Walls of Jerusalm

[Damoc1]

Hi, I am about to do a 7day/6 night track through the Walls of Jerusalem. Any feedback/info on my planned route would be appreciated, as I have not been there before.

Day 1 Lake Myrtle Carpark to Grail Falls (8.0 Km) will setup camp here for 2 nights
Day 2 Grail Falls, to Chalise Lake, Tent Tarn, Cathedral Mountain, Twin Spires and back to Grail Falls 15.0 Km, track is not marked, but I understand there are rock cairns to follow.
Question: how hard is it to get up the side of Grace falls with a 20kg pack, If I decide to camp up there at Tent Tarn rather than Grace Falls?
Day 3 Grail Falls to Junction Lake Hut, with a side trip to Clark Falls (10 Km)
Question: Is the track reasonably clear to Junction Lake
Day 4 Junction Lake Hut to Lake Adelaide Camp 14.3 Km
Question: Is the track reasonably clear to Lake Adelaide
Day5 Lake Adelaide Camp to Dixons Kingdom Hut 8.8 Km, will camp here for 2 nights
Question: Are the possums bad here and do I need to hang my food?
Day 6 Mount Jerusalem, The Temple, Solomons Throne, and King Davids Peak (10Km)
Question: is King Davids Peak easy to get to, I don't see much mention of it in any reviews?
Day 7 Dixons Kingdom Hut to WOJ Car Park 10 Km
Question: I have a 12pm pick up, is the walk from Dixons kingdom back to the WOJ carpark doable in 4 hours?

Any comments appreciated.

[philm]

I can answer some of the questions from day 4
Track from junction to lake Adelaide is well worn there is a section after Junction that is a bit patchy but only for a few hundred metres
Easy track and route up Solomons throne then across the top following the high point to David.
Walk from Dixons to car park is about 3-4 hours so doable and easy walk downhill to the car park
Yes possums are
An issue at Dixons and Wild dog definitely hang your food and keep all smelling items such as tooth paste off your clothes and hung!

[Damoc1]

Thanks for feedback.

[Son of a Beach]

Sounds like a great trip. I used to spend a lot of time in some of those locations when I first started bushwalking. I don't get out very often these days, so I'm very envious of this trip into some of my favourite and familiar places.

Question: how hard is it to get up the side of [Grail Falls] with a 20kg pack, If I decide to camp up there at Tent Tarn rather than [Grail] Falls?

Yes, easy enough with a full pack. Just a but steep for a short distance. Although 20kg is on the heavy side!

Question: Are the possums bad here and do I need to hang my food?

Yes, the possums are bad. I'm not convinced that hanging food is a good solution for possums, but then I haven't tried it either. (Actually, it probably IS good for the possums... maybe not so good for you.)

Question: is King Davids Peak easy to get to, I don't see much mention of it in any reviews?

Yes, very easy to get to from Halls Buttress. The track up Halls Buttress is also very easy now too (although moderately steep, increasing to very steep towards the top).

Question: I have a 12pm pick up, is the walk from Dixons kingdom back to the WOJ carpark doable in 4 hours?

Yes, 4 hours is doable if your fitness is good, you don't want to stop too much along the way, and your pack isn't too heavy. Most people would take at least 5. With a 20kg pack, you may want to allow at least 5 (depending on your fitness, experience, etc).

[headwerkn]

Grail Falls is a lovely but dark/dampish camp, tent space is a bit restrictive. Sound of the falls roaring gave me my best nights' sleep in a tent ever though

Grail Falls to Chalice Lake isn't too bad a climb with a pack on. Crossing Moses Creek will likely get your feet wet if it's rained recently.

Getting out past Tent Tarn to Cathedral/Twin Spires in a day isn't an issue... plenty of cairns, reasonable pad in most places. Haven't camped at Tent Tarn, seemed pretty damp when we were there. Some people will argue camping there is more impactful than desired. Very pretty though.

Route to Junction Creek is obvious 'till past Cloister Lagoon, can get a little vague at times from there on until the lower reaches of Mayfield Flats. Ribbons and pads in many places, but the route follows the main creekline so easy enough to follow when they drop out.

King David's Peak can be accessed from both ends. PWS for some reason discourage access from Herod's Gate despite the well worn pad and cairns leading all the way up. Personally I think going across the top Salomon's Throne is worse for environmental impact and is also very unpleasant if the weather isn't good. Take that info as you will.

Possums are a PITA throughout the area - take all necessary precautions!

