Cascade Track, Mt Wellington - June 2014

Winter arrived in Tassie this week, with "penguins in the southerlies", as our favourite cartoonist Kudelka would describe it.  Sunday dawned with steady light rain and bitter temperatures, and a prediction of snow to the 600m level. Oh well, there's nothing for it but to get out there.  Caroline had organised a fairly easy walk up the nearby recently refurbished Cascade Walking Track and a second leg up the Myrtle Gully Track to the Junction Cabin.  Braving the poor weather outlook were Caroline, Warren, Di, Robert, Pauline, Girwan (spelling?), Wayne, James, and Gary.  We parked just behind the Cascade Brewery, right where the track commences, and pulled on our layers.  Gary was sent home due to already having a cold and not having brought enough layers.

This is the map of the Cascade Walking Track:

At 10.10am we set off up the track, hoping that the drizzle would clear.  And what do you know, it soon did. So we had a lovely cool, only slightly showery, walk along this track.

A lovely new arched stone bridge has been built on the track, dedicated to Peter Graves, founder of the Cascade Brewery. Apparently this land belongs to the brewery and they have kindly worked with Council to encourage public access along the creek.  Here's another nice bridge:

There are other neat little curated experiences on the track, such as:

We reached the carpark at the top of Old Farm Rd at 10.50am (only 40 minutes), and decided to continue up the hill towards the Junction Cabin.  At the junction of Myrtle Gully Track, Old Farm Track and the firebreak road, we took the Old Farm Track option.  Not long after, we selected the Myrtle Gully Track option (against the Old Farm Track option) and walked up this beautiful little gully.  There was a good amount of water in the falls, following the rains.  

Robert, Di and Pauline decided to call it quits about 20 minutes into this stretch, and headed back down the hill.  The rest of the group continued up to the Junction Cabin (which happens to be at 600m!) for a short break before heading back down again.  

Wayne reported that it was "a bit of a slog with lots of huffing and puffing.  Just to show that we made it:

Just as we were leaving, it started snowing, sleety snow really, but unfortunately not heavy enough for the phone camera to pick up. We all agreed it was a magical moment, but it didn't last long as we wandered back down the mountain". 

A nice spot to rest on the Cascade Walking Track:

One for Bob:

Di, Robert and Pauline were back at the cars at about midday, and were back home, warm and dry by 12.30pm.  This shorter version (at 2h 20min) was an enjoyable short walk and very handy to home.