Cradle Mountain

Plateaus & Canyons from summit
Wet Tundra
Summit ridge, dolorite blocks
Raven
Fresh water fjord - Dove Lake
Cradle Mountain

Quite a drive to Cradle Mountain - it'd be a fantastic killer bike ride, with steep long climbs, and swooping descents with snaky roads - all on the wrong side.

The hike up Cradle Mountain is a net 2600 foot climb, with some up and down so the total climbing is about 3300 feet. A lot of the final 1/2 hour section is scrambling over big blocks of igneous (dolorite) rocks so is pretty slow going. Today was beautiful weather - blue skies with scattered clouds, little wind, and t-shirt the whole way. Very unlike Tasmania. I talked to a guy yesterday who had been up Cradle 3 days ago with snow and ice still all over the summit from last week's storms.

It's actually not that impressive - it'd certainly be a minor peak at home - comparable to Bear Peak from Boulder, but with more rock scrambling along the ridge to get to the summit, and looking down on more lakes.

The geology is interesting with lots of the igneous stuff on top of a limestone layer - which weathers more rapidly, and then the whole thing cut up with glacial formations. It leaves large plateaus with glaciated valleys between them, and Cradle Mountain itself is an old nunatuk on top of a glaciated plateau.

At first glance, the tundra above tree line looks very similar to that at home. On closer inspection, the plants are quite different and much more lush. And, below treeline the forest is a temperate rain forest - very thick, and with lots of stuff that is quite unrecognizable. Eucalypts in many forms, beeches - unlike American or European beeches ( I seem to recall completely unrelated), tree ferns, and giant fern-like things that I couldn't categorize. And moss.

Only saw one mammal - a rather plump wombat, standing in the trail and very uninterested in me. I had to step over him to continue on my way. It didn't seem like alpine tundra with no marmots or conies to divert one.

The Ravens here are a bit different: white tips to the flight feathers and tail feathers. Bright colored eyes (yellow and red). They had a recognizable raven croak, but some vocalizations that continued on in varying pitch and volume for at least 6 seconds. Haven't heard that before.

Tonights accommodations are a bit different. The Tullah Lake Lodge is a very pretty site on a lake. It's an old dormitory for local mine operations that is gradually being upgraded, but is still 90 % occupied by miners and contractors (including some who arrive by helicopter). The only remaining rooms when I got here were in the economy wing - pretty basic, but adequate and 1/3 last nights price. There appear to be 2 tourist couples and about 50 minors. I believe the bar may be busy.

I tried "scallop pie" - think chicken pot pie but with scallops. Shoulda gone for the hamburg.

Overall the peak (the "iconic" Tassie view) was anticlimactic to someone who has been to Colorado, or the California Sierra, or the Canadian Rockies, or Alaska.

So rather than spending more time here, I'm going on to the West Coast - home to full on exposure to the Southern Ocean. It'll add driving time, but should be interesting.