North West Bay River

Monday 28th March 2016

North West Bay River

Today was to be a mixture of places I had been before and some new areas. It was basically a loop walk incorporating Dead Island, some of the South Wellington Plateau and a section of the North West Bay River. I borrowed some of the walk from Peter Franklin's Blog.
I set off early, just on daybreak, from the large car park uphill from Big Bend and walked across the moor to Dead Island. It was quite cold and windy, but tolerable, and the moor was wet as usual but not too bad as I managed to get across with dry boots.

Sunrise over Hobart

Sun just hitting Thark Ridge

Dead Island in the gloom

Dead Island

Dead Island is not dead at all and is covered with plenty of vegetation, although it is easy walking.
I crossed the Island and headed up the ridge to the top and along to the southern end. There was some minor scrub before the ascent but it was not a problem.

Scree field on the ascent

On the ascent

Dead Island from top of ridge

Thark Ridge from top of ridge

Top of ridge

Top of ridge

At the southern end of the ridge I simply continued to follow it down heading slightly to the right of Mount Montagu. It was quite rocky in places but all manageable.

Cathedral Rock and Montagu Thumbs

Looking towards the Derwent

When I reached the end of the rocky descent the scrub did thicken up quite considerably and required some effort to get through, but I finally arrived at the North West Bay River where I stopped for a well earned break. There was a reasonable flow for this time of year.

Where I reached the river

Where I reached the river

After the break I rock hopped upstream to where the first boulder field became visible. Along the way were some small cataracts which were quite pretty.

I left the river here and followed scree fields where they existed and minor scrub to eventually reach the Thark Ridge track. From here it was an easy ramble back to the car.
This was a good walk and the majority was off track. I would suggest that if rock hopping is not your thing, then it would be advisable not to do this walk, as there is plenty of it.
Distance: 8.8 kms.
Time: 5'45"
Ascent: 360 metres
Click here to download GPX file.