Lks McKenzie, Explorer, Snake, Nameless & Ironstone Hut?

Tasmania specific bushwalking discussion.
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Lks McKenzie, Explorer, Snake, Nameless & Ironstone Hut?

Postby Son of a Beach » Thu 17 Jan, 2008 12:47 pm

I know there's several people here with a lot of experience in this area. Could somebody tell me how many hours it takes to walk from Lake McKenzie car park to Ironstone Hut, via Lakes Explorer, Snake and Nameless? From what I can tell from notes in another topic, it seems to be a fairly easy day to get there (apart from crossing the river and creek, if in flood).

I don't have any specific plans yet, but I'd like to do this before the summer is out, and I have a couple of fly fishing mates who I reckon would be pretty keen to come with me (I'm not a fluff chucker myself, but I am rather partial to arriving back at the base camp after a day walk to a feast of fresh fish caught and cooked by somebody else).

Also, in the event that Ironstone Hut was full, is there any decent tent sites nearby? I've only been there twice and I remember it being mostly rocky, and nowhere without a bit of a slope (the first time was too long ago for me to remember much - can't even remember which track I used to get there, the second time there was too much snow to really evaluate how good the tenting would be). The few photos I've kept don't show anywhere good for a tent, either.
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Re: Lks McKenzie, Explorer, Snake, Nameless & Ironstone Hut?

Postby Joe » Thu 17 Jan, 2008 1:04 pm

In my experience it takes about hour from Devonport to the last corner on the road into makenzie, just after this corner it takes around 3 hours to dig the car out of the snow drift. From carpark around to Little Fisher river it takes a further 2 hours of scrub bashing due to high waterlevel and knee deep snow. Once at river it takes about 20 seconds of swimming to decide you need to walk back to car. 1hr of way through return trip the trip takes an interesting turn when your axe runs away and your fishing rod starts to taunt you relentlessly. This culminates in some none to eco friendly behaviour. From here its a leisurely hour trot back to the car stopping to take photo of the nice waterfall you passed at beggining of day and should have damn well stayed at ;)
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Re: Lks McKenzie, Explorer, Snake, Nameless & Ironstone Hut?

Postby Penguin » Thu 17 Jan, 2008 3:03 pm

I did this walk a few months ago. Had a great time.

We dic it easily in a day - including climbling the mountain behind the hut and then walking onto Lucy Long.

We left Penguin about 8.00am. took about two hours to get to Lake Mackenzie car park. Little fisher was easy to cross on foot without even getting the tops of our boots wet. My walking companion had been there six weeks before and could not cross the river. The rest of the walk was gentle and very pretty. The Hut is good, but we prefer to sleep in tents so wandered off to Lucy Long and camped on the North east side - fantastic camp spot that in in Johyn Chapman's book.

We returned via just south of Lady lake and approached Lake Mackenzie from the north. The lake was so low we could cut across the bulk of the lake and jsut had one small chanel to cross.

An excellent two day walk.

If you need any further information just let me know.
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Re: Lks McKenzie, Explorer, Snake, Nameless & Ironstone Hut?

Postby Son of a Beach » Thu 17 Jan, 2008 7:38 pm

I laughed out loud when I read TW's reply, even though I'd heard part of that story before. I'd like to hear more about the last bit with the axe, the rod, and the not-so-eco-friendly behaviour... but maybe this isn't the place for it. :)

Penguin... thanks for the info. I usually prefer tents too, but if the hut is empty, that can be appealing to me - and it is a nice little hut. I've been past lake Lucy Long a couple of times recently, and agree that the camping there does look excellent, so that's a great idea... not too much further to walk.

Any estimate of the number of hours from McKenzie to Nameless? I just want to be able to give my mates some idea of just how easy it might be (they're not into walking so much as fishing).
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Re: Lks McKenzie, Explorer, Snake, Nameless & Ironstone Hut?

Postby Penguin » Fri 18 Jan, 2008 8:06 am

Nik,

We all remember different things when we go walking and time taken to walk anywhere is not one of the things that stick in my brain. The other two blokes that I generally walk with have good memories for time, the one I did this walk with is away with the waccies at the moment but I should be able to give you accurate times on the weekend. The main thing to tell you mates is taht it is an easy walk if teh river is down.

My memory is that it took us three to four hour to walk to the hut from the car park. I sense from the previous postings that you probably move about 20% faster than us.

I will be incontact.
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Re: Lks McKenzie, Explorer, Snake, Nameless & Ironstone Hut?

Postby tastrekker » Tue 22 Jan, 2008 4:45 pm

I like the response from TasWaterfalls. I guess you have spotted the article posted by dplanet titled Lake Mackenzie to Turrana Heights, Nameless, Explorer & McK". This was going to be my suggestion for dealing with high water levels and snow cover. I have walked to Little Throne via Blue Peaks and also from the Higgs Track via Lake Nameless and there were very few creek crossings as you are essentially following the divide between the streams that flow north to Mackenzie and those that flow south to the James and Ouse Rivers.
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