Lake Windermere to New Pelion
Overland Track
The Hike - Two days down on the Overland Track and if you've read my previous two posts, you'll get the impression I was really enjoying myself. With a much better sleep on night two, I was up an hour or so after sunrise (which is about 4:30am at this time of year), to have a wander around the campsite. Heading back to bed for another snozzle, there was plenty of time to rest this morning before getting up and joining everyone else for breakfast. Eventually extracting myself from the sleeping bag, I grabbed my breakfast and found an empty seat among the busy kitchen.
Today would see everyone hike just under 16km along the main track to New Pelion Hut, with the side trips for the day being a short detour to the Forth Valley Lookout, a slightly longer one to Old Pelion Hut, and a summit climb up to Mount Oakleigh once you reach New Pelion Hut. The day I've mapped out here includes the Forth Valley Lookout and Mount Oakleigh side trips, so if you're not planning the Mount Oakleigh summit, don't be worried about those elevation numbers (about half of the elevation for the day is that 7.5km section). With a couple of days with the same group, everyone was getting more familiar, and the conversations were less forced as the comfort levels increased. Sitting down in the bright and airy kitchen area, the views looking out the window perfectly frame Lake Windermere, with Barn Bluff looming in the distance.
After breakfast it was my least favourite part of multiday hiking, packing up my gear and playing the game of Tetris to get it all in my pack. Having a dry and clean area to do this makes it much better, and with less food to pack after a couple of days, it was getting easier. Even though this was one of the longer days in terms of the distance between the huts, there was no rush to get going thanks to the abundance of daylight in the Tasmanian summer. Having said that, watching Mountain Forecast in the lead-up to this trip, day three was consistently the day where the bad weather was going to hit. When I last checked on the top of Barn Bluff, an afternoon shower was predicted, so it would be nice to get into camp before any rain arrived. Faffing about the hut, doing a bit of stretching and talking to others as they left, I was eventually sunscreened up and ready to depart around 8:30am.
For the first time on the trip, I was leaving around the same time as everyone else, and going in the right direction, an unusual feeling. The Lake Windermere campsite extends up the hill where all the tent sites are located, and I hadn't explored this area the previous day. It's a pretty spot, with the elevated position providing nice views over the landscape but still sheltered enough thanks to the pockets of vegetation surrounding the tent platforms. Rising up the hill and around the corner, you exit the thicker vegetation and are presented with some amazing views overlooking the buttongrass plains extending down to Lake Windermere, with Barn Bluff looking stoic in the distance. Barn Bluff is a constant companion for this first part of the day, along with the occasional glimpse of Cradle Mountain, providing a nice reminder of the first two days on the track.
The open plains soon give way to pockets of wildflower filled vegetation, with Alpine Tea-Tree and Scoparia seen through here in the summertime. Switching between plains and stunted forest, this sets the tone for the first part of the day, and when you reach the grassland sections, you start to see landmarks that will be more familiar by the end of the day, with the rocky spires of Mount Oakleigh being the obvious one. I caught up to the family from Northern NSW as I reached another section of shady forest, and overtook the dad and the two younger boys as the track starts to climb a little. Exiting the mossy forest, you climb up to Pine Forest Moor, with a Three Capes-esque carving in the boardwalk to alert you of this. This starts one of the most magical parts of the day, with stunning views looking back to Barn Bluff, and a real feeling of being out on an open plateau, surrounded by rugged mountains.