Spring hiking in Tasmania? Will there be snow or just rain?
Hiking the Overland Track from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair?
A leisurely bushwalk on a World Heritage "Top 10 Hikes in the World"
We have just returned from a seven day, six night trip on the Overland Track in Tasmania. There were four of us in the party with the plan to take our time and enjoy any good spring weather we might get along the way. With typical Tasmanian weather variability we were blessed with some great sunny days and also snow, sleet and rain in various forms. All this was expected and we were well prepared for any conditions.
Why hike the Overland Track again you may ask? Because we LOVE it!
In this post we will just make a few comments and observations about the trip, as there are many other posts on Our Hiking Blog about hiking the Overland Track. Check out the links to them at the bottom of the page.
Heading up the Horse Track as an alternative to the big grunt up Marions. Perfect for someone with barthmophobia. It is still a bit of a "climb" but over a longer distance. Every time we do it it seems to get harder....
We were hoping for snow, in fact a lot of snow! It had snowed heavily a couple of weeks before and while there was some on the Cradle Plateau it was very slushy and soft. Above is Sue heading across the Horse "Track" towards the intersection with the Overland Track proper (where it intersects just before Kitchen Hut)
We had planned to take snow shoes (Yowies) but Frank ended up the only person carrying them as the snow was patchy and not forecast for the duration of the trip. They were OK in this section but because the snow was so soft and slushy they broke through to ground several times and it was quite difficult to get them out of the snow.
Heading across to Kitchen Hut (with Cradle Mountain in the background). The snow was particularly soft here as there was a lot of water running across the ground (under the snow)
The Overland Track was easy to find in the snow. We had fantastic weather on day one.
We left the Ronney Creek car park (the official start of the Overland Track) at 1pm. Slow as ever, and hindered by the snow, we reached Waterfall valley Hut at 7pm. Sunset (above from just before the Barn Bluff turnoff) was at 6:07 so we had quite a bit of walking with headlights in the dark.
Cooking dinner at Windemere Hut we were surprised to be the only party in the hut that night. We were lucky enough to get ABC radio reception here and were able to listen to the AFL football and hear our team win the game and make the Grand Final. We also had Pelion and Kia Ora huts to ourselves which was surprising (but nice for a change, we have been at Pelion Hut when it was at it's capacity of 60 people)
Of seven days hiking, we had two totally fine days. The rest was a variety of "weather". Pictured above is John heading down the track. Tasmania has had a significant amount of winter and spring rain and the track was quite wet in places.
At Pelion Gap and the Mt Ossa turnoff. That evening we discovered we had red faces from sunburn! Colin had left Pelion Hut early hoping to climb Mt Ossa. When he arrived it was covered in cloud and after waiting an hour decided to head on to Kia Ora. As he says, no use climbing a mountain if you can't see the view. We arrive in sunshine and a cloud free Ossa!
Sue heading down Pelion Gap towards Kia Ora Hut. Nice bit of snow here but not enough for snow shoes.
It was a "bit chilly" on a couple of days. Pictured above is Frank feeling the cold.
We had never been into Ferguson Falls (which are between Kia Ora and Bert Nichols Hut) and were lucky to have chosen a great time of the year as it was PUMPING! We could not believe the roar of the water nor the sheer volume coming over the waterfall. It was a great side trip.
Above is a great view of the Acropolis from Bert Nichols Hut. The new hut is an interesting addition to the Overland Track. There is a very long, funny and interesting post on Bushwalk Tasmania about the Hut development. (some people love it, others hate it- we can see both sides)
We completed the walk at Echo Point Hut as the jetty at Narcissus was under a metre of water due to the high level of Lake St Clair.
In conclusion, a few reflections on this walk may be useful for anyone planning a spring bushwalk on the Overland Track.
- the snow was wet and really soft. Travel time was slow and snow shoes unhelpful
- temperatures were never below freezing so the tracks were slushy and wet rather than icy as we had in our Winter Overland Track
- We took it easy and just went from hut to hut. It made for a very relaxing trip, leaving late (between 9 and 10 am) each day and arriving into the Hut most days between 2 and 4 pm. It was a great way to "do" the track.
