Nicholls Falls

Saturday 28th June 2014

Nicholls Falls - Look closely to see the cascade

Nicholls Falls has been on my list for a while so I decided to check it out today. I had no information on the falls or if there was any track at all so I thought I would just wing it and see what happened.
To get to the start, drive up Van Moreys Road from Margate and park just before a quarry. The last couple of kilometres are 4WD only, and it is possible to drive much further- all the way to Grey Mountain actually, but I value my vehicle so I park here.
I set off at 0750 along the 4WD track which I have walked quite a few times to various sites in Snug Tiers.
The track as usual contained a lot of water filled holes but these were quite easy to walk around. On my way back to the car I discovered why this was the case.

Typical condition of the track

The track went downhill for about 2.0 kms. before I turned left onto the track that goes to Grey Mountain. I followed this to a junction at 4.6 kms. from the start where I turned left onto a side track which I knew led to a water storage dam and hopefully access to Nicholls Falls. It was not long until I crossed over one branch of Nicholls Rivulet and arrived at the dam site. A large log and dirt mound had been placed at the end of the road to stop 4WDs from accessing the dam , but they had made a bypass around this and driven along the dam wall and made a complete quagmire of the place.

Dam Wall

This dam along with a larger one further along the Grey Mountain Road provides water for the town of Cygnet and apparently feeds into a reservoir downstream from Nicholls Falls. There was an outlet with a valve more or less at the base of the wall and water was flowing out to provide a flow, albeit small, for Nicholls Rivulet. After checking it out I walked back down the road to try to find an old track. I found a few tapes where the track should have been, so I started following them. The tapes eventually ceased so I just made my way through the scrub and did pick up the track again. When the track ran out I more or less followed the creek downstream, sometimes in the creek, and sometimes high up on the western bank. As I neared the falls I had to descend quite steeply to the top of the falls. I was actually sliding down on my posterior in some places, which is something I rarely do, but there was nothing to hang onto.

Looking back up Nicholls Rivulet at the top of the falls

I took me 1'10" to scrub bash the 1.0 km. to the top of the falls. The rocks were as if I was standing on wet glass so I wasn't getting anywhere near the edge as there was a shear drop. I gingerly had a look and then kept climbing down to see if I could get a decent look at the falls. The view was not great but I could see the water cascading down, although it is not apparent in the photos. Trust me, there was some flow.

Looking South from top of Falls

I decided not to go down any further as it was quite steep and I didn't know if the views would have been any better. Maybe on the eastern side would be a better outlook as there were some rocky outcrops.

The eastern bank of Nicholls Rivulet from just below the top of Falls

I had some lunch and walked back upstream, roughly following my steps and came across the junction of the eastern and western branches of Nicholls Rivulet. The western one, from the larger storeage dam was flowing about the same as the eastern one. As I neared the Grey Mountain track I could hear motor bikes and soon came across four of them, closely followed by four 4WDs. As I walked backed to the car I encountered 3 more bikes and 4 more 4WDs. It is easy to see why the track gets churned up. Although they are permitted to drive on the Grey Mountain track and also the Pelverata Falls track, they don't just stay on these tracks and seem to drive anywhere they please. I arrived back at the car at 1320 to a light sprinkle of rain.
This was not a bad walk although the view of the falls was pretty limited. I had a good day anyway.
Distance: 13.4 kms.
Time: 5'30"
Ascent: 400 metres
Click here to download GPX track.

Snug Plains

Snug Plains

Dam

Obstruction to stop access to Dam wall

Gorge below Nicholls Falls

Hidden Falls

Saturday 21st June 2014

Hidden Falls

Hidden Falls can be reached via a couple of different routes. One is from Twamley Road and the other one which I chose to walk is from Three Thumbs Lookout Road. To arrive at the start either drive via Orford or Copping along Wielangta Road to The Thumbs Lookout Road and up this to the start point. The drive via Copping is shorter but on gravel for a fair distance and I found that both ways take about the same time and the route via Orford is better.

