Fincham Track

[ILUVSWTAS]

Has anyone been along the Fincham track from lake Burbury?? I would like to know the condition of the track if anyone has been through here in recent years.

Thanks.

[MJD]

Interesting, it seems to end at a hut and an old cableway.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Yeh lots of hidden huts around the place it seems Damn hydro taking it for granted they were going to get their way with the dams.

Seems from a PM I recieved the track is fairly overgrown now.

[wumps]

You can use the track from Darwin Dam (Burbury) however it is very overgrown and now practically impossible. The Raglan Range track which leaves from the Lyell Hwy is probably a better option as it follows the ridge line - this intersects with the Darwin track closer to the Franklin. This track was once passable by 4WD however now only occassionally used by walkers. The cableway was also once fitted with a flying fox up until 1998 and a track once existed to Frenchmans however the fox has since been removed and the Franklin is only able to be crossed at very low flow just below Ness Creek. There is a hut there and a two helipads and rescue missions have occured for rafting parties so please respect the fascilities. The hydro maintain water level recording equipment and this data is now used in national data research into long term variations to flow in unharnessed rivers (yes...ironic) water level / flow data has been collected here since circa 1940. I have seen some vandalism to the site in the name of conservation which is not helping anyone - this is also a historic site and worth visiting.

[vagrom]

Branagan describes Fred Smithie's "trip" from the Franklin up to Frenchmans in his biog. A Great Tasmanian; Smithies and a friend with machetes and a shocker of a trip; with a photo.
Ken Collin's South-West Tasmania (1990) subsequently shows a route from the river and up to Frenchmans.