- We saw 22 people in total for the whole seven days (and saw no one for 3 of the days). If you are experienced, well prepared and not too ambitious it may be a good time of the year to hike the Overland Track without the seasonal "crowds"
- we allowed 7 nights and 8 days in case the weather held us up (or if we wanted a side trip). Snow is very common in September and there had been a large dump two weeks before our trip.
- we ended coming out "early" and had a night at the Derwent Bridge Hotel. It was great and we really enjoyed the food and hospitality.
Related Posts
How to hike the Overland Track - our eBook on getting the trip done - 2009/10 update
Backpacking the Overland Track - a view from the States
Planning food for a multiday hike
Various Overland Track posts
The Overland Track - Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair - a nice slow trip
Overland Track - Tasmania in Winter - some lessons
The Overland Track in Tasmania is a fantastic 6 days hiking experience. It is isolated, can throw up tough conditions and challenge you both physically and mentally. In fact, unless you are adequately prepared for bitterly cold and mind numbing conditions in winter, you risk serious problems (and the possibility of death) No joking. Inside the Kitchen Hut, I found an Aussie family from Brisbane, with a twelve year old child. They started the previous day, but got trapped from the excessive winds. I was actually quite glad to see them safe and alive; other hikers the previous night had told me of this family.
Walking the Overland Track in winter needs thorough planning, excellent gear and experience in tough Tasmanian conditions.
In this post we are shamelessly plugging our Hiking the Overland Track eBook, not as a way to make us rich, but as a good resource to help you plan your trip and reduce the risks to a managable level.
Why the plug?
We have just finished reading Aaron White's blog Aaron's Assonant Advertures In Australia and want to share some of his posts with potential Overland Track hikers. We highly recommend reading Aaron's Overland Track posts to get the full story.
We really enjoyed Aaron's writing style and story telling ability - it is great read.
This first post : Overland Track Chronicles - Rugging up sets the scene for his recent winter trip.
As reasonably experienced Tasmania hikers, reading his story immediately created warning bells in our minds, so we decided to post some snippets of his experiences and make a few comments about them so others who attempt the Overland Track in winter can be better prepared.
So read on, snippets from Aarons posts about a "hearty native Minnesotan" hiking the Overland Track in early winter. (with our comments below):
Buying Gear:
Without hesitation, he led me to a corner that was a forest of hangers with only rainjackets. "It rains a lot in Tasmania, so you'll need a good shell layer. This jacket here is 100% rain and wind proof. Feel it. Real gortex."
Mmmm gortex. I felt the smooth, yet rubbery sleeve and subtley turned the affixed price tag to my direction. $800.
"So will this keep me warm as well?" I asked.
"Oh no, sir!" The definity of his answer jabbed a hole right through what was left of my not-ignorant face. "This is just a shell layer. You'll need a good fleece jacket, coat, and of course (chuckle) thermals. I mean you at least have thermals right?"
Read this post: Best Hiking Clothes for a multiday hike in Tasmania - the layering principal
I found a cheap rain jacket for sale at a random Sydney shop for $40. In Launceston, I bought my stove, fleece coat, fleece gloves, tent and some wool socks at the local K-mart. I wasn't a Super Backpacker Man, but I think I was alright.
In the Overland Track eBook we go into detail about gear selection, what you need to take and what is not required.
Planning:
That night though, I didn't sleep, not even for a minute. I tossed, turned and froze to death under my pile of blankets in the heated Tasmanian room. Launceston isn't even in the mountains. I already knew my light summer sleeping bag would not be enough, even when fully clothed. I thought of my gear, my garbage bag gaiters, my lack of sleeping mat. Why did I buy potatoes?
I rolled out of bed at 5:59, yelling at my 6:00 alarm to wake up. I saw that it was the morning of May 13th (duhn duhn duh!!!!). I repacked my bag, cut back on some of the food, tossed out my potatoes. I removed the one pair of comfort clothing I saved for my first night off the mountain and cut back on a few other odds and ends. The bag was still too heavy, but it was at least manageable.
Read this post: Hiking gear what are the basics to get started
I still wasn't content. I threw on my hiking boots and headed to the 24hour Kmart for a camping mat. Freezing to death from no ground insulation was not the way I wanted to kick it. I walked a half block before I hit another obstacle to my coming hike: my ankles were in intense pain.
