Pine Valley Hut to Narcissus Hut, Overland Track, Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Park - May 1998

This will be the last post on our Overland Track adventure back in 1998, yeah I can hear all the sighs of relief now. After spending the night at the Pine Valley Hut Sam and I headed up to The Labyrinth for a side trip, now I've been up to The Labyrinth a few more times over the years and this magic plateau is one of my favourite spots in Australia, its definitely worth the substantial detour of the main Overland Track route to check it out. This trip being our first time down there we didn't quite know what to expect when we headed off on the side trip, but cresting the saddle below The Parthenon and having The Labyrinth spread out before us the view is still etched in my mind.

Climbing up to The Labyrinth.

Looking back towards The Minotaur from Lake Ophion.

Before we arrived at The Labyrinth though we had a bit of a climb to get there. The track from Pine Valley Hut starts off following The Acropolis route for awhile before branching off and starting a fairly serious climb up towards The Parthenon, at one stage the track basically climbed up a flowing waterfall, we were two fairly inexperienced walkers back in those days, and this side trip really was a bit of a challenge for us back then. Like I mentioned earlier, on reaching the saddle below The Parthenon and having The Labyrinth suddenly unfurl below us was a magical sight. Descending from the saddle we followed a sparse cairn line and dropped down into the water logged world of The Labyrinth. The plateau is made up of numerous small lakes and tarns interspersed with groves of king billy pines and snow gums, in the background the Labyrinth is surrounded by a number of ruggedly beautiful mountains that all demand future exploration....one day.

King Billy Pines and lakes, a typical scene in The Labyrnth.

After exploring the aptly named Labyrinth for a couple of hours we reluctantly decided that it was time to head back to Pine Valley Hut and grab our packs. After enjoying our lunch in the sunshine on the heli-pad at Pine Valley Hut we spent the next couple of hours retracing our steps down Pine Valley to once again meet up with The Overland Track. Once on The Overland Track again the remainder of the afternoon was spent meandering our way south to Narcissus Hut. This was our last section of The Overland Track, although the track does continue on for another day or two as it navigates its way along the western side of Lake St Clair, we were catching the ferry back from the jetty near Narcissus Hut. Our last section on The Overland Track was particularly easy walking, the route is as close to flat as it gets and to make it even easier there are large sections of duck boarding to keep the boots dry as the track crosses some swampy sections near the Narcissus River. We spent our last night in the fairly sparten Narcissus Hut enjoying our remaining supplies, happy in the knowledge that tomorrow night we'd be dining in front of the huge open fire at the Derwent Bridge Hotel.

The tracks in The Labyrinth are wet and muddy (or they were, anyway) but I'd highly recommend this substantial side trip off The Overland Track.

Looking south towards Lake St Clair, our afternoons destination. That's Mt Olympus on the right of the lake.

The Dirt.

Next morning our the ferry arrived to transport us down the length of Lake St Clair. We spent the afternoon catching up on washing and enjoying our soft bed at the Derwent Bridge Hotel, the meal that night at the hotel was a fitting way to to finish our first walk on The Overland Track. We walked 17 kilometres today and 84 kilometres over our whole journey on The Overland Track, I'd rate The Overland Track as an easy walk although some of the side trips ramp up the degree of difficulty quite a bit. The Overland Track is probably the best walk in Australia for the average punter, although it probably would have to compete with The Larapinta Trail for that title now days. If walking The Overland Track now you need to apply for a permit as numbers are limited to prevent environmental damage as well as over crowding, from someone who's walked the track twice before the introduction of the permits and once after, I think the permits are probably a net benefit overall. 

Relevant Posts.

Day 1 of this walk.

Day 2 of this walk.

Day 3 of this walk.

Day 4 of this walk.

Day 5 of this walk.

Day 6 of this walk.

Next morning a misty wet day greeted us for our boat trip across Lake St Clair, a perfect afternoon for relaxing at the Derwent Bridge Hotel.