Date: 16th December, 2011
Distance: 14.2 km
Time: 7 hours
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| Barn's Bluff from near Lake Windermere |
Day 3 of the Overland Track is typically the longest stretch, with no convenient campsite between Windermere Hut and Pelion Hut (the site at Frog Flats, midway between, is notoriously unpleasant). The first couple of hours traverses Pine Forest Moor, with stunning views southwards towards Mount Pelion West and, a little further off, Mount Ossa - Tassie's highest peak.
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| Mount Pelion West dominates the view from the Overland Track |
The track skirts into and out of small packets of forest, including a little dome-shaped hump in the middle of Pine Forest Moor that made Emily imagine we were wondering through Lothlorien, but for the most part it is very open and panoramic views abound.
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| Rocky path through a patch of forest |
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| Mount Ossa from Pine Forest Moor |
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| The towering cliffs of Mount Pelion West |
We breaked for lunch at Pelion Creek, a lovely little shaded spot on the lower slopes of Mount Pelion West. We also finished up the last of our boiled eggs.
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| Don't eat me |
From here, the terrain changed dramatically as the track entered a long forested slope leading down to Frog Flats, the lowest point of the Overland Track. It was at this point that we realised the mud from yesterday twas but a scratch. No avoiding the muck this time, we just had to poke and prod our way through it and try and find nice non-sinking sticks to tramp over.
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| Mud, ahoy! |
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| Not all of it was muddy... although I'm sure it would have been in the wet |
The muddening became worse from Frog Flats. Bolder hikers, probably all too familiar with Tassie's mud, stormed on ahead of us while we slowly picked our way through the shallowest mud, sighing in relief at each step that didn't result in sliding into knee-deep mud. I guess it shouldn't be surprising that we didn't take photos here.
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Dried up mud not far from Pelion Hut. If the weather hadn't been dry the last 3 days,
all of today would probably have been one big long bog |
After what felt like an eternity of staggering through mud and bog, we eventually emerged on the Pelion Plains. Someone decided it would be a nice spot to build a palace, so we stayed in the luxurious New Pelion Hut, able to sleep 60 people... it even has a full veranda!
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| Mount Oakleigh from near New Pelion Hut |
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| Typing up the blog at New Pelion Hut |
The veranda was an awesome spot to sit and enjoy the views across Pelion Plains, dominated by the gangling form of Mount Oakleigh (at least, before it was swallowed by cloud), and to take mercy on our poor feet for carrying us and our heavy packs for 7 hours today. We had narrowly avoided catastrophe by taking preventative care of our toes and heels with anti-blister band-aids. Good thing we planned tomorrow as a rest day.
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| Pelion Plains from New Pelion Hut |
One intrepid group rocked up at the hut around 9pm, having walked from all the way from Waterfall Valley Hut, via Barn's Bluff! They must have been trekking through that muddy patch in near to darkness, after having walked 25+ km... surely an undesirable experience.
Day 2 - Waterfall Valley to Lake Windermere
Day 4 - Rest Day at Pelion Hut (Mount Oakleigh side trip)
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