Three hours later, I arrived and Cradle Mountain National Park, ready to go, pain or not. I caved in a bought some actual rain pants at the inflated middle-of-nowhere price of $60
Many hikers leave on a sunny day, unprepared, without raingear or warm clothing and die when trapped in a snowstorm. I was undertaking it in mid-May, when you don't have to pay the $150 fee, but have to deal with less desirable weather and very short days.
Hiking during the non fee paying season is Ok if you are experienced and prepared. There is minimal support from Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service and less people around to help get you out of trouble. 
The Overland Track:
"Continue on? Isn't this the hut?"
"Oh no, this is just Kitchen Hut, an emergency shelter. The first overnight hut is another two hours further on."
That put me at just more than halfway done with the day. I was already exhausted: my back hurt, my ankles hurt, and one layer of face had been not so carefully removed by unhindered, blowing precipitation. There was thankfully only 30 minutes left on the open mountain face.
I collapsed upon opening the door. I just wasn't in enough shape for this first day of climbing, but a good nights sleep would hopefully give me the strength for the next. The hut was quite nice, with wooden bunks to sleep 25 and a gas heater to dry off all of our gear.
Even with a rain jacket, rain pants, fleece coat, hooded sweatshirt, t-shirt, and jeans, I was soaked all the way down to my thermals. I had a backpack cover over my water resistant backpack, but this proved useless: everything in my pack was wet. That day, even the super backpackers, with their $1000 dollar backpacks and special waterproof covers learned the lesson that "waterproof" is a myth.
Read this post by Matthias at Matt Worldwide: Preparing for a 10 day hike in South West Tasmania
Do not take cotton clothes such as jeans or track pants, once wet they will NOT DRY .
The second morning - leaving Waterfall Valley Hut
I jumped out of the creek, gave it the finger, and stomped through the pouring rain back to the hut and threw my fifty pound pack in the corner.
"I'm done! It's cold, rainy, everything is wet, it's too f**king foggy to see anything, and there is a f**king knee deep creek right at the start of this horrible day. Now, I'm going to have to walk with wet feet for the next 25km. I paid $1000 to do this piece of s#$t walk and it has been nothing but one... big...f**king...disappointment. I'm not putting up with this. I'm going back. That's it. F%$k this s*&t!"
The others at the hut were not really expecting such a tirade, especially minutes into the second day of the hike. Everyone, just kept on eating the breakfast in uncomfortable silence, until a young German woman finally asked the one question on everyones' mind. "Is there any way around this knee deep creek?"
"No!"
Five minutes later, I had my socks wrung out, I had my clothes put back on and was ready to move on.
Arriving Windemere Hut
I removed my completely wet gear and went into my backpack for my dry change of clothing. Even after repacking everything in garbage bags, my clothes were still damp. The left me with no dry clothes and the temperature was quickly dropping.
Within minutes, I was shivering uncontrollably and started feeling a bit faint. I could tell I was showing the early symptoms of hypothermia. I threw on my fleece coat even though it was wet. That is one thing I love about polar fleece, it is the amazing fabric that maintains warmth, even when wet.
Lightweight plastic garbage bags are not waterproof - they perforate easily and you gear will get wet. You need to double bag critical gear inside a pack liner (pack covers will not keep your pack contents dry!)
The previous night, Brian (a guy Aaron met on the Track) had slept in a tent in the rain, instead of the hut. Everything he owned, including sleeping back was soaked. His body was not forgiving him for the prior two days' punishment. He was cramping, worn-down, cold. Instead of pushing on that day, he decided to rest another day. This was an option I chose to wave, despite the inconceivably worse weather that day.
Since I was not going forward, I wanted to head back and see all the various side trails along the way I had passed up. - At this point Aaron decided to return to the Cradle Mountain end of the walk and not risk worse weather conditions that were forecast - a wise move.
I awoke in the middle of the night with the startling discovery that the Socks Paradox was in fact a myth. Once I donned my fifth pair of socks, wrapped my feet in a sweater, put the bottom of my sleeping bag in a canvas shopping bag, I was able to make my feet merely cold. It was a long, blustery night. The wind tested the structural integrity of the cabin.
