Waterfall Valley to Lake Windermere
Overland Track
The Hike - After a wonderful first day on the Overland Track, I had one of my worst nights sleep of the whole week. Although I had picked the bunk room with one of the loudest snorers of the group, my recent upgrade of noise cancelling headphones meant this wasn't the biggest issue. Waking up every hour or so, I was finding it difficult getting the right temperature while sleeping. Being in the Tasmanian Highlands, I incorrectly assumed that even if it was warm during the day, that it would be cold at night. I think most of this, compared to the other multi-day hiking I've done is that the huts on the Overland, and especially the new ones, have some kind of insulation. This meant over the course of the night I ended up using my sleeping bag as a quilt, with one of my legs sticking out for extra cooling.
Waking up early, I wandered outside to check out the post-sunrise lighting, as watching the sunrise meant getting up at 4am thanks to being this far south and close to the summer solstice. There was a little glow about but I was happier with the seemingly clear weather, as Barn Bluff was visible at the end of the valley, with the decision on whether I'd do that side trip still undecided at this stage. Heading back inside for another little snozzle, I was up and about an hour later when I heard lots of activity coming from the kitchen. Sitting down with some familiar faces, it was another good opportunity to get to know everyone further, and eventually we had a full house. Sitting at one of the tables and tucking into my breakfast (Radix is my go-to breakfast after this trip #notsponsored), the windows at Waterfall Valley perfectly frame Barn Bluff, so I had plenty of opportunity to sit there and ponder whether I would be backtracking to climb it.
Given this day was only a mere 12 kilometres including the side trip to Lake Will, and relatively flat at that, I decided that I would be making the most of my Overland Track adventure. Noticing that Barn Bluff had some cool clouds flowing around the summit, I grabbed my camera and headed out onto the deck to take some photos. Going back to pack all my gear up, along with organising my day pack for the trip to Barn Bluff, I was soon ready to go. Having a few more conversations with groups that weren't too fussed about getting going straight away given the relaxed kilometres today, I said my goodbyes and headed back the way I came in the previous afternoon. Hiking back up the hill from Waterfall Valley, it was going to be a ten kilometre return trip, with over 500 metres of vertical ascent to climb. The first hill up onto the ridge is fairly gentle, with most of it being in the confines of the thick vegetation, including many luscious Pandani, and here I spotted my first Tasmanian Scrubwren.
About halfway up the climb I came across what I think was the ranger for Waterfall Valley, who might have been hiking back to Cradle Mountain, or maybe just checking out the state of the track through here. Continuing to climb, I soon exited onto the ridge, where the open scenery was a welcome relief. Looking to the right I could see Cradle Mountain, although the summit was shrouded in light cloud cover. To the left was the goal for the morning, Barn Bluff, the third highest peak in the whole of Tasmania, and still looking clear of cloud cover. Tramping along the boardwalk to reach the track junction, I was happy I'd made the decision to backtrack and climb Barn Bluff. At the junction I could see the boardwalk extending into the distance, and up a smaller mound that didn't look insignificant, and it isn't with about a 60 metre elevation gain from top to bottom. Compared to the hunk of dolerite behind it, this was nothing, and a nice little warm up for the climb ahead.
The wildflowers along the first stretch of the track were outstanding, with Scoparia, Alpine Groundsel and New Zealand Cushion Plant all providing something fun to photograph as I walked along. As a reference for how high you've climbed to near the base of Barn Bluff, you can see Waterfall Valley Hut down to your left, along with the views of the Fury River Valley to your right. Walking along the ridge, the grey conditions and the still mountain air created this wonderful feeling that really added to the experience. Reaching the base of the small mound, it looked a lit bigger from here than it did at the track junction, but strategically placed stairs help you ascend to the top, where you get your first view of the climb ahead. Compared to the Cradle Mountain climb the day before, it didn't look any worse, with a boulder field leading up to where it gets a bit trickier. As I started walking up the track leading to the boulders, coming back the other way was Jay and Eugene from our travelling party, and we had a bit of a discussion about the climb and they passed on some knowledge about the pain points.