We had a short day today which was just as well as the weather was still little on the ordinary side. With such a short day in the offering we were in no hurry to leave the warm and dry Waterfall Valley Hut, we had been lucky last night and had the hut to ourselves all night so we were able to spread out and make ourselves at home. After taking our time over breakfast we eventually had to pull on the wet weather gear and head out into the cold. The trick this morning was not to go arse over on the slippery snow covered duck boards, with the author at one stage stepping back to take a photo and falling backwards off the snow covered track, which gave Sam a good laugh at least.
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Climbing out of Waterfall Valley.
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| Waterfall Valley. |
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I think this is where I went arse over backwards off the duck boards into the bushes!
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| Gently climbing up towards Lake Holmes. |
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The route today initially passes above some of the waterfalls that Waterfall Valley is named for, before starting to climb up a bit onto an exposed windswept almost treeless plane. This windswept plane was a fairly inhospitable place to be today, even with the snow the track was still fairly easy to follow, but it was bleak. Reaching the turnoff to Lake Wills we stopped for awhile in a slightly sheltered spot and enjoyed a bit of a break, while the scenery was bleak it was still an enlivening, raw place and we were still enjoying soaking up what was a fairly new experience for us.
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Having a break near the turn off to Lake Will.
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| Lake Holmes. |
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After passing by Lake Holmes the track climbs a little with the weather deteriorating with the height gained, so we were quite happy when the route topped out and started to drop down to Lake Windermere. Skirting around the shores of the lake we climbed up into a small copse of trees, with the snow cover now a bit patchy we arrived at the welcoming
Windermere Hut. I'm pretty sure this old hut has been replaced with a new one now days. We once again had the hut to ourselves again tonight which allowed us to spread out in the comfortable hut, the rest of our afternoon was spent watching the pademelon's grazing in the snow behind the hut, heading out and exploring the area surrounding the hut in between snow showers.
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It can be a little bleak along here in bad weather.
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We're about to start the gentle descent down to Lake Windermere.
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| Lake Windermere. |
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The Dirt.
We walked 7 kilometres today and while this section of The Overland Track isn't as high in elevation terms as day 1, it's still a fairly exposed and bleak bit of track, a place that needs respect in bad weather. Like a lot of The Overland Track there is a lot of duck boarding along here which makes the walking fairly easy in reasonable weather. The old Windermere Hut in my photo has been replaced with a newer hut now days.
Relevant Posts.
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| The gentle climb up to Windermere Hut. |
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| The old Windermere Hut. |
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