I wasn't the only person who had a cold night. A young British bloke spent the night with merely a blanket. His one pair of socks was soaked from the previous day's walk. The sneakers he brought were still wet and he had no rain coat. The temperature was below freezing that day. Despite this, he pushed on. This is how people die.
The End- back at the Cradle Mountain Area
I was in my element, until I reached the top of the mountain.
Suddenly, I found myself in North Dakota mid-blizzard or maybe on top of mountain mid-blizzard, same difference. I pushed forward through knee-deep snow, which was good, because it stabilized me from being toppled by the wind. I was glad it was only a couple of miles back to Kitchen Hut.
They decided to head back to the park with me, so we headed out into the blizzard. At first it wasn't too bad, but after fifteen meters, the wind came back with a vengeance, the strongest I've faced on the trail. Being from Queensland, the boy had never seen snow before, now he was stuck in Antartica. They wisely turned back.
Many thanks to Aaron White for his great insights and honest appraisal of his Overland Track experience. Remember, you can read Aaron's eight posts on his blog, Aaron's Assonant Adventures in Australia.
Related Posts
The Overland Track eBook - information post
Overland Track eBook reviews
The Overland Track solo - Sue's trip report
Additional Information
Overland Track 2008 - Great trip report by Matthias
Bushwalk Tasmania - the resource for Tasmanian Bushwalking
The Overland Track - advice from a first timer
Planning to hike the Overland Track and not sure what gear you need?
You have read all the advice (including our Overland Track ebook) and STILL want more information?
Just love to read about other people's experiences to build up your knowledge base before you tackle one of the world's Best Hikes?
Want to hike the Overland Track solo but not sure if you can?
In this post we share some reflections of a recent solo Overland Track trip by Matthias, a young German guy who now lives in Hobart. He did the walk in late 2008.
Matthias has a fantastic blog called Mattworldwide that we have been following for the last few months as he documents his time in Australia, and in particular, Tasmania. He is a great bloke, who is a really interesting thinker and VERY organised. (maybe it is his German background)
We communicated a fair bit before his trip and he used our Walking the Overland Track ebook to help him plan the walk. .
Matt and his first mud on the Overland Track - to see all Matt's Track pictures click here
Matt kindly agreed to us reproducing some of his comments about the walk. We strongly encourage you to read the full story and his extensive notes on his blog post Overland Track 2008. We have added some comments in italics.
Matt's thoughts and recommendations:
This trip was my first long hiking trip and I knew that a lot of things would go wrong and that I would make mistakes. It was mostly about getting experience, and I got a lot of helpful experience. After all, here are some thoughts and recommendations from me based on my trip:
- A 1 litre water bottle is not enough, when it’s hot and sunny it can happen that you run out of water very quickly, like it happened to me on the first day. Whenever you find a good possibility to refill (like a creek) drink as much as you can and then fill up your bottle completely. It can be a long walk until you get another possibility to refill.
Agree in part, water is very heavy and there are many opportunities to refill on the track. Because we have walked the track so often, we know where the creeks so take some extra but not too much!
- Maybe don’t take bottles at all. Next time instead of a bottle I will carry a flexible water tank with about 2 litres that I can store in the top pocket of my backpack. I’ve seen a lot of people carrying these and they have a tube that goes to your mouth so you can drink easily anytime. I think that’s more convenient.
- If you’re camping with your tent, take some string with you. It can be a bit difficult to fix all sides of your tent on the tent platforms that are provided at most huts. The biggest problem is that they don’t have hooks in the middle of the platform and they are all different size, so it’s good to have some string so you can fix your tent if there are no hooks left on the platform.
Agree, or an alternate we use is large elastic bands (they stretch)
- It’s helpful to carry a tea towel to dry your dishes. You don’t need soap, just take a sponge with a rough surface on one side.
A large "Chux" works really well as a tea or body towel. They dry quickly as well.
- I didn’t have real hiking trousers and carried old cotton shorts and long replacement trousers. It’s definitely worth investing in good water-proof and dirt resistant hiking trousers. Take some with zip-off legs and you only need to take one pair of trousers with you.