Forestry Track

I started walking just after 0800 after a leisurely drive up. There was thick fog at home but it was clear around Hobart and came in again as I was approaching the Orford area. Thankfully it was quite clear at the walk start. There was the option of walking along the old forestry track or taking the "short cut" through the scrub on a lesser track. I opted for the road as I didn't want to get saturated from the wet foliage and decided to take the short cut on the way back when everything had hopefully dried out. I followed the road for almost 5.0 kms. before it ran out. It was mostly downhill all the way and there were some limited views along the way. The track was quite clear and made for easy walking.

Griffiths Rivulet

Upon reaching the end of the road there was no alternative but to take to the scrub. I climbed down quite steeply over rocks and through the scrub to Griffiths Rivulet. The scrub was not too bad and I availed myself of animal pads which made it a little easier. It took me 30" to make the descent. The rivulet was only flowing slightly so I knew then that there would not be much of a cascade at the falls. I had to be extremely careful crossing the stream as the rocks were super slippery. After crossing I climbed up steeply on the other side, up a ridge to another old disused forestry track. This was followed for about a kilometre as it went up and down a couple of times before I decided to leave the track and head for the falls. The walking here was quite open with some large gum trees and soon I was descending very steeply to the falls. I came out right at the base of the falls, and, as expected there was very little flow. That did not bother me as it was a nice spot anyway. After lunch I made the climb back up out of the rivulet and walked back towards the car. When I was about 3 kms. from the car I took the short cut and walked back to the start. This time I found the section of track that I missed when I walked the Three Thumbs Circuit. The track was initially dry but when I neared the car my pants became saturated. The "short cut" is not really a short cut as it takes longer to walk than the road and is only marginally shorter in distance but it is a break from the road walking.
Overall this was a good walk even though Hidden Falls was not flowing very much.
Distance: 13.3 kms.
Time: 5'38"
Ascent: 800 metres
Click here to download GPX track.

Griffiths Rivulet

Remains of weather balloon

Hidden Falls

Hidden Falls

Cliffs at Hidden Falls

Looking across from track before descent to Griffiths Rivulet

Mount Mawson

Wednesday 11th June 2014

Mount Mawson from Wombat Moor car park

This walk started from the Wombat Moor car park on Lake Dobson Road in Mount Field National Park.
To reach here, drive out from Hobart, turn left at Westerway and drive to Mount Field National Park, then up Lake Dobson Road and 1.5 kms. past Lake Fenton to the car park.
It was a little foggy when I left home, but as I was driving along the Derwent the fog became thicker and I wasn't sure how things would turn out. I need not have worried as the fog disappeared once I started heading west towards Mount Field and it turned into a wonderful clear day.

New boardwalk

I began at 0826 on some new boardwalk that had been installed since I was here last. It was not as cold as I had been expecting and very pleasant walking. The boards did not last long and soon I was on the usual sort of track. This is actually the track to Lake Belton.

After the boardwalk

It was a little wet across Wombat Moor, but not enough to wet my boots and soon I entered a copse of trees and climbed to the top of a ridge where the route up to the summit was quite obvious. There was a lot of fog to be seen in the valleys below.

Fog in the valley below 

The final ascent was easy via a small scree field and then on to the top.

Ascent via scree field

I climbed up what I thought was the highest peak but have since found that it was not quite the highest. There are three peaks, 1314, 1316 and 1318 metres and I climbed the lowest one, but that does not concern me in the slightest as I had a great view from where I was. After climbing down I set off on an exploration of the plateau.

Lake Dobson

My first exercise was to head north to a vantage point overlooking Lake Dobson where there were great views. Next I went south west to the western side of the plateau to a lookout spot that provided fantastic scenery out to the west and also overlooked Lake Belton and the Humbodlt River.