[Damoc1]

Son of a Beach - thanks for your response. I agree 20kg is a bit heavy, but I am starting with 7 days of food and given the weather conditions change pretty quickly up there I don't have much choice, at least by the time I finish it will be down to 15kg and walking down hill. I am looking forward to the hike and can understand why it is one of your favorite areas. I have done the overland twice during winter and have looked over towards the WOJ and Cathedral Mountain and wanted to be up there looking down towards Kiora Hut.

Headwerkin - thanks for info on King Davids Peak, I will now definitely head over there.

[vagrom]

You're in the highest part of Tasmania and the fog/Clag can set in at any time, taking away your bearings close and far so dexterity with your GPS then becomes a very helpful addition to compass travel.

The part i'm thinking about is your heading back to your tent from Cathedral Pk etc. The cairns are then lost. You might pre-enter a breadcrumb trail for any clag-ins. Foot pads are likely to be negligible.

[Damoc1]

[quote="vagrom"]You're in the highest part of Tasmania and the fog/Clag can set in at any time, taking away your bearings close and far so dexterity with your GPS then becomes a very helpful addition to compass travel.

Thanks for the tip, my gps has a track back function, which should get me back to my starting point.

[Last]

I would personally prefer to camp at either Chalice lake or Tent tarn rather than Grail falls if the weather was nice. If the weather was poor though it is much more sheltered. I found the cairned route from Tent Tarn to Cathedral Mountain and Twin peaks often hard to follow. headwerkin is right about the track south of Cloister lagoon being vague but as he said, it follows the creek. There are Parks signs at the bottom of the climb from Herods Gate to King Davids Peak asking you not to go that way. That said I understand hedwerkin's argument that the other way from Solomons Throne is worse environmentally.

[L_Cham_67]

Day 1 Lake Myrtle Carpark to Grail Falls (8.0 Km) will setup camp here for 2 nights

Do you mean the Moses Creek carpark instead of Lake Myrtle? The quickest way up to Grail Falls is from the Moses Creek carpark at the end of the road. The Lake Myrtle Track is a few km prior to this.

[Damoc1]

The road to the Moses creek car park was closed near lake Myrtle car park. The TAS Forestry web site says it is open, but the transfer company I am using says it is still closed. So I planned for the worst case, starting at Myrtle Creek. If I can get dropped off at Moses creek car park and the weather is good I will probably camp at Tent Tarn rather than grail falls.

[IDP]

I ended up doing a similar trip last December with my three teenage daughters - plans to cross the Traveller Range to Du Cane Gap (and thence out via Kia Ora and Lees Paddocks) from Junction Lake were foiled by weather. Hence ended up going out via Lakes Meston/Adelaide/Ball and Dixons Kingdom.
We had to walk the Mersey Forest Road from the road block at Stretcher Creek to Moses Creek track - whilst a nuisance, it didn't take too long, and still easily got to Chapter Lake/Grail Falls that day. Agree it is a somewhat dank campsite but does afford good shelter (which was appreciated given the conditions we were in).
Day 2 we did a day trip out/back to Twin Spires and back in pretty atrocious conditions - navigating both ways was no problems despite really poor visibility. Campsites around Tent Tarn are prone to being very wet. Would be easier to camp around Chalice Lake; though quite rocky, it is very beautiful.
Day 3 was again atrocious weather, and we just went to Junction Lake - navigation was no problems whatsoever, taking into account the comments above.
Day 4 teased us with some promise, so we just did a day walk up to Mtns of Jupiter, which was really lovely and easy to find your way once you locate the Artemis track on the other side of the Mersey (not too difficult at all). Unfortunately, the weather really clagged in on the Mtns of Jupiter with snow squalls, but it is a terrific area.
Day 5 just to southern end Lk Adelaide. Day 6 to new Dixons Kingdom camping area with an afternoon stroll up Hall's Buttress and King Davids Peak. Day 7 out via Trappers Hut (I would say 4 hours is actually pretty cruisey). Then a quick road run to retrieve car from Stretcher Crk

Hope that helps.

[Damoc1]

IDP, thanks for your feedback, it helps with my thinking. Having not been in the area before all the feedback helps with what to expect, etc. on day 5 you said you just went to the southern end of lake Adelaide, was this because it was hard going or just because that is all you wanted to do?

[IDP]

Yes, because we had to change itinerary (ie not exit over the Traveller Range) because of the weather, we had time up our sleeves. Hence we just did a cruisey day that day. That section (Junction Lake to Lake Adelaide) is very straightforward and easy. We could have dumped packs at Lk Meston Hut and gone up Rogoona and back and still made it to Lk Adelaide in heaps of time. But we had all been up Rogoona a couple of times previously, so just had an easy day instead. I would strongly recommend Rogoona if you had the time/inclination. Beautiful plateau and fabulous views down to Lk Myrtle and across to Du Cane Range from up there.