Cotton is always a no no, once wet it will take a LONG time to dry.
- Only wear rain clothes when it actually rains. Most rain clothes are so wind resistant that you will sweat a lot more by wearing them. One day it looked like rain so I put on my rain over trousers. After a few minutes of walking I changed again, it was too hot.
- The quality of my sleep depends much on the quality of my pillow, I found out. It’s a good idea (thanks Frank) to carry an empty pillow case and fill it with clothes when you go to sleep. I didn’t take one with me (somehow forgot) and most nights I had very bad sleep.
- Take a light daypack with you, a small backpack for daytours or sidetrips. It doesn’t need to be ergonomic or expensive, a very cheap one that can be folded to small volume will do fine. It’s very good to have a daypack if you want to do some sidetrips like the climb to Mount Ossa or Cradle Mountain. You can leave your big pack at the junction (everyone does that, sometimes there are even platforms to store your backpack) and put lunch, water, first-aid, valuables etc. in your daypack. I didn’t carry one and made the mistake of taking my water bottle up to the summit of Cradle Mountain. What a mistake, you definitely need both your hands free to do all the dangerous rock climbing.
Matt on top of Mt Ossa - December 2008 - check out the snow in the background
- It’s worth doing a precise menu and food planning even if it doesn’t really sound necessary. I didn’t do much planning, I just took a lot more food than necessary to be able to extend my stay by several days in case I wanted to. In the end I didn’t extend much and brought a lot of food back home from my trip.
Agree, we have a large section of how to plan your menu in the Overland Track eBook
- Also it’s good to carry dry food and mostly things that only need added water, as water is supplied on the track. I carried some cans with tuna or soup with added bacon etc., but cans take up a lot of weight so next time I’ll leave them at home, except maybe tuna which is small and good.
- It worked very well for me to dry some food using a food dehydrator. While it didn’t really work drying fruit (was ugly and it’s cheap at Woolworths anyway) I was successful with drying spaghetti bolognese or sweet curry rice with banana. Next time I will prepare more dried food. A friend I met on the track carried 1kg of oats and a pack of milk powder, so every morning he was cooking oats for breakfast. Sounds nice and easy, but maybe it gets boring after some days.
Drying food is great - check out this post on how to dry spaghetti
- I probably wouldn’t carry a camera tripod anymore. While I got some really nice photos that wouldn’t have been possible without it, at 1.5kg it’s simply too much weight. Every kilo counts.
- My tent was way too heavy. It weights around 2.5kg, I will try to replace it with a 1kg one before I go hiking again.
- I always carry too many gas cans. Half of the trip I still used the almost empty can from my cycling trip earlier this year. With the right gas stove (I have a good one from Kovea) they almost last forever. One 230g gas can is definitely enough for a 8 day hiking trip, even if you use it twice a day or more to cook stuff. It’s good to go inside the hut for cooking, less wind saves you gas.
- Check your footwear before you leave!! In my ‘group’ there was a girl who had to fix their shoes with duct tape every day because they were falling to pieces after one or two days. Fortunately she found a ranger who could supply tape. It’s a long walk and it can kill your shoes, I’m surprised how worn my own (pretty good) shoes look after the Overland Track.
Yep, many people have this problem. This guy had a lot of trouble with his old boots and had to evacuate.
- Mosquitoes, there are so many of them!! If you don’t take any of the common sprays or cream you will get really annoyed by them. Especially if you wear shorts or t-shirts they will bite you everywhere!
- Don’t underestimate temperatures. Even if it’s very sunny and hot during the day, it can become surprisingly cold at night. If you’re camping in a tent, make sure you carry a warm sleeping bag or additional clothing for the night.
There was snow on the Overland Track in December and January this year. Conditions can change quickly at any time of the year.
Many thanks to Matthias for his great insights. Don't forget to check out all his Overland Track posts , they are excellent reading.
Related Posts
Hiking the Overland Track - the downloadable eBook
Hiking the Overland Track - eBook reviews
The Overland Track
Planning to hike the Overland Track in Tasmania?
Want to trek one of the Best Hikes in the World?
Need some help to work out transport, food and gear?
