Another Boots N' All "first" and another change of leader! Castle Cary
is a rocky prominence east of the road from Avoca to Rossarden, looking
over the Fingal Valley south of the Ben Lomond area. An energetic but
not difficult walk through open forest, although it does involve some
steep climbing, rising from an altitude of 260 metres to 560 metres at
the summit, which is a magnificent rock tower, with a further but less
dramatic rise of 200 metres as the walk continues north. The more
adventurous walkers will certainly want to ascent the summit tower. The
most likely approach on the day will be to head east from the Rossarden
Road for about 1 km, before heading north along the ridge to the summit
tower - a further 1 km. The walk meanders north with further climbing to
reach an altitude of 760m, then north-west along the ridge line before
re-joining the Rossarden Road somewhat more than 5 km from the summit.
From that point, we can either return to the start by car (if we
organise a car shuttle before we start) or walk back down the road (a
little under 6 km). An extended walk over McGinty's Tier west of the
road is a less likely return option.
This walk is rated medium because of the steep inclines and off-track
walking, but would be achievable for energetic older children with some
experience of off-track walking in rocky areas.
| Thinking of
bringing along a children's or youth group? Click for Information for Leaders working with Children and Youth |
Meeting Times and Places:
If you are interested in going on this walk, please phone your
walk leader, Basil Tkaczuk Ph. 6331 1155
or 0438 664402 [or reply to this email by Thursday
night] to book in. The departure time is 8:00 am
on Saturday from the Door of Hope Church car park,
Launceston. The alternative meeting place is the start of Rossarden Rd.
(turn left just past bridge when entering Avoca) at 8:50 am. It may also
be possible to meet us at Perth (by arrangement). Other meeting places by arrangement with leader.
f you would like to arrange to meet the group at these places or
elsewhere, please arrange with the leader, and please be at any
meeting place 5 minutes ahead of the listed time. The
leader should always be notified of any other people you intend to bring
along, and you should always contact the walk leader if intending to
participate in a particular Boots N' All walk.
To access this area from northern Tasmania: From Launceston, proceed south along the Midland Highway. After 34 km, turn east along Esk Main Road, heading for Avoca (26 km). Turn left immediately after crossing bridge. Continue north for about 2.5 km to end of sealed road section, then a further 3 km to the starting point of the walk, about 300m short of the Stanhope Rd. turnoff.
Warnings:
Water! It is
unlikely that there will be any drinkable water on this walk, so please
be sure to carry at least 1 litre in a sturdy bottle, and perhaps have
some spare water to drink at the car when we get back.
Be aware of
possible hazards such as insect bites and snakes.
Prepare for a variety of weather conditions
from warm and sunny (hat, sunscreen etc) to cold, wet and windy. Walking boots
and gaiters are recommended. If you are unsure of
equipment requirements, Visit the Boots N' All section of the
sutas.org.au website per link below and read the guidelines for clothing
and equipment.
Map details and references:
Castle Cary (alt. 580m): 1:100000 map is St. Pauls (Tasmap 8414)
and 1:25000 map is Hanleth (Tasmap 5437)
Map references:
Short ref. n/a
Zone Easting
Northing Latitude Longitude
55G 5 58 950 53 79 310
-41.73584 147.70888
There are no Peakbagger points on this trip. For listing of peakbagger points, see 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.
(Read "waypoints" for "track" in this next section. No track details available)
GPX version of the
track:
Click here
to download. Google Earth version of the track:
Click here
to download.
Right-click on the file and “save target as” to a location of your
choice. (Suggest you click the “Last modified” at top to sort by date to
get the most recent at top to find the file for the next walk).
When you have downloaded the track file, double-clicking on the Google Earth (kml) track should open Google Earth and zoom in to the location if you have Google Earth installed on your computer. The .gpx version of the track should import into mapping software or devices that support gpx tracks and waypoints.