On Walkabout In: The Wilds of Southwest Tasmania

Next Posting: Strathgordon, Tasmania

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From Strathgordon we back down road B61 and made a turn heading south down dirt road C607 to see a more remote area of Tasmania’s Southwest National Park:

Along the way down C607, which is also known as Scotts Peak Road, my wife and I stopped to hike the trail called the Creepy Crawly Walk.  The trail is a short walk on an improved boardwalk through a temperate Tasmanian rain forest:

I highly recommend stopping to take the walk through the forest because it provides a good sample of what the temperate rain forests in this remote area of Tasmania are like:

As we continued heading south down Scotts Peak Road our view was dominated by the spectacular peak of the 1,423 meter (4,669 ft) Mt. Anne:

We found ourselves continuously stopping to appreciate this stunningly beautiful peak:

Here is a closer look at the summit of the peak:

Another impressive mountain along the road is Mt. Eliza:

Eventually the road reached its southern reaches where it bordered a broad open plain:

The road then began to travel west and towards a small dam on Lake Pedder’s southern end:

From the eastern shore of Lake Pedder the peaks of Mt. Eliza dominate the eastern horizon:

The even more remote Arthur Range to the south of the lake:

There were plenty of more random mountain sticking out of the lake as well:

As we reached the southern end of the lake we had an even better view of the Arthur Range looking across a wind swept and boggy wilderness plain:

These mountains were incredibly beautiful to look at and are one of the most challenging multi-day hikes in all of Australia to access due to its remoteness, ruggedness, and fickle weather conditions:

I would absolutely love to hike across the Arthur Range at some point in the future once I have the time set aside to undertake such a hike. The Port Davey Track that traverses these mountains takes 8-14 days to complete.  Anyway sticking to paved and dirt roads was going to have to do for this trip  and the end of this road was at yet another dam on the south side of Lake Pedder:

Out in the distance of the above photograph I was just able to make out the steep summit of Mt. Anne on the left and Mt. Eliza n the right.  Here was the view looking northwest where the little village of Strathgordon is located on the far side of the lake:

Here is a picture of Solitude Mountain to the north, which became an isolated island within Lake Pedder when the dam was created:

Here is the view looking east with Mt. Anne once again visible in the distance on the far right:

Here is a better view of Mt. Anne and Mt. Eliza in the eastern distance:

Finally here is our last look at the Arthur Range as its spreads from west to east across the southern horizon:

Southwest Tasmania is just an incredible place to visit and my wife and I both wish we had more time to camp out longer and do more exploring of the area.  However, it was time for us to continue on our journey around Tasmania and next up for us was to drive to the Tasmanian West Coast across the Wilderness Highway.

Next Posting: Tasmania’s Wilderness Highway