Thursday 1st February 2018
 |
| Deep Glen Bay |
This walk has some significance as Deep Glen Bay is where most of the crew of the Blythe Star came ashore in a life raft after their ship sank near South West Cape in 1973. Three of the crew managed to climb out from the bay and basically rescued themselves. This was no mean feat as the country is quite steep and would have been harrowing ordeal for these men. Just Google Blythe Star for more info.
I had previously checked out where the descent to the bay commenced on a previous walk to Macgregor Peak so I had some idea of where I was going. I parked at the car park for Macgregor Peak and set off along Macgregor Road which has become impassible to vehicles because of large downed trees across it.
 |
| Macgregor Road |
After about 2.0 kms. I turned right into Schofields Road and followed this to Deep Glen Creek where the descent commenced.
 |
| Schofields Road |
 |
| Hut beside the road |
 |
| Inside hut |
 |
| Further along Schofields Road |
The track down to Deep Glen Bay was flagged all the way, but it would not really matter if it wasn't, as it basically followed Deep Glen Creek all the way down, sometimes in the creek, and other times on either side of the creek. It was reasonably steep and the rocks in the creek further down were wet and slippery. The rain forest was very nice with lots of moss and ferns.
 |
| Deep Glen Creek |
 |
| Deep Glen Creek |
 |
| Deep Glen Creek |
I eventually arrived at the bay. There is no beach to speak of, only rocks, but it was quite beautiful. It is only a tiny bay, about 100 metres across at the shoreline, and very isolated. I spent some time taking in the scenery.
I was not particularly looking forward to the climb out but it had to be done. There was no other way out, except by boat, and that would have been nice, as it was fairly calm. The ascent was a bit of a grind and when I was about two thirds up, I inadvertently started following another set of tapes. They finally petered out, or I missed them, so I just kept heading up through the bush to come out on the road west of where I had gone down. It did not matter as the bush was all much the same. The distance from the road to the bay is about 1.8 kms. and took me 1'25" for the descent and 2'10' for the ascent.
This was a good walk although I found it reasonably tiring. Probably being 30 or 40 years younger would have made a big difference!!! The scenery at the bay was quite special.
Distance: 14.5 kms.
Time: 6'52"
Ascent 750 metres
Click here for GPX file.
Hi Denis,
ReplyDeleteI know the Blythe Star story. It was sad that they lost a few along the way. Great story of survival, though. This walk has been on my bucket list for awhile. Glad to know that it is taped to some extent. Thank you for the track notes. Cheers AB
No worries Andrew. Mostly taped all the way but really it is just a matter of following the creek down. Enjoy.
DeleteHi Denis,
ReplyDeleteWe completed this walk yesterday. Many thanks for the track notes. Found plenty of new pink tape in the Glen, and angered a snake as we exited onto the rocky beach at the bottom. A bonus for us was a walker in our group who worked at the Maritime Museum, and knew quite a lot more of the facts about the survival story. We thoroughly enjoyed the banter. Although the start of the walk was a lot wetter than yours, it was raining steadily when we left the cars, we still managed to complete the walk in about the same time as you (we had 8 people in our group. We found the descent into the bay very wet and slippery, but the route was fairly obvious and not as steep as expected.
Once again, thanks for the blog.
No worries Andrew and glad you found the info useful. Probably my interpretation of steepness is different to yours because I will be 70 this year and the ascents and descents all look steeper than they used to be.😄 Sounds like others have been that way recently as the tapes I saw were mainly old.
DeleteHi Denis
ReplyDeleteI got told that a fellow Tasmanian business owner who's in the area his father built ferzackelys hut back in the day...went there few weeks ago would love to do some repairs to it ...check it out on my YouTube channel
TAS CAMPING AND HIKING ADVENTURES
thanks mate was a good walk beside the wankers trying to hook wood but I had a stop to that with a chain and nails or two lol
Hi Dennis,
ReplyDeleteI am a bit older than you and did the descent twice not long after the survivors washed ashore. Do you know if the track between Schofields Road and Cape Surville still exists
Hi Stephen,
DeleteI am not sure if that track still exists. I was always going to investigate to see if it was still there but never got around to it. Cheers Denis
Hello Denis, my name is Liz from ABC News in Hobart. I'm working on a story about the Blythe Star and was wondering if I could possibly use some of these photos (and credit you in the story)? my email is gwynn.liz@abc.net.au
ReplyDelete