Bushwalking in Tasmania

Hiking (or bushwalking as we call it “down under” ) is my passion and obsession. The place where we love to go backpacking is in Tasmania, Australia’s most southern state.

With a population of just over 500,000 people and a total area is 68,401 square kilometres (26,410 sq mi) -Tasmania is slightly larger than West Virginia (with it’s population of around 1.8 m) It is a beautiful, unspoilt place and has large tracts of World Heritage Wilderness areas, forests, mountains and large rivers. When I say wilderness, I mean wilderness and that is where we like to escape to as often as possible from our hometown on the mainland of Australia, Geelong.

Enough of an introduction, now down to our favourite hiking track in Tasmania – The Overland Track. This track was first officially walked in 1931 and stretches from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair over 65km (40 miles). While this is very short compared to “thru hikes” we read about in the U.S. it is considered THE iconic bushwalk in Australia.

Cradle Mountain is at the start of the Overland Track – it is magnificent in all sorts of conditions and weather.

Why is it so great?

  • a huge range of different environments ranging from sheer dolerite mountains, temperate rainforest, wild rivers and alpine plains
  • an incredible variety of weather and track conditions. It can snow in the middle of summer, rain for a week or be spectacular blue skies
  • there are many side trips to lakes, waterfalls and mountains – many people visit all of them
  • the environment is pristine and very well managed by the Parks Service
  • there are excellent, basic facilities spread evenly over the Track. This includes huts, platformed campsites and basic toilets

Frank with his wife, best mate and hiking partner Sue, half way along the Overland Track in September 2009. This is at the turnoff to Mt Ossa, the highest mountain in Tasmania.

The walk is usually done over five nights. I have done it about seven times and taken between four and seven nights depending on the group and weather. This might seem a slow pace to your readers and yes, it is, but it is deliberate. We enjoy a late start in the mornings and as many side trips as we can. We also enjoy getting into the huts early in the afternoon and relaxing, especially enjoying the fantastic views and wonderful people we meet from all over the world.

Yep, around 7000 people “do” the Overland Track each year and many of them are overseas visitor and first time multi day hikers. The funny thing is that even with this number of people, you still feel isolated and have heaps of space.
 
We hiked the Overland Track a couple of years ago for my 50th birthday with a group of friends. I got this cigar and a can or two of bourbon & coke as a present!

After walking the Track a few times and observing how many of these people carried too much (or the wrong) gear, had inappropriate equipment, got blisters, had boots that fell apart, took the wrong food etcetera (the list goes on) we wrote a guide book on How to Hike the Overland Track. We drew on our experience of planning transport, food, gear, equipment and a whole lot of other tips and tricks. We sell it via Our Hiking Blog and the feedback from people who have used it as a guide has been great.

If you are ever planning to head “down under” and want to get out for a backpacking trip, drop by the blog and get it contact, we would love to hear from you.

Thanks to Frank and Sue from the Australian hiking blog, ourhikingblog.com.au for this guest post on hiking in Tasmania.  This hiking blog also offers great outdoor tips that will make your next trip better.  Be sure to check out their blog and add it to your list of must reads.

Nature Quote : Children and the Outdoors

Appreciation of the natural world is a communication with nature in a language that, like any language, is learned most fluently as a child.  Those who reach adulthood without firm contacts with nature must labor inexorably to absorb the lessons children learn in a single afternoon when the language of nature is theirs for the taking without phylum or genus or explanation of any kind.

What’s the Most Your Pack Should Weigh?

How much should you carry when hiking?  Some say you shouldn’t carry more than 1/3 of your body weight.  I say try to keep it under ¼ of your body weight.  The less weight you carry the more comfortable you’ll be on the trail.  Of course, you shouldn’t leave out items that will make your camp time comfortable either.  A nice meal and plenty of rest can go a long way toward making your trip more enjoyable. 

Weight vs. Luxuries:  It’s really up to you.  Just try to minimize what you really don’t need and cut weight where you can.

