Blakes Opening

Saturday 25th January 2014

Blakes Opening

Blakes Opening was just the destination that I chose to walk to on the Huon Track. The track basically follows the Huon River for quite some distance and provides access to lots of places in the south west wilderness including Mount Picton, Western Arthurs and Melaleuca. Anywhere along the river provides nice scenery.
To reach the starting point, drive out from Geeveston towards Tahune and just before reaching it turn left into Picton Road, straight ahead into Riveaux Road and then right into Quartz Quarry Road and follow to the sign indicating the start of the track.
I arrived at the start point a little after 0800 and just as I was getting ready it started to rain. As much as I detest walking in wet weather gear I decided that I would don my raincoat as it was quite cold. Just as well that I did as the foliage on the track was very wet and I would have soon been saturated.

Section of track

At about 0820 I commenced walking and after a short distance there was an overgrown sign on the right indicating the Huon Track and not long after was the walker registration booth. I noted that a lone walker had registered the previous day to walk to Melaleuca - better him than me I thought.
Not long after registering I became somewhat geographical challenged and actually lost the track for a short while but soon found it again when I walked up to the ridge where I suspected that it would be. I noted my mistake on the way back.
I followed the track for a couple of ks and could then hear the rapids in the river and the track then paralleled the river up to about 3 kms. and then headed across country thus bypassing a bend in the river.

Huon River

The track was okay in some places but in others it was a nightmare of downed trees which required climbing under or over or having to take a detour around. Don't let the track photos fool you as I only managed to take shots of the good sections.
I guess it was not too bad but it did slow me down quite a lot. At about 4.5 kms. the track was back on the riverbank again and continued like that until Blakes Opening. This last section was not too bad and was relatively clear of trees. All along the section of walk along the river bank were great views of the river at various stages and in some sections I had the opportunity to descend to the river itself.

Nice section of track

As I arrived at Blakes Opening there was a tent pitched it the middle of the clearing, all closed up, so I assumed that someone had left for the day, maybe to Mount Picton and was coming back in the afternoon. I did intend to walk to the Mount Picton turnoff so continued on, but, immediately the track became a quagmire so I turned back to the Opening. As I arrived back I heard a zipping noise and this head popped out of the tent. It turned out that it was the guy heading to Melaleuca and he had had a rough day yesterday carrying his heavy pack from Tahune, dodging all the trees, and was sleeping in. I informed him that it was 1100 but he was not perturb and said that he probably should get started soon. After passing the time of day I left him to it, wished him well, and headed back downstream to find a nice lunch spot.

Lunch spot on the Huon

I soon found a good place and clambered down the bank and had a restful break. Soon I was back walking again and reached the car at about 1415.
The only rain I had for the day was in the first 30 minutes and it was not too heavy but it was quite cool for most of the walk. The largest ascent on the whole walk is only about 70 metres, so I would describe it as a flat walk and fairly easy except for all the downed trees.
Overall a good walk with nice views of the river.
Distance: 17.7 kms.
Time: 5'52"
Ascent: 430 metres
Click here to download GPX track.

Huon River

Huon River

Blakes Opening

Huon River lunch spot

On the track

Section of track

Huon River