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Sunday 28 December 2014

Mount Cameron - Northern Tasmania

Friday 26th December 2014

Mount Cameron
The Mount Cameron walk is accessed from Waterhouse Road which connects Bridport and Gladstone. About 10.5 kms. north west of Gladstone is Old Port Road. It used to be signed but the sign is now missing. Drive down this road for just over 7.0 kms and turn left into a track. Follow this to the locked gate and park.
Scottsdale High School Field Study Centre
I walked up the road for about 1.6 kms. to the Scottsdale High School Field Study Centre. We never had anything like this when I went to school many moons ago!!! The track to Mount Cameron actually branches off to the right before the centre but it is just as easy to walk up behind the centre where there is the option of taking either of two tracks to Mount Cameron. One goes via Douglas Lookout and the other via the Maze. I opted to walk up the lookout track and down the Maze track.


The track climbed steadily uphill before reaching the Douglas Lookout. There were views from here but I had to move around a bit to get a clear view. The views from the summit were much better.
At Douglas Lookout

From Douglas lookout

From Douglas Lookout
After checking out the scenery I carried on , took a short detour to the Church Spire, then back up to a large expanse of rock where the Maze track joined the track I was on.
From rock expanse

From rock expanse

From rock expanse

On rock expanse
Shortly after this I came to the Maze which was a series of rock columns with varying sized spaces between. I spent some time having a look around. It was very interesting.
The Maze

The Maze

The Maze

The Maze
From the Maze the track crossed a saddle and then started going around the northern side of Mount Cameron. Here I made a slight error and started following some tapes that went steeply up a smooth rock face. It became steeper but still doable so I carried on more or less heading straight up to the summit. I had to scrub bash to actually reach the top, but eventually reached it unscathed.
Summit Trig

From Summit

From Summit

From Summit

From Summit

Looking down to The Maze from Summit
After soaking in the great views and a snack I headed down, taking a more easterly route before picking up the track down below. I walked back via the Maze to the expanse of rock and followed the Maze track back to the School Centre and then back to the car.
This was a great walk with spectacular views.
Distance: 10.1 kms.
Time: 4'05"
Ascent: 656 metres
Click here to download GPX file.
From Maze Track



7 comments :

  1. There is now a track from just past the locked gate that bypasses the school.

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  2. how hard did you find the track

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  3. what was the difficulty of the track, would an unfit person be able to make it? also how hard was it navigating around the mountain :)

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    1. Some level of fitness is certainly required as it is a climb uphill to the top of the mountain. Navigating was quite okay as long as you know what you are doing

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  4. Hey Denis! We go to Musselroe every year and I have always wondered if there was a way to get up there! How well ribboned is the track? would we require a map to navigate to the summit? also how was the vehicle access road like to the field studies centre?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Andrew, the track is pretty easy to follow but it would be good to have a GPS or Google Maps just so you know where you are. The access road to the locked gate of the field studies was fine when I did it, 2WD.

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