Pine Valley Track - Preparation

Welcome to The Labyrinth

In December 2014, three years after tackling the Overland Track, I returned to Tassie with dad to explore the rugged, mountainous region surrounding Pine Valley. The area can be visited as a side trip for those walking the Overland Track with a couple of spare days up their sleeve, although many rush through on their tight deadline and skip it entirely. This, unfortunately, was also the case for us in 2011 - we simply didn't have enough days for it. We were also underwhelmed at the time by the photos presented our guidebook, which deterred us from using our spare days to visit Pine Valley. In hindsight, this was a real shame: Pine Valley is a truly spectacular wilderness area.

With some time off between Christmas and New Year, we wanted to head south and avoid the brutal Queensland heat that thwarts most bushwalking options in summer. I was very eager to get back to Tassie, and the Pine Valley Track seemed to be a good, relatively easy pack walk that would offer some flexibility in case of poor weather or exhaustion.

Logistics

The most convenient entry point for a short trip into Pine Valley is via Lake St Clair. This provides an interesting opportunity to turn the walk into a circuit, by taking the ferry one way and walking the lakeside track the other way. We opted to catch the ferry on day 1, so that we could modify our plans if the weather turned foul early on. As a result we only had to lug our packs for 3.5 hours over relatively flat terrain to reach Pine Valley, a suitable base camp for day hikes. This was important for us as it was to be dad's first hike requiring more than an overnight pack (and he's an old man).

Public transport to Lake St Clair is readily available from Hobart via Tassielink coaches, which make the 3 hour trip several times a week. Our flights were timed so as to catch the coach and arrive at Lake St Clair on the same evening, maximising our hiking time. We also allowed a couple of hours in Hobart to eat lunch and buy last minute supplies - gas bottles, matches and water.

There are multiple accommodation choices at the trailhead, from basic cabins to luxury suites at the lodge. Camping is really more our thing, however - and we were already going to be out in the bush for 4 more nights anyway - so we camped at Fergy's Paddock, a ten minute stroll from the visitor's centre. There are also campsites at Cynthia Bay with amenities, but you have to pay a fee.

Setting up camp at Fergy's Paddock

During the Overland Track peak season (October to May), walkers pay a track fee in addition to standard national park entry fees and must walk north to south (i.e. from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair). For those just heading into Pine Valley from Lake St Clair, there are no restrictions or additional fees required during this period.

In summer the Lake St Clair ferry runs between Cynthia Bay and Narcissus Hut multiple times a day. It's recommended to book in advance, particularly in holiday periods (it was almost full when we caught it).

As with my previous trip to Tassie, we carried one of Chapman's guidebooks: Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair and Walls of Jerusalem National Parks. The book is considered standard fare for anyone bushwalking in the region, and includes track notes and topographic maps for day trips and overnight options in the Lake St Clair-Pine Valley region. Around the time we went, the 5th edition was out of print while they were working on an updated version - but we managed to find a copy at Fullers Bookshop in Hobart (that we had shipped to Brisbane in advance to help with planning).

Weather forecast on the morning of day 1

Before we caught the ferry on day 1, I popped into the visitor's centre to check the weather forecast for the upcoming week. We found it quite helpful to take a photo and refer back to it during the hike - this also made us somewhat popular with other weather-interested walkers.

Gear

All my gear (and most of the shared gear) for our 5 day hike. I carried the 1st aid kit at
my waist and wore the clothes at lower right - everything else was generally in the pack

Dad and I tended to shuffle around our gear between our packs day to day, but at the start my weight breakdown looked roughly like this:

- Tent, sleeping bag/mat, backpacks: 6.7 kg
- Water and food: 3.1 kg
- Additional clothing: 2.0 kg
- Everything else: 3.0 kg
Total: 14.8 kg

Dad wasn't so keen on weighing out everything like me, but his total pack weight was pretty similar to mine. Our combined gear list looked something like this:

Gear

- Tent, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, tarp
- Backpacks, small day pack, walking poles
Essentials
- First aid kit (inc. zyrtec, panadol and aquatabs), compass, whistle
- Guidebook
- 2 x 750 mL water bottles (each)
- Headtorches and spare batteries
Cooking
- Gas burner, gas (3 x 120 g cannisters), matches
- Pot, sporks (x2), mug, measuring cup
- Chopping board, small knife
- Spare ziplock bags, plastic bags (for carrying out rubbish)
Miscellaneous
- Pegs (x12)
- Toilet paper, trowel
- Sunscreen, rid, deodorant, toothbrush/paste, lip balm
- Small towel, hanky
- Glasses, glasses case
- Cash, licence, credit card
- Alarm
- Ear plugs (to combat dad's snoring - only partially effective)
- Cameras, spare batteries, spare SD cards
- Notepad and pens

We carried the same 2-man tent I took last time, which had the obvious benefit of being small and light weight (1.6 kg). Unfortunately, we encountered a bit of wet weather and discovered it was no longer waterproof (although I'm not certain it ever was)... and without a fly, we were forced to use our emergency shelter/tarp, which barely covered the tent (and required some ingenuity to set up). Next time I'll take a better quality tent with a fly.

