JudyDavis wrote:We spent many hours on the Cuvier track for the last two days. Much of it is very overgrown with many fallen trees to climb over. Finding the track markers was sometimes impossible. This is a very gruelling track and not for the faint hearted. The lake is not pretty enough for the trip to be worthwhile. Much maintenance is needed to make this track walkable.
Hi Judy,
Welcome to the forum.
I guess it all depends on different people's experience. Last time I was there, the sign said it wasn't maintained (or words to that effect). If that's been taken down, then I think a lot of people might get a not-so-good surprise - it's obviously quite different from the OLT, or other well-funded and maