{"id":163,"date":"2023-02-28T20:03:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-28T10:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geoffgoodyergmail.direct.quickconnect.to\/wordpress\/?p=163"},"modified":"2023-07-07T16:05:06","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T06:05:06","slug":"overland-track-day-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geoffgoodyer.synology.me\/wordpress\/overland-track-day-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Overland Track – day 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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After climbing a great hill,
one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.<\/em><\/p>\nNelson Mandela.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

After breakfast and packing up camp, I went for a side trip to climb Mount Oakleigh. This is the highlight of my Overland Track adventure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The track up Mount Oakleigh is a joy. It begins by crossing a grassy plain, and then climbs through a series of forests, each one different to the preceding one. There are areas of open woodland, there are alpine environments, there are pandani groves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you climb to the upper part of Mount Oakleigh, the track then traverses across. The landscape is open, scrubby, and wind swept. It has a wild look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The track ends with a view looking over the \u201cfingers\u201d of rock that protrude from the eastern side of Mount Oakleigh. The view extends across the valley of the River Forth and around to the north, where the true peak of Mount Oakleigh lies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
View from Mt Oakleigh<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The descent of Mount Oakleigh takes you back through the variety of forest vegetation that you went through to reach the summit. It has an ancient feeling, almost prehistoric, with the trees and fallen logs covered thickly in moss and the pandani standing in groups like a Dr Seuss drawing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mt Oakleigh Track<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When I returned to New Pelion Hut, it was empty. Everyone had continued on their walks towards the south, and Mount Ossa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
New Pelion Hut<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I loaded up my pack and started walking again. The Overland Track is mostly boardwalked, although the quality varies from place to place. Some of the original boardwalk still remains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Rustic part of the Overland Track<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After a little over an hour, I had climbed to Pelion Gap. What a surprise, and a wonderful experience. The view that was previously hidden opens out to the south, a landscape of mountain ranges and deep valleys, even more scenic than what I had seen on the previous 2 1\/2 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Southern vista near Pelion Gap<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From Pelion Gap, I had a choice: climb to the east up Pelion East, climb to the west up Mount Ossa (Tasmania\u2019s highest mountain), or continue southwards on the Overland Track. I put my pack down and prepared to climb Mount Ossa. There were already a number of packs there, covered and secured against marauding currawongs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Approaching Mt Ossa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The track up Mount Ossa is clear in most places, but there was one point where I lost the correct path. It was clearly signposted to go a different way, but I couldn\u2019t find a different way, and so ended up climbing a somewhat difficult chimney before re-joining the track a little further on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Near the peak of Mount Ossa there are 360\u00b0 views. Fantastic! The final scramble to the peak is over a series of large boulders and is a bit tricky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Near the peak of Mt Ossa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I descended Mount Ossa and then walked another one and a half hours southwards to Kia Ora Hut. Here I re-met my friends from the previous day and enjoyed good dinner conversation. I pitched my tent with a view to Pelion East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Tent platform at Kia Ora Hut<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

However, as the night wore on a cheeky possum tried to steal my food bag. At 10:30 pm I packed up all my gear, walked back to the hut, and slept on the floor of the common room.<\/p>\n\n\nPhoto Gallery<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span>\n\n\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\toverland-track-day-3-2822023 <\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>GPX\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/path>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/marker>\n\t\t\t\t<\/defs>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/line>\n\t\t\t\t50<\/text>\n\t\t\t\t<\/line>\n\t\t\t\t100<\/text>\n\t\t\t\t<\/line>\n\t\t\t\t150<\/text>\n\t\t\t\t<\/line>\n\t\t\t\t200<\/text>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/line>\n\t\t\t\t\t5<\/text>\n\t\t\t\t<\/g>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/line>\n\t\t\t\t\t10<\/text>\n\t\t\t\t<\/g>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/line>\n\t\t\t\t\t15<\/text>\n\t\t\t\t<\/g>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/rect>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/line>\n\t\t\t\tDistance (km)<\/text>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/line>\n\t\t\t\t (m)<\/text>\n\t\t\t\t<\/path>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/line>\n\t\t\t\t<\/g>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t\t
No elevation data<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
Name: <\/td>\n\t\t\t\t\tNo data<\/em><\/td>\n\t\t\t\t<\/tr>\n\t\t\t\t
Distance: <\/td>\n\t\t\t\t\tNo data<\/em><\/td>\n\t\t\t\t<\/tr>\n\t\t\t\t
Minimum elevation: <\/td>\n\t\t\t\t\tNo data<\/em><\/td>\n\t\t\t\t<\/tr>\n\t\t\t\t
Maximum elevation: <\/td>\n\t\t\t\t\tNo data<\/em><\/td>\n\t\t\t\t<\/tr>\n\t\t\t\t
Elevation gain: <\/td>\n\t\t\t\t\tNo data<\/em><\/td>\n\t\t\t\t<\/tr>\n\t\t\t\t
Elevation loss: <\/td>\n\t\t\t\t\tNo data<\/em><\/td>\n\t\t\t\t<\/tr>\n\t\t\t\t
Duration: <\/td>\n\t\t\t\t\tNo data<\/em><\/td>\n\t\t\t\t<\/tr>\n\t\t\t<\/table>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. Nelson Mandela. After breakfast and packing up camp, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[8,7],"class_list":["post-163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bushwalking","tag-overland-track","tag-tasmania"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/geoffgoodyer.synology.me\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/img_5176-1-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geoffgoodyer.synology.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geoffgoodyer.synology.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geoffgoodyer.synology.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geoffgoodyer.synology.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geoffgoodyer.synology.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/geoffgoodyer.synology.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3111,"href":"https:\/\/geoffgoodyer.synology.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions\/3111"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geoffgoodyer.synology.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geoffgoodyer.synology.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geoffgoodyer.synology.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geoffgoodyer.synology.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}