Thursday 25 October 2007

Thark Ridge - 25 October 2007

Collins Bonnet from Thark Ridge - 25 Oct 2007Had a walk on Thark Ridge today. The walk starts at the carpark a few hundred metres above Big Bend on Mt Wellington. Walking uphill a little you can head off to the right where the going becomes open. There are tracks here and there just off the road, which soon become a single track, basically the deepest water denotes the track. Actually it's not too bad, just a bit soggy underfoot.

Lichen on Dolerite - 25 Oct 2007The track leads along the bottom of the range, and then climbs into a saddle over boulders. From there you can walk either way along the range - marked to the south, not to the north, or drop to the far side of the range towards Collins Bonnet. The track to the south from the saddle is marked on the Wellington park map, but the way from the road to the saddle is not. I'm unclear why they have omitted well-known and marked tracks from the map. Someone is even marking the track from the saddle southwards with grey plastic stakes, so why would you leave the northerly continuation off the map?


Anyway, the views are pretty good, and there were plenty of snow-streaked southern and western peaks in view today. Ben Lomond was clearly visible a little east of north. A wedge-tailed eagle was soaring around the ridge today, pursued by three ravens or currawongs - I wasn't sure which. I'm not sure whether currawongs actally chase eagles, but I know ravens do.

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