Devils Throne via Dead Island

Tuesday 16th January 2018

Devils Throne

Although I have been to Devils Throne plenty of times, I had a couple of reasons to do it again. One was to check out the headwaters of the North West Bay River and the second was to check out the track re-route carried out by The Friends of Wellington Park to eliminate the wet area on the Devils Throne track.
I set off from the large car park above Big Bend and made a bee line to the north western end of Dead Island. The going was quite easy and there was not a lot of water, but it can be quite wet in that area. Once near the start of the river I headed towards a scree field that I could see in the distance. There are hundreds of small water filled ponds in this area.

Thark Ridge

The moor land

Cushion Plant

Dead Island

Thark Ridge

Hundreds of these small ponds

North West Bay River

North West Bay River

North West Bay River

Once across the river I simply walked up through the scrub to the Thark Ridge track. It was all easy going as the scrub was not bad at all. I followed the track along to the large cairn that marks the municipal boundaries and stopped for a snack.

Heading up to Thark Ridge

Thark Ridge

Thark Ridge

From here I headed over to Devils Throne where I stopped for early lunch. The day was magnificent with mild temperatures and practically no wind, but it was a little hazy.

Collins Bonnet

Mount Connection

Mount Montagu

Mountain River

Mountain River and Devils Throne.

I walked back along the Devils Throne track and along the new hardened section, which is a major improvement over the previous wet area. The Friends of Wellington Park have done an excellent job on the re-route. Once back to the original track, instead of taking the usual route over Thark Ridge, I had planned to follow the old trail done to the Collins Bonnet track and eventually the Big Bend Fire Trail. This I did and it appears that it does receive some foot traffic that way as it was reasonably clear. Once on to the fire trail I walked back to the car, spotting a small snake sunning itself.
There is a sign that has been erected on the fire trail stating that the Scout Hut is closed.

This was a really good walk on a great day.
Distance: 12.5 kms.
Time: 5'42"
Ascent: 460 metres
Click here to download GPX file.