I carried all my gear in a 65+10 L pack that I bought for my previous Tassie hike, but it was probably overkill (I just didn't feel like investing in another pack, slightly smaller and lighter, knowing I probably wouldn't use the big one again).

Some items that I took to Tassie previously but didn't make the cut this time include: moneybelt (just used a ziplock bag), an extra towel, playing cards, oven mit/scourer (ate most of our meals out of ziplock bags - minimal cleanup required), mp3 player, pillow case, garbage bags (their waterproofing capacity is questionable at best). I also carried smaller and lighter sleeping bags/day packs, so my overall weight was much less than last time.

Perhaps the worst decision we made was purchasing 3 x gas cannisters in Hobart before the trek, at the insistence of the shop guy. We had planned to buy a single 250 g cannister, but there didn't seem to be anything bigger than the 120 gram-ers and we were convinced into getting three to play it safe. By day 4, when we were only just starting to finish up our first cannister, we donated a spare to some locals.

An area I saved a lot of weight was in water. Previously, I took 2 x 1 L bottles and topped them up at the start of each day, reasoning that it was better to carry the extra weight and not dehydrate. However, last time I did not once drink the full 2 L before reaching camp, and there were always multiple places to fill up on the way. So this time I brought 2 x 750 mL empty cheap plastic water bottles, and just filled one of them up at a time. When it was nearly empty, I filled up the second en route and popped an aqua tab to grub out the yuckies.

I had planned on doubling up Chapman's guidebook as a reading book, but we just didn't have much time for sitting around, so I could have just scanned the relevant pages and saved a bit more space.

Clothing

My clothes list reads pretty similar to my previous trip (including what I wore while walking):

- Underwear (x2)
- Thermals
- Shorts
- Long pants
- Collared shirts (x2)
- Rain jacket and pants
- Light jumper
- Beanie, gloves
- Hiking boots, thongs
- Sock liners (x2), hiking socks (x2)
- Sleeping socks
- Hat
- Gaiters

The only things I cut from the previous list was a spare thermal top and a poncho (previously I used this to cover my backpack in the rain, but this was because half of my gear was on the outside of my pack and the built-in cover wouldn't fit over it all). I used everything I took (including the spare set of clothes, after being rained on continuously for one day) but probably could have done without the thongs this time.

I was surprised at how cold it got at night. Even with a full set of thermals, shirt, pants, jumper, thick socks, beanie and gloves I shivered through most of the nights. My sleeping bag is rated to 5C and I usually don't feel the cold, but I might consider getting a sleeping bag liner or some warmer clothes to wear next time. Probably didn't help that the temperature never broke double digits during our last full day.

Food

All my breakfasts, snacks, our combined dinners and lunches... minus the cheese for some reason

We utilised the previously established food plan for (relatively) light-weight, easily cooked (and consumed) meals and snacks. Ziplock bags were again the way to go, only this time we took it a step further and cooked our meals directly out of the bags most of the time. I only had leaks with the ziplocks containing dehydrated dinners with spiky bits (but I had pre-empted this and double-bagged them anyway, so it wasn't a big deal).

Breakfasts
I ate porridge with powdered milk each morning, while dad would have muesli and a hot chocolate.

Lunches
Mountain bread, salami and cheese made for a pretty tasty lunch. Swapped the rice crackers for bread as they are less prone to breakage and can be stacked a bit nicer in the pack. Also the mountain bread was quite filling. Rather than slicing up cheese every day, we bought cheese spread that came in little packages, which cut down on prep time.

Dinners
We purchased 4 Back Country pre-dehydrated meals, having had reasonable success with them previously (two spaghettis, one beef curry and a lamb fettuccine). To shave off a few grams (and save space) they were repackaged into ziplock bags. For the five nights, we split the 2 spaghettis into 3 meals, and had ourselves a good helping of deb (dehydrated mashed potato) to go with them, but ended up having deb every night anyway because it tasted so damn good.

Snacks
My "scroggin" was a mixture of cashews, almonds and m&ms (about 125 g / day). Dad's was a bit more complex, with nuts, dried fruit and chocolate, in addition to his snickers and muesli bars, for snacks.

Finishing up our remaining lunch foods at the Lake St Clair Visitor's Centre

Itinerary

With 5 nights and 4.5 days of walking available, we had a lot of flexibility with our itinerary. We adjusted the plan as needed based on the weather and how we were faring with carrying the heavy packs.

Day 1 - Ferry Ride, Narcissus Hut to Pine Valley Hut (inc. day trip to The Acropolis)
Day 2 - Day trip to Labyrinth Lookout
Day 3 - Pine Valley Hut to Echo Point
Day 4 - Echo Point to Shadow Lake
Day 5 - Shadow Lake to Cynthia Bay

View across Lake St Clair from near our campsite at Fergy's Paddock