this winter has been relatively dry, so was 2008. I went to Rhona in October of that year, and the mud was so bad on the track that it turned what should have been a pretty nice walk into a feat of endurance through calf and knee high mud for about six hours until you start climbing the range to the lake.

I'll also add my dismay at the number of people camping at the lake, and those I passed on the track. More than any other walk I have done in Tasmania (perhaps bar Mt Field and Freycinet day walks). This would be fine, but there are only a few places to bury one's toilet waste up at the lake, and when I was there, everywhere you went someone had been before, if you know what I mean. It was pretty disgusting, and I can definitely see some careless teenagers getting a nasty case of the runs by not being careful.

Perhaps your students could carry those poo tubes I've seen promoted on the cradle mtn track?

I've seen a couple of posts on here suggesting it might be good for P&WS to install a toilet up there. I'm unaware if this has/is going to happen, but hope it does, I think too much damage is occurring to the environment. Ignoring the problem won't make it go away, and it doesn't seem to have put people off going there either.

[norts]

Becareful with the Gordon. I spent an uncomfortable 6 mights on the wrong side waiting for it to come down and it didnt. Ferried out in an inflatable canoe.
We crossed in ankle deep water but by next mornining it was too late. That was in spring.
While waiting we had rain, more rain then snow.
it was meant to be a 3 day walk. Only had food for 4.

I am very wary of that river. A bit gun shy actually
Roger

[Transition]

a little more information, the group size should be about 12 year 10's, 3 year 12's (who have already done this walk), and 4 guides who have all done the walk as far as i am aware. as a school we have done this walk twice, once was fine and we made it to the lake and back with no hassle and the second time the group encounter very heavy snow so we have good knowledge and experience of what could happen

[Transition]

also we wouldnt be staying at the lake we would be staying at what i think is the gordon vale camp site

[whynotwalk]

Hi transition - have I got this right? Are you planning on taking a group totalling around 19 people? If so that is WAY too many walkers for a wilderness area like Lake Rhona (or even Gordonvale). Safety and hygiene aside, think of the environmental impacts of a group that large simply through trampling boots.

There was a lot of angst on this forum about a large school group (no, a HUGE group) that went up the Arm River to Pelion Hut back in June. Check it out at http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4222&p=48010&hilit=Pelion+Hut+large+group#p48010 Even on a hardened track like the Overland, the group size limit is 13. So where does that leave groups like yours?

Firstly, good on you for seeking alternatives. What about you divide the group into 2 sub-groups - call them A and B. Then walk somewhere more hardened and only get together as a whole group at a hardened campsite. aljscott's idea of South Cape Rivulet has merit. You could camp all together at Cockle Creek for the first night (hardened, toilets etc). Then Group A heads down to South Cape Rivulet while Group B first does a day walk to Fishers Point and back. While Group A goes all the way to Sth Cape Rivulet to camp overnight, Group B follows later, only going as far as South Cape Bay (near Lion Rock). On the return trip they cross over, with Group A getting back and doing the Fishers Pt walk, and Group B going to South Cape Rivulet before returning to Cockle for a whole group session.

Mt Field might offer similar possibilities, and I'm sure others can think of suitable alternatives. But the key plea here is, don't take such a large group into a wilderness setting,

cheers

Peter

[izac]

Hey everyone sorry im in the same group as transition i have a few more details on the walk...

group size is about 16

we are not camping at the lake itself we are camping at the gordonvale campsite for day one and then walking to the lake and back on the second day so that we can walk out on the final day.

we went on the same walk with the same group size at the same time of year about two years ago but we were just looking for the alternative in the event of the ricer being flooded. cheers for the help!

if you have any good links to your suggestions please post them here or if you could send me them in an email

Freeman_Isaac(at)calvin(dot)tas(dot)edu(dot)au

email address modified by admin

[izac]

sorry forgot something

dates are september 19-21