Lees Paddocks – 31st October – 2nd November – Camping (Youth)

The November long weekend has always been popular for bushwalk camping trips. Ben is keen to take young walkers for a couple of nights at Lees Paddocks, a buttongrass plain in the upper Mersey area, close to the Overland Track and surrounded by Cathedral Mt, Pelion East and Mt. Pillinger. The picturesque Lees Hut is well worth visiting. Short side trips to approx. 3 scenic waterfalls may be made along the way, and the plan is to explore the Devil’s Cauldron, and possibly a day trip as far as Reg Wadley hut, further up the Mersey River. The track to Lees Hut is approx. 16 km return, but relatively flat (less than 100 metres gain in altitude). Track conditions vary, and can be a little rough underfoot in places, but NO scrub!  The walk is rated as “medium” due to the distance involved.
Because of the exposed alpine conditions, walkers must be fully prepared for poor weather, and being a camping trip, you will need to carry a lightweight tent, food, sleeping bag and other equipment as advised by leader. Carrying a heavy pack into the wilderness requires a good level of fitness and appropriate equipment. Your walk leader will need to be confident in your experience before allowing you to join this walk.
As this is a camping trip involving young people, you need to contact the leader by Tuesday 27th October to book in, and allow the leader to make car sharing arrangements.

Walk route:
From the car park about 1.5 km short of the very end of the Mersey Forest Rd, a short stretch of 500 metres brings you to the suspension bridge over the Mersey River. The track turns left and continues through about 1 km of private property, and into wooded areas following the course of the river upstream, but generally 100 metres or so away from its banks.  There are a couple of open, somewhat boggy areas to be traversed, and Lewis Falls and Oxley Falls are possible visits on the way upstream. After about 5 km of mostly forested track, the scene changes to the open vistas of Lee’s Paddocks, with about 1 km of buttongrass and other vegetation to be traversed to reach Lee’s Hut. Short diversions to low waterfalls and cascades on the way there or back. Explore further up the river as a day walk from Lees’ Hut. On the final day, walk out by the same route.

Meeting Times and Places:
If you are interested in going on this walk, please phone Ben Lundie on 0409 996 951 The departure time is 7:30 am from Door of Hope car park. Other meeting places en-route will be Deloraine (train park) at 8 am [only if people need to meet there] or preferably, Mole Creek (toilet block) at 8:20 am and Devil’s Gullet turnoff by 8:30 am. If you wish to meet with the group at any other place, please arrange with the leader.  Please be at any meeting place 5 minutes ahead of departure time. 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.

To access the area from Launceston, proceed along the Bass Highway to Deloraine (about 51 km), but do not turn off at the eastern exit into Deloraine [unless the group is meeting others at Deloraine]. Instead, continue across Meander R. and up hill to the western exit, and to the roundabout at start of Mole Creek Rd. A further 24km will bring you to Mole Creek (sometimes used as a meeting place [at toilet block] for our walks – check with leader). Continue west past Mole Creek, on what is now Liena Rd, making sure you turn south at the caravan park 4 km from the town. The road continues west until about 14 km from Mole Creek, it branches south, now called Mersey Forest Road. A little over 6 km south, you will pass turnoffs to Cradle Mountain and Devil’s Gullet (Lake Mackenzie) but keep going south, crossing the Mersey at Lake Parangana and passing the turnoffs for Bare Hill and Arm River. Another 17 km should see you cross below the Rowallan Dam. Continue south along the east side of Lake Rowallan, a little over 14 km, by which time you are south of Lake Rowallan. The Lee’s Paddocks car park is on right, about 1.5 km short of the very end of the road.

Warnings:
  The following codes [from our 2020 walks calendar] apply:
    D    Drive distance requires early departure
    L    A long day’s walk in excess of 3 hours each way
    M    Marshy or muddy sections be prepared to walk with wet feet.
    E     Exposed alpine conditions ; can be dangerous in poor weather if not adequately equipped.

Walkers are advised to wear boots due to uneven surfaces. Gaiters recommended due to off-track walking and a strong likelihood of leeches. Some walkers prepare with Aerogard or similar products. You should always carry wet weather gear as well as warm clothing in case of sudden weather changes. For equipment guidelines, see our Safety and Equipment page.

Map details:
Lees Paddocks area: 1:100000 map is Mersey (Tasmap 8114) and 1:25000 map is Cathedral (Tasmap 4236)
Map references: Short ref. n/a
No peakbagger points will be visited on this 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.
For GPX (.gpx) and Google Earth (.kml) versions 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).