Hidden Falls Saturday 22nd November 2014
This coming Saturday, 22nd November, Boots N' All ventures forth again, this time to Hidden Falls in the upper Meander area. This walk is mainly through rain forests, with some road walking due to missing bridges, and will visit Hidden Falls and Bastion Cascades, as well as some sandstone caves, the largest of which is at Hidden Falls. The walk begins by fording the river (perhaps take some diving bootees or waterproof sandals although water levels should be low unless the weather changes) at one of the washed out bridges on the Meander Falls Rd. (after some rough driving to bypass the lost bridges), and from a starting altitude of 480m, rises to about 700m on the foothills of Bastion Bluff, before contouring around and rising a further 100m to Bastion Cascades and Hidden Falls. From there, the route will contour south around the foothills of Meander Crag to meet the Split Rock (aka Cleft Rock) track, then downhill east to the Meander River at the Meander Falls car park. As this is 2.5km by road from the walk start, a car shuttle will be necessary. The walk is rated "medium" due to the steep grades and likely untracked sections, and is suitable for reasonably fit and suitably equipped walkers familiar with wilderness forest walking. Energetic older (accompanied) children should cope with this walk which is approximately 7 km in total.
Meeting Times and Places:
If you are interested in going on this walk, please call Philip Dawson on 6382 3561 to book in.
The departure time is 8:00am from the Door of Hope Church car park. The alternative meeting place/time is Deloraine at 8:30 am. (Turn onto the Lake Highway at junction in Deloraine on Launceston side of bridge over Meander R.) However, you still need to contact the walk leader per details above if intending to join at another meeting place.
You should always contact the walk leader if intending to participate in a particular Boots N' All walk. The leader should also be notified of any other people you intend to bring along.
To access this area from northern Tasmania: From Launceston, head towards Deloraine on the Bass Highway (50 km) and take the first (eastern) turn from the highway into Deloraine. Continue into the town and turn left immediately before the bridge (meeting place - see above). From Deloraine, head south along the "Lake Highway" - now Highland Lakes Rd. (but the first bit may be called Meander Rd!). Make sure to stay on Meander Rd and go straight ahead (DON'T turn left) at 7 km from Deloraine, where there is a signposted junction for Highland Lakes Rd. Continue a further 9 km to Meander and continue through the town. About 6 km from the Meander River bridge in Meander, there is a left turn into Bessell's Road, which continues south over a concrete ford over the river. About 400 metres south of the river, there is a spur road to the right, which is the temporary access to the Meander Falls area (due to missing bridges). This track is rough in places and is better suited to vehicles with reasonably high clearance, such as 4WD and "soft-roader" vehicles, although larger 2wd sedans have been seen successfully driving through the 2.5 km to the Meander Falls Road. On reaching the road, turn right and drive about 300 metres to the missing bridge site, where the walk begins.
Warnings:
Rated Medium because of the steep inclines, river crossing and off-track walking in places. The following codes [from our 2014 walks calendar] apply:
S Steep incline for at least part of the way
If you are unsure of equipment requirements, Visit the Boots N' All section of the sutas.org.au website per link below and read
"Clothing suggestions for exposed conditions"
Map details: 1:100000 map is Meander (Tasmap 8214) and 1:25000 map is Quamby Bluff (Tasmap 4638)
Map reference:
Short ref. is n/a
Zone Easting Northing Latitude Longitude
n/a
This walk will not score any points on the Hobart Walking Club Peakbagger's Guide (2000 revision) which can be found and downloaded (as an Excel spreadsheet) from
http://tastracks.webs.com/peakbaggers.htm The same web page contains several other listings of Tasmanian peaks.