Confused about how to organise flights, Overland Track bookings, bus transfers, the ferry on Lake St Clair and getting your clean clothes to the end of the track?
Not sure what food to take or how to plan your hiking menu?
Worried about what gear you really need to carry for five or six days?
Steve, one of "Our Hiking Blog" readers, was a winner (and a great volunteer editor) of our recent Overland Track e-Book competition. He received a free copy of the downloadable book and has kindly written a review to share with our readers.
I came across this great resource during one my regular online visits to the bushwalking forums , Bushwalk Tasmania and Frank and Sue's own blog “Our Hiking Blog”.
I am from Queensland Australia , and am planning a return trip to do the Overland Track and I have been trying to plan my trip from afar.
The logistics of planning my first solo OT trip is rather daunting.
I am a fairly experienced through walker, but am still anxious about organising the fine details of such a trip from a long way away.
Frank and Sue's e-Book has been a “godsend”.
The fine detail of “how,when, where and why” are comprehensively covered and the links within to other associated walking resources are invaluable – something no other hard cover book could even attempt to cover.
This one resource will open up an information gateway to a safe and less complicated trip into some of the most spectacular areas in Australia. From which bus to catch there, to what food and gear to take and where to get it in Tassie, is covered.
There are many Overland Track resources available (and this e-Book refers you to these ). What is not covered in these other resources are the specific logistics of organising such a trip.
Frank also offers his opinion and give his wise advice about a range of OT specific areas and it has assisted me greatly in my planning.
Thanks for putting together such a valuable resource.
Steve C. 29/12/08
Many thanks to Steve for taking the time to review the book and we really hope it helps him have a great trip in May 09, where he plans to walk the Overland Track solo.
You may be interested in other reviews of the Overland Track e-Book - you can read them on the review page or check out more detail on the book on this post.
Related Posts
The Overland Track solo - Sue's trip report
The Overland Track - e-Book
Overland Track - track images
More pictures we really like of the trip
The Overland Track e Book reviews
We recently sent copies of the Overland Track downloadable book to a couple of great bushwalking and hiking sites for them to check out and possibly review.
Well, we are humbled by their responses, which were well beyond our expectations.
Pelion Hut - Overland Track Tasmania
Rick McCharles from besthike.com wrote a great review: eBook for the Overland Track
Some of the highlights from Rick's post are: (for us anyway!)
The best walk in Australia — our #10 best trek in the World — is Tasmania’s Overland Track.
John & Monica Chapman self-publish the best guidebook for the OT. (Chapman’s guidebooks are the best in the world, in fact.)
But personally I prefer the just released Overland Track eBook (PDF format) by Frank & Sue Wall.
Why is an eBook better than a hard copy guidebook?
easy for the authors to update links to web pages and email addresses downloads instantly I can carry it on my iTouch
And DIRT CHEAP for 18,000+ words and heaps of photographs
Brilliant.
This is exactly the kind of information I need when planning a major hike.
besthike.com is a "must subscribe to" site that lists the best hikes in the world (as Rick notes, the Overland Track comes in at number 10) There are also lists and information on "best hikes" by continent. Good stuff for planning your next trip
Nik, the site founder and administrator of Bushwalk Tasmania kindly wrote a
review on the Overland Track book for the forum.
Here is a snapshot of his post:
frank_in_oz has just released his downloadable eBook, 'Hiking the Overland Track'. I've had a read through it and it is an excellent resource for people who are looking to walk the Overland Track, and I highly recommend it particularly for people who are not experienced bushwalkers, or who are not familiar with Tasmania.
It includes a wide variety of topics to help people get organised for their Overland Track walk, not just track notes for the walk itself. Some of the topics covered include:
- Flights, bus trips and accommodation, park fees, track booking and track fees
- Gear, food, brief track notes, and references to other sources of information (including Bushwalk Tasmania, of course)
- Dealing with animals from possums to snakes, minimal impact walking, maps, etc
Bushwalk Tasmania forum is a fantastic spot to "hang out" and discuss all aspects of bushwalking in Tasmania. It is a really well moderated forum with many members who are willing to share their experience. As the site says: Information for bushwalkers from bushwalkers.
Related Posts:
Hiking the Overland Track e-Book
Release of the Overland Track book
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