Selecting the Best DayPack for Hiking


At first selecting a daypack for hiking doesn’t seem like a big deal. You’re only carrying a few pounds of gear and probably not hiking very far, and in fact if you go no more than a mile or two a fanny pack may be more than enough (but the bears will laugh at you). If you plan on hiking more than a few miles you’ll want to select a pack that is comfortable, durable, adjustable, has side pockets, and has the ability to hold a hydration bag and tube.

I’ve had several daypacks and after knocking out 20 plus miles on a few day hikes I found that a cheap daypack isn’t worth the savings. Even ten pounds can get very heavy after a few switchbacks.

The most important thing to me when picking a daypack is the waste belt. The pack can have the greatest pockets in the world and a solar panel to recharge my GPS, but if it doesn’t have a great hipbelt I’m moving to the next pack. The hipbelt on a good daypack works the same as your overnight backpacking pack. It shifts weight from your shoulders to your legs where you’re much stronger. A chest strap that pulls the pack toward your center of gravity is a must have too for me. During a long hike I’ll usually hook and unhook the chest strap several times to give different parts of my back and shoulders a rest.

My favorite daypack (pictured in this post) is the Kelty Redwing. There are newer versions available now, and I’m sure they are even better than mine. I’ve taken my Redwing to the top of Half Dome, to the tip of the Florida Keys in a kayak, and on airplanes as my carry-on. It’s a versatile pack that also looks great.
Whatever pack you choose just make sure it’s comfortable, that it will hold the load you put in it, and note the following:

  • Adjustable Hipbelt – should be padded and sit comfortably on your hips
  • Ability to secure hydration bladder and drinking tube
  • Easy to access side pockets
  • Average size: 1800 cubic inches – Go smaller or larger depending on your needs

Women hikers will want to look for daypacks made specifically for them, especially petite female hikers like my wife. A pack with shoulder straps too far apart can ruin your back.

Leaving Your Car at the Trailhead : Hiking Tip

It’s always a little scary leaving your car at the trailhead.  Usually these spots are remote, have no security, and sometimes are targeted by locals that don’t take kindly to outsiders. Thieves and vandals know that hikers won’t be near their vehicles for days or hours at a time and rarely near their cars at night.  To throw off these unscrupulous types I leave a note on my truck that reads:

“Brian,
I’ll be back in a few minutes. Wait here.”

This note – in an easy to spot location like the driver side window – makes it appear that someone will be showing up at any minute.

What tips do you have for auto security at the trailhead?

Duct Tape: The Hikers Friend

Duct tape is probably the most versatile item you can carry when hiking. It can mend and repair almost anything from blisters to holes in air mattresses. It can fix a tent pole and contain diarrhea (ok, not really). You can carry a half dozen repair kits (that will work better for individual needs), but they all will take up space and add weight, while a few yards of duct tape takes up little space and weighs almost nothing.

Here are just a few of the things duct tape can be used to mend and repair while outdoors.

  • Blisters
  • Boots
  • Tent Poles
  • Broken Waste Buckles
  • Air Mattresses
  • What Else?

If you don’t use quality duct tape some of these fixes may not work. You can peel some from a roll and test it first. If the tape isn’t sticky enough to wax the hair off your father’s back it’snot good enough. Duct tape should only be used for temporary fixes. When you get home you’ll want to remove the tape and repair the item properly. And when you remove it you’ll discover the downside to using duct tape – the sticky residue.

Hiking Tip : Shoelaces

I always carry an extra shoelace that will fit my boots or hiking shoes.  In fact I keep an extra lace in every pack I use.  It’s buried and I forget about it until I need it.  The shoelace can be used for all sorts of repairs as well.

