Dry's Bluff - Sat. 7th September 2019

Challenge yourself with one of Tasmania's harder day walks! Dry's Bluff (alt. 1330 metres) is one of the few places in Tasmania where you can ascend 1000 metres over not much more than 3 km, but in good weather, you will be rewarded with expansive and spectacular views of the north of the state.
This is NOT a walk for beginners or young children, although fit, resilient and energetic older children might cope with the strenuous effort required. Your leader will need to discuss your experience before accepting you for this walk.
Walk route:
The walk begins at the Liffey Falls road, at what is now known as Oura Oura - a private forestry reserve formerly the property of environmental campaigner Bob Brown, and gradually increases in steepness over the first km or so before the really serious climb begins - very steep all the way, with 4 or 5 sections where a knotted rope is in place to help you haul yourself to the next ledge. The walk at last reaches the relatively flat top of the escarpment, with the trig and log book less than 500 metres away, but an energetic party seeking the peakbagger point will have to walk nearly 2 km SW from that location to reach the true high point - at the leader's discretion. Total walk distance, if the latter high point is included, will be about 10 km.

Meeting Times and Places:
If you are interested in going on this walk, please phone Kent Lillico on 0428 451 528  to book in. As Kent is coming from the north-west, he will meet walkers at Bracknell at 8:30 am. It will be necessary for walkers coming from Launceston to liaise with each other, perhaps through Kent, to decide whether to meet at Door of Hope in time for an 8 am departure.
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: 
 You would need to leave Launceston at 8 am, allowing 30 minutes for the 34 km trip via Bass Highway and C511. From Launceston, take the Bass Highway 22 km to the Liffey Falls exit, turning left into Oaks Road. Continue south for 12 km into Bracknell. After meeting Kent and other walkers, head west, then south, along Bracknell Rd. for 7 km to reach Liffey Road. Turn right, and continue a further 5.5 km along the Liffey Falls road. The start of the track is on the left.

Warnings:
E       Exposed alpine conditions – can be dangerous in poor weather if not fully equipped.
S       Steep incline for at least part of the way
C      Climbing sections using rocks and vegetation as hand holds.
Strong, supportive boots are recommended. 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.

Click this link for a more detailed discussion of Preparation, Food and Safety guidelines for Boots N' All walks.

Map details:

(Drys Bluff): 1:100000 map is Meander (8214) and 1:25000 map is Liffey (4838)
Map reference:
Short ref.  838817
Zone      Easting        Northing    Latitude     Longitude
55G       4 83 865     53 81 940  -41.71417  146.80604

Dry's Bluff is worth 1 peakbagger point. 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).