Lake Belcher

Saturday 21st March 2015

Lake Belcher

The walk to Lake Belcher starts from the car park on Wombat Moor in Mount Field National Park.
I knew the walk was going to be wet and boggy and probably muddy as well, but that did not deter me, even though I really hate having wet boots.
I set off early from home and was walking by 0750. The weather was fine and quite cool with just a touch of ice on the section of boardwalk on the first part of the track. As usual the track across Wombat Moor was wet with little streams flowing along the track. I did manage to keep my boots dry on this part of the walk.

Mount Mawson from track

It took about 45 minutes to reach the point opposite Mount Mawson where the track started to descend to the Humboldt River. The descent was fairly gradual but seemed to go on forever, taking about an hour to reach the river crossing. The crossing consisted of a log spanning the river. The river was not wide but had a reasonable flow and without the log I would have had wet feet.

Humboldt River from log bridge

Up until the crossing the track had been well defined but from here it was less so, although still quite easy to follow. It became very wet and boggy and I soon ended up with wet boots and did sink up to my knees in a few places where there were well disguised holes. It was not overly muddy, just wet. It took a further half hour to reach the cabin where I stopped for a well earned snack. The cabin was in reasonable condition and would be a welcome site in cold snowy conditions. All along the walk beside the river were great views of the surrounding mountain ranges. which put them in a different perspective.

I walked down to the river to check it out and then on to Lake Belcher. The lake looked great in the morning sunshine and the water was so clear. After wandering around for a while I started heading back.

On the way back I did manage to step in more holes but reached the river crossing unscathed and began the ascent. I came across a group of Friends of Mount Field doing some track clearing which was quite unexpected. They do a great job of track and hut maintenance in the area. I found a sunny spot on the way up for lunch as I was rather wet from my many stumbles, but did not dry off much. I was grateful to finally reach the top as I was feeling quite tired. It was then just an easy downhill to the car.
This was a good walk with great scenery as long as you are not bothered with wet and boggy conditions.
Distance: 13.0 kms.
Time: 6'24"
Ascent: 535 metres
Click here to download GPX file.