RABBIT STARVATION


By Guest Writer Tom Hron
You must quickly find food when you’re lost in a wilderness, otherwise you’re doomed. Everyone has heard, “Oh, people can live for a month without eating.” That’s false, and you only have a few days in which to find something to eat, and that’s assuming you’re in good physical condition in the beginning and have fat re-serves to burn. If you’re skinny, curl up and kiss your butt good-bye in just a few days. The only time humans can live for a long time without eating is when they’re fasting in bed, hardly the case when you’re camping out and burning calories like crazy.
“I always carry a survival kit with snare wire,” you say, “so I’ll catch rabbits and ground squirrels to eat.” Sorry, but that’s another thing that’s misunderstood. Eat-ing their lean meat is like taking poison, and in a matter of three or four days you will be sicker than a dog. Diarrhea, vomiting, irregular heartbeat, low blood pres-sure, and chronic weakness—it’s called “rabbit starvation,” and the more you eat the hungrier you will get until your belly gets so bloated that you’ll look seven months pregnant. Early explorers learned the hard way to leave these little critters alone.
It takes two things to stay alive in the outdoors—fats and carbohydrates. Tak-ing the carbohydrates first, that presents a problem in itself, since it means you must find edible berries, nuts, and roots as soon as you can. For those who worry that they can’t do it, I’d like to remind them that if the Neanderthals could do it, why can’t you? Blueberries, cranberries, raspberries, arctic willow roots, cattail shoots, dandelions, pine nuts, wild rice, and fireweed are all possible sources of food. And there are just as many things in desert regions. Buy a book, take a hike, and make it a game to learn as much as you can about the plants you find in your surroundings. It’s not as hard as you think.
Finding fats is an entirely different challenge, since Native Americans from day one knew how to harvest deer, elk, and moose that had stores of fat along their backbones. Nowadays, of course, it’s foolish to believe people can hunt big game with homemade bows, arrows, and spears, and so what can a wilderness survivor do? The answer is to find a beaver pond, which is easy for almost everyone. Bea-vers are the one animal that is simple to locate and that build muddy runways where it’s fairly easy to snare them. An option is to tear a hole in their dam and wait in ambush, although that’s not as easy as you think. You must surprise them a good ways from water or you’ll never catch them. Use a club to administer the coup de grace.
Once you have your beaver, you’re in fat city. Its tail is loaded with nutrition and all you have to do is cut it off, roast it in hot coals, peel off the skin, and eat until you’re full. Native Alaskans still prize beaver as food. Try it and you’ll like it, especially when you’re starving to death!

Tom Hron has flown Alaska and the High Arctic with floatplanes and helicopters, written historical novels for Penguin in New York, and adventured all over North America. He tells about his experiences on www.alaskaexpert.blogspot.com and sells his “bear alarm” on www.packalarm.net.

Rabbit by Peterastn
Beaver by Paul Stevenson

Day Hiking the Bright Angel Trail of the Grand Canyon


This old Indian trail is now the most popular trail hiked in the Grand Canyon.  Bright Angel is an excellent way to see the canyon up close without having to plan for a difficult overnight hike (but you can do an overnight to the bottom and back if desired). Carrying water is highly recommended all year, especially in the summer.  You’ll be able to refill your water container seasonally at resthouses at 1.5 and 3 miles, and all year at the Indian Garden at 4.6 miles.

The National Park Service recommends the 3-miles resthouse as a good turn around spot, but if you continue in the summer it’s highly recommended that you turn around at the Indian Garden at 4.6 miles (making a 9.2 mile round trip).

I hiked this trail a few years ago and still have good dreams about the canyon.  If you’ve seen the Grand Canyon you understand why I say that it can’t be described in words or truly shown in pictures.  If you haven’t been to the Grand Canyon I suggest this day hike as a way to experience this natural wonder.

Pros and Cons of Hiking the Bright Angel Trail

Pros:

    Amazing views
    Well maintained
    Provides some areas of shade
    Water available (seasonally at some resthouses)
    Easy walk down

Cons:

    Busy
    You still should carry water as it’s limited and not always available
    Difficult walk back up (don’t forget about this as you stroll deeper and deeper into the canyon.)

Hiking Tips for the Bright Angel Trail

    Carry water bottle or Camelbak
    Be physically prepared / in shape
    Wear comfortable but sturdy shoes or hiking boots
    Bring moleskins for blisters
    Bring extra socks in summer
    Layer your clothing as it can be cool if you start early, but can quickly become hot
    Wear a broad brimmed hat, carry sunglasses, and sunscreen

Photo by Peter Stevens

On the Trail

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