Mt. King William I  - Sat. 19th March 2016

Here's a great opportunity to try a camping trip without having to carry the camping gear in your backpack! Mt. King William I is the northernmost of the King William Range, with Mts King William II and III further south - visible, we hope, but not part of this walk. The King William Range runs south from a point a few km west of Derwent Bridge on the Lyell Highway, a little over 2 hours drive from Launceston. The party will head down on Friday night and camp at their cars close to the start of the walk. We will have an early start Saturday morning with day packs to climb King William 1 and Milligans Peak and if time permits, Mt Pitt (fairly likely for walkers with moderate experience in alpine off-track walking). The walk would be suitable for energetic older children who are used to rough alpine tracks and off-track walking. The cars should be reached in time for daylight travel back to northern Tasmania.

Walk route:
From the turnoff on Harbacks Rd (about 1.5km south of the Lyell Hwy), the track follows degraded old roads in a SW direction. After about 2 km, the track begins to rise, steadily at first, and then more steeply, coming to an end after about 4 km. From here, the walking track climbs steeply west, and then south to the summit of Mt. King William I, less than 1 km from the old road. The beehive shelter here is unfortunately locked. Milligan's Peak is a little over 500 metres further west, but about 100 metres altitude is lost and regained to get there. A further 1200 metres west, again after losing and regaining a similar amount of altitude, Mt. Pitt is reached. Of course, Milligan's Peak can be avoided on the way back, although the climb to the summit of King Will I cannot be avoided.
The walk presents relatively easy alpine walking, though it is partly off track and will be uneven underfoot in places. Total return distance should be around 15 km.

Meeting Times and Places:
If you are interested in going on this walk, please phone John Tabor on 6428 6512 to book in. The departure time is 6:30 pm Friday from Door of Hope carpark in South Launceston. Please discuss alternative meeting times and places with the leader. However, you still need to contact the walk leader per details above if intending to walk. The leader should be notified of any other people you intend to bring along. Please be at any meeting place 5 minutes ahead of departure time.

To access this area from northern Tasmania: 
From Launceston, take the route through Perth, Longford, Cressy, Poatina via the eastern and southern shores of Great Lake and Miena - a distance of about 110 km. and easy to follow on normal road maps. About 5 km past Miena, with the road starting to head north again, you will reach Marlborough Rd. (aka Marlborough Hwy), with the Great Lake Hotel as a landmark. Turn left and follow through this gravel road, past Bronte Park to the Lyell Highway (about 30 km). Turn right, and head another 30 km west to Derwent Bridge. Continue on the Lyell Hwy through Derwent Bridge and further for approx. 9 km. Cross Little Navarre River and shortly after that, the Navarre River. Approx 150 metres past the Navarre R. bridge, turn left into Harbacks Rd (may not be signposted). Camping will either be on the grassed area just in from the Lyell Hwy, or at the turnoff for the walk, about 1.5km south along Harbacks Rd.

Warnings:
E...Exposed alpine conditions – can be dangerous in poor weather if not fully equipped.
S... Steep inclines
Gaiters recommended due to off-track walking. You should always carry wet weather gear as well as warm clothing including gloves and beanies in case of sudden weather changes, which can be expected even when the weather is fine elsewhere in the state.

If unsure of equipment requirements for bushwalking, see www.sutas.org.au/bush-walking/bush-walking for some guidelines.
As this is a camping trip, a checklist of essentials is a good idea. See http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/file.aspx?id=28383 for a suggested list. However, much of this gear can be shared with a partner - perhaps a more experienced walker who already has some of the big ticket items such as tent and stove.

Map details:

Mt. King William I, Milligan's Peak and Mt. Pitt: 1:100000 map is Tasmap 8113 (Nive) and 1:25000 map is 4232 (Arrowsmith)
Map references:
Short ref.
King William I:  288247
Milligan's Peak:  284246
Pitt:   273246

      Zone      Easting        Northing       Latitude        Longitude
KWI  55G    4 28 930     53 24 960     -42.22430     146.13882
MP    55G    4 28 460     53 24 770     -42.22597     146.13310
P       55G    4 27 460     53 24 740     -42.22615     146.12098

King Will I is worth 2 peakbagger points, and Milligan's Peak and Pitt 1 each, so a good peakbagger walk! For listing of peakbagger points, see the Hobart Walking Club Peakbagger's Guide (2000 revision) which can be downloaded (Excel) from http://tastracks.webs.com/peakbaggers.htm  The same web page contains several other listings of Tasmanian peaks.

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).