Russell Falls
Sunday 5 March: Mt Field – Lady Barron Falls Circuit and Lake Seal Lookout – S/E. Walk the Lady Barron Falls Circuit from the Mt Field National Park Visitors Centre. As an extra walk, I visited the Lake Seal Lookout from the Government Huts.
Summary
Lady Barron Falls Circuit – Distance: 6.7km | Time: 2hrs 15mins | Grading: S/E; E(6)
Lake Seal Lookout – Distance: 5.9km | Time: 1hr 20mins | Grading: S/E; E(7)
Photographs
Photographs are available, where you can start a large sized slideshow.
Waypoint and Track Files
Download the Lady Barron Falls .gpx file. (Right click, Save Link As…, Save – if you want to use it.)
Download the Lake Seal Lookout .gpx file. (Right click, Save Link As…, Save – if you want to use it.)
To use in Google Earth, do File, Open… and select Gps or All files as the File Type.
Track Notes
Driving Port Arthur to Mt Field National Park
We packed the car and drove via Hobart, New Norfolk (picked up a few supplies), a great stop for morning tea at the Possum Shed at Westerway (situated on the bank of the Tyenna River), to the Mt Field National Park Visitors Centre.
Picked up the key for the Fagus Government Hut at Lake Dobson, our accommodation for the next two nights. The last time I was at Mt Field was in Nov 2002.
Lady Barron Falls Circuit
A number of lovely features can be visited on this walk. Starting via the back glass doors of the Visitors Centre, we walked up the sealed track to the iconic Russell Falls. Beautiful wet rain forest vegetation.
Climbing the steps on the true left side of the falls, the path took us via the top of Russell Falls further up Russell Falls Creek to Horseshoe Falls.
The track then contoured to the SW to include the best side of the Tall Trees Walk loop. Plenty of signage explaining the life of the magnificent Swamp Gums (Eucalyptus regnans), the tallest hardwood and tallest flowering plant in the world. At one point there was a clinometer. Max lined it up on the top, read off the angle and looked up the nearby table. A few tens of metres further on, another sign confirmed the height of the tree as around 79 metres.
The track continued on to cross the Lake Dobson Road, then went SW through wet rain forest. Beautiful ferns and little bridges. We arrived at Lady Barron Falls.
The track returned from the falls and followed Lady Barron Creek downstream to the SE. Green ferns and moss abounded. A spot for an arvo break on a seat by the creek. An opportunity to sit quietly and listen to the babbling creek.
One last little surprise was a set of stairs which took us sharply up from the creek, then a gentle walk back to the Visitors Centre.
A lovely couple of hours.
Video
We then drove around 15km along the Lake Dobson Road to the Government Huts, a group of more rustic huts. Our Fagus Hut had running water, a candle and a pit toilet servicing it and the other 4 huts.
Lake Seal Lookout
After settling in, I decided to enjoy a short walk around Lake Dobson.
Began with 800m up the road to the Lake Dobson car park, then onto the signposted Pandani Walk around the lake. Starting off clockwise, I only got a couple of hundred metres because the signage to the Urquhart Track and the Alpine Tracks took my attention. We would come this way tomorrow, but the afternoon was sunny and I needed some more leg stretching.
Up the Urquhart Track to intersect with a gravel road. Signage indicated Alpine Tracks to left and right, with Ski Fields to the left. So another steep climb up to walk through some basic ski tow infrastructure and past a public snow shelter.
At the crest a huge vista unfolded. Crossing the main boardwalk, a short walk led to views down over Lake Seal. And to the west, the boardwalk stretched into the distance to the Rodway Tow at the base of the Rodway Range. I was itching for tomorrow’s walk to start.
I returned via the Snow Gum Track, which took me across some scree boulders then past a couple o ski lodges. Back down the road, back round the southerly edge of Lake Dobson and back down the road.
On hard rations tonight, augmented with some shop treats. Early to bed.
Track Maps
Track Lady Barron Falls Circuit
Party
3 walkers – Eric G, Max S (leader), me.