Bracken Ridge Trail

Saturday, 20 July 2013

Bracken Ridge Trail

Saturday 20th July 2013

With the forecast of rain in the afternoon, I decided on a fairly straightforward walk close to home so I could finish early. Bracken Ridge Trail turned out to be the one.
From Judbury I drove up Bermuda Road, then on to Bermuda Link Road to the start of the walk on Bracken Ridge. The first 3.5 kms. were not really impressive as the road travelled through logged, burnt and replanted areas. After this it improved somewhat as the track changed to an old 4WD track through nice forest. As this descended to Southwood Road the Ta Ann veneer mill came into view. There were good views of the surrounding mountains. It was then along Southwood Road to the bridge spanning the Huon River where I took some photos and then reversed direction and headed back to Edwards Link Road where I took a quick diversion to check out the Arve River which was flowing quite well. I then walked along Southwood Road for about 2.5 kms. to pick up the Williamette Creek 4WD track.This is a track set aside for four wheel drivers to test out their driving prowess. The track was okay to begin with but deteriorated to a pretty bad state in some places with deep water filled ruts which made the going rather slow. I could have done with 4WD walking up some of the hills as they were very slippery.
The forest in this section was very nice and the birds were singing well. After about 2 kms. the track emerged on to a good forestry road which I followed back to the car except for a minor deviation to an old track for the last 500 metres.
This was probably not a favourite walk but it was okay as I wanted to get a feel for the area. I had not been there before and this provide a good introduction.
Distance: 15.2 kms.
Time: 4 hrs.
Ascent: 500 metres
Click here to download GPX track.