Are you looking to up your overnight hiking anti? The Overland Track in Cradle Mountain-Lake Sinclair National Park is a 65-80 kilometre trail that meanders through some of Tasmania’s most stunning alpine landscapes. With state of the art huts greeting you at the end of each day, it is the perfect way to increase your overnight hiking experience, with a little bit of comfort.
Ronny Creek - The start of the trail Scrambling up Cradle Mt. Little bits of snow still on cradle
Overview:
Location — Cradle Mountain-Lake Sinclair National Park, Tasmania
Best season — Permit season is October 1st – May 31st (outside of this you can walk the track for free, however it is not advised) November to March is usually the best weather.
Length — 65 kilometres (plus an optional 15 kilometre additional day if you do not take the ferry across Lake Sinclair at the end)
Average time — 6 – 7 days
Cost — There are a few different elements to the cost:
National Parks Pass - $44.75 AUD for two months
Registration - $285 per person (opens July 1st each year for the season ahead)
Transport – $87.50 from Launceston to Cradle Mountain, $77.50 from Lake Sinclair to Launceston with Overland Track Transport (you can also start and end in Hobart with this service)
Start location — Ronny creek (a shuttle bus will drop you here from the Visitor centre)
End location — Lake Sinclair Visitor Centre
Facilities — State of the art huts, tent platforms, drop toilets, gas stoves only, lots of duck walks along the trail. No fires permitted in National Parks.
Difficulty — Grade 3-4, moderate-challenging. The side trips increase the 'challenge' level.
Helpful insights:
Maps – I bought the Overland Track Guidebook Pack for the journey and really enjoyed having it to follow and plan side trips as we went.
Getting there – Because the trail ends in a different place to where it starts, you will need to make sure you book transport to and from. Companies like Overland track transport and Wild Island Adventure make this easy from the main hubs of Launceston and Hobart. I got a lift with hubby to the Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre and then organised a bus from the end of the trail back to Hobart. There is always the option of hitching to and from the trail, which in the summer months is often quite easy. Whether you are taking the ferry across Lake Sinclair on your final day, or walking the extra 15 kilometres, you will be able to make the 2pm buses back to Hobart or Launceston easily.
Fitness – I would say the level of fitness needed to achieve this trail is low to moderate if you keep your pack weight down. The side trips (which are optional) are what make it substantially harder.
Water – There are water tanks at every hut, as well as lakes and streams along the trail. I used a Sawyer filter.
Campsites/huts – The trail is broken up into very clear sections via the seven huts. As of 2022 there have been huge upgrades to the toilets and huts along the trail. The huts are all heated with ample space to escape the elements and cook insidde and the toilet facilities are great (by drop dunny standards). We opted to sleep in our tents most nights to enjoy the peace and quiet of the outside, and to make carrying the weight of a tent worth while.
Weather – You can get all seasons (snow, rain, wind, sun) year round, so be prepared for everything. I went in October just after daylights savings began, had a cracking sunny start, flood level rains for two days straight and then woke to snow on the second last day.
My starting pack weight – 20 kilograms. We were a team of two women with one 3-person tent to share and had 7 days’ worth of food.
The new huts Huge waterfalls after two days of rain Brew breaks before hiking Mt Ossa
My itinerary:
You can break up the trail however you like while sticking to the set campgrounds. We originally planned for 7 days, knowing we wanted to hike the final day (rather than take the ferry). You can take as long or as short as you like on the trail, this means you can wait out bad weather, or make the most of good weather.
The distances between huts are very achievable. This allows time for long lunches, lots of photos, and if you feel like more of a challenge; incredible side trips which I feel are the best part of the trail.
