Leven Canyon – Sat. 14th July 2018
With winter at its peak, the more remote highland
peaks are less inviting (but beautiful for those who can get there), so
we are exploring something much lower, but just as spectacular, in the
hinterland of the north-west coast.
Leven Canyon is an amazing wilderness gorge, hidden just beyond the rich
farmlands of the north-west, and forming the boundary between
agriculture and the dominant plateau of the Black Bluff region. The
river is fed from the high alpine area to the west of the Black Bluff
range, and flows strongly through the canyon.The walk begins in the
Cruickshanks Lookout 275m above the river, and includes some steep
terrain and 697 steps in the circuit walk. After that, we will either
walk or drive along the road to the track leading down to the base of
the canyon. Total walk is around 6 kms and will take around three hours.
The walk should be suitable for moderately fit people who can cope with
steep ascents and descents, including energetic children.
Meeting Times and Places:
If you are interested in going on this walk, please phone your walk
leader, Brian Roach, ph. 6344
7672 to book in. The departure time is 8:30am from the Door of
Hope Church car park, Launceston. Suggested meeting places if coming from
elsewhere are the train park at Deloraine, or the junction at Gawler.
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 along the Bass Highway, through Devonport, to Ulverstone – 120 km. Turn off the highway at the exit to Gawler (B17). Continue south about 1.5 km and take the right branch at Gawler. Continue on B17 for just under 8 km, then left into Preston Road, C125, continuing through Preston and South Preston to Nietta. At Nietta, turn right into C128 - Loongana Rd, and a further 8 km will bring you to the turnoff (on right) for Cruikshanks Lookout. The road continues for 500 metres to the car park. Total distance from Ulverstone is 42 km. Allow about 2 hours drive from Launceston.
Warnings:
The following codes [from our 2018 walks calendar] apply:
S Steep incline for at least part of the
way
E Exposed alpine
conditions ; can be dangerous in poor weather if not adequately
equipped.
Walkers are advised to wear strong shoes or boots. You should always
carry wet weather gear as well as warm clothing including gloves and
beanies in case of sudden weather changes.
Winter bushwalking can be dangerous in poor weather if not adequately equipped; see
http://bootsnall.sutas.org.au/Pages/Equipment_Safety.htm for some guidelines.
Map details:
Leven Canyon: 1:100000 map is Forth (Tasmap 8115) and 1:25000
map for upper area is Loongana (TasMap 4041).
Map reference:
Short ref. n/a
Zone Easting
Northing Latitude
Longitude
n/a
There are no peakbagger
points for the area covered by this walk. 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.
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.