Sherwood Hill Conservation Area

Thursday, 27 June 2013

Sherwood Hill Conservation Area

Thursday 27th June 2013

A couple of days ago I drove up to the end of Knights Road in Huonville to check out the access to Sherwood Hill Conservation Area. There was a forestry type gate with a "Private Property" sign on it so I checked with "Parks" and they reckoned that it was a gazetted road so walking access would be permitted as long as I stayed on the road until I reached the reserve. Having sorted that out I decided that today would be the day for an exploratory walk in the area.
I found a good spot for the car and commenced walking at 8.00 am. It was a very foggy morning but I was soon clear of the fog as the road climbed quite steeply through open forest. The road was an excellent gravel road (for access to the power lines) and I followed this for 1.5 kms. where a 4WD track went off to the left. This was taken and it soon leveled off and headed north east. The walking was easy and the track was not hard to follow. At 3 kms. from the start the track went back north west from one boundary of the reserve to the other. There were great views to the north west around to the south west from here. At 4.8 kms. from the start there was a small rock outcrop which proved to be a good spot for morning tea with some nice views as well.
After a break the track was once again followed until I noticed an old track off to the right which seemed to be heading in the right direction for a short cut. In hindsight I probably should have stayed on the main track, as once I crossed Skinners Creek the track became hard to discern so I scrub bashed uphill to meet the outgoing leg of the walk. From here it was a short hike back to a knoll of rocks I had noticed on the way out. Of course I had to climb to the top and check out the scenery, which was quite good. It was then downhill to meet the main power line track and then uphill as I wanted to check out access to the western part of the reserve. This proved to be far from ideal as it was mountain goat territory and a rather threatening sign on a gate and security camera deterred me from going any further to get to the ridge I was seeking. Another day.
From here it was back downhill to the car.
It was a very enjoyable walk with better scenery than I had anticipated.
Distance: 11.2 kms.
Time: 4'30"
Ascent: 750 metres
Click here to download GPX track.