Start date: October 11th 2022, 10:30am
Day 1: Catch shuttle bus from visitor centre to Ronny Creek. Ronny Creek to Waterfall Valley Hut 10.7 km
Day 2: Waterfall Valley Hut to Windermere Hut 7.8 km
Day 3: Windermere Hut to Pelion Hut 16.8 km
Day 4: Pelion Hut to Kia Ora Hut 8.6 km
Day 5: Kia Ora Hut to Bert Nichols Hut 9.6 km
Day 6: Bert Nichols Hut to Echo Point Hut (via Narcissus Hut where there is an option to catch the ferry across lake Sinclair to the end) 16 km
Day 7: Echo Point Hut to Cynthia Bay / Lake Sinclair visitor centre 11 km
For our final night we stayed at the Lake Sinclair Lodge which was absolutely unnecessary and not something I recommend. You can easily make any transport options back to Launceston or Hobart even if you walk the optional final day out.
Windy whiteout heading to barn bluff Mother nature turning it on Snow on Mt Ossa
Side Trips:
The side trips are the best part of this trail in my opinion. I have highlighted the ones we did in bold. For many of the more challenging ones like Cradle, Ossa, and Pelion East, you can leave your bags at the bottom (but beware the currawong birds that will undo zips and steal anything not tucked away) and travel light to the top. There is more than enough daylight during the summer months to get most of the side trips in and make it to the next hut.
Cradle Mountain: 2 km round trip (great fun and mostly rock scrambling)
Barn Bluff: 7 km round trip (we back tracked from waterfall valley hut to get this one but it was blowing a gale and we couldn’t see past our feet)
Lake Will: 3 km round trip (saw lots of wombats on the trail)
Old Pelion Hut: 1 km round trip
Mt Ossa: 5 km round trip (absolutely stunning, even if you only go half way. Nice scramble to the top – be careful if there is snow)
Mt Pelion East: 2.5 km round trip
D’Alton and Fergusson Falls: 1 km round trip (incredible because we had flood like rain falls the day before)
Hartnett Falls: 1.5 km round trip (breathtaking down the bottom, like a Japanese garden)
Pine Valley Hut and the Acropolis: 10 km return to Pine valley hut and another 6km to the Acropolis. You can stay out here the night.
Narcissus Hut to Cynthia Bay: 17.5 km. Technically not a side trip but the final section of The Overland Track that you can include instead of taking the ferry across Lake St Clair. Echo Point Hut is a little further from Narcissus and is a quaint and gorgeous spot to spend the final night. It only sleeps about 8 people but there is space for at least 6 tents outside. There is also a big metal bin for your bags so your things don’t get chewed by the mice.
Lake Will We slept in our tent most nights The finish
Gear:
I have put together a comprehensive ‘Tasmanian Hiking & Camping Checklist’ that you can download. This covers everything I took on The Overland. The list below covers the few extra pieces that I think require more explanation.
Wet weather gear
Both my friend and I got completely soaked through one particular day when it absolutely bucketed down nonstop. This was despite having good quality waterproof jacket and pants. I would suggest having a cheap, throw over everything, rain poncho. Something like this.
Cooking & food
I took a jet boil and two 230g gas canisters. We had dehydrated meals for dinner, pita bread and tuna for lunches and granola for breakfasts. Snacks were our own favourite personal preferences. There were ample brew breaks each day.
Shoes
I wore Merrell Moab 3 with high sea to summit gaiters and they were perfect.
Tent
For this trip I used the Nature Hike Cloud Up 3. I always take a 3-person tent for two people. For an extra 600 grams the bigger space is always appreciated. We opted to sleep in the tent every night over the huts (apart from one night in Pelion due to flood conditions) It's generally a more restful night away from scrunching sleeping mats and snoring strangers.
Lightweight stash bag for side trips
It’s always handy to have a little bag that can fit water, snacks and first aid for hitting the side trips without weight.
The Overland Track is such a fabulous introduction to multi day overnight hiking. There are lots of people on the trail in summer, so you never feel too isolated, but then there are also times when you can venture of on sides trips to challenge your fitness and skill levels. If you are thinking of booking your Overland adventure and have any questions, leave a comment below and I will do my best to help you out.
See you on the trails!
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