Lake Belton and Humboldt River

It was very clear and the mountains out to the west seemed to go on forever. It was great. Next I walked along the side of the plateau in a north west direction to another lookout spot where there were similar great views. After lunch I walked north west to try to find the Southwest Lookout track. The track was not very obvious so I just headed for the ski tow in the distance. Upon reaching this I descended under the tow to pick up the Golden Stairs track and walked down this to lake Dobson. This track is becoming overgrown somewhat but is generally easy to follow. After reaching the Lake Dobson car park I just walked back up the road to the car.
This is a great short walk with fantastic alpine scenery.
Distance: 9.6 kms.
Time: 4'25"
Ascent: 435 metres
Click here to download GPX track.

Ice on track

Tyenna Peak

Tyenna Peak and Florentine Peak

Frozen pond on plateau

Mount Mawson

Humboldt River

Compton Hill

Sunday 1st June 2014

Compton Hill Summit

Today was going to be a day of exploration as I had not been in this immediate area before, and realistically speaking I was not expecting anything to startling. This is more or less how it turned out. I had four different short walks planned and intended to do what I could.
To reach the start is a little complicated via various forestry roads. One way is to drive out of Judbury as if heading towards the start of Snowy South and instead of making the last turn continue straight ahead on the Forest Drive until reaching the start. The other way is to head out as if going to Nevada Peak start and turn left off Russell Road and follow the Forest Drive to the start. Maps below.

Start of Compton Hill walk

I started the Compton Hill walk at 0750 at Russell Spur 5 where there was just enough space to park the car. The spur has not been driven on for a long time and was becoming overgrown. The first section was not too bad so I had high hopes, but they were soon dashed, as the track became more overgrown the further I walked.

First section of track

As I climbed there were tracks going off left and right and it was quite difficult staying on the track that I actually wanted.

Track further up the hill

After many false leads I eventually reached what I determined was the summit. I was surrounded by rather nice forest with some large trees even though there was evidence of logging in the past. There were no views here but that was expected. I intended to walk back down to Russell Road on the eastern side of Compton Hill via a faint track that I thought was there. I searched high and low for it by crisscrossing a few times but could not locate it, so I just had to scrub bash down. It was quite thick and there were many large trees down. Down towards the road was an area of mossy forest with many large tree ferns, and, about 100 metres before the road I located the old track. I eventually broke out to Russell Road and sat down for a break.

In the mossy forest

My next plan was to walk down to the Russell River via either of two tracks that I had sussed out. One was closer than the other but the furthest one appeared more defined on Google Earth, so I chose the latter. I could have walked back to the car and driven down to the track, but chose to walk. It was 2.3 kms. down the road to Russell Spur 4 where I turned right onto the Spur. All along Russell Road was evidece of past logging with massive logs on the ground and numerous large tree stumps. There were also numerous clumps of fungi all along here.

Tree beside Russell Road

As I walked along Russell Spur 4 it gradually deteriorated the further I walked but was easily negotiated, and when I reached the end of the track I had to head north to reach the river. An old overgrown track descended steeply for a while but petered out and soon I was scrub bashing again. It was quite difficult as there were many large tress down and the scrub was thick and it was fairly steep. I could hear the river roaring as I approached and finally I reached it. I thought I may have been able to rock hop either up or downstream for a while, but after slipping over after about 1 metre into the creek, I quickly canned that idea. I gingerly made it to some rocks and settled down for lunch. After lunch I climbed back uphill and walked back to the car. Even down near the river was evidence of logging. It must have been a real challenge in such steep country. I abandoned any plans for further walks today as I was quite tired when I reached the car.
Overall not a brilliant walk but I was satisfied with seeing a new area.
Distance: 12.8 kms.
Time: 5'45"
Ascent: 450 metres
Click here to download GPX track.

Beside Russell Road

Russell River

Russell River

Russell River

Snowy South and Nevada Peak from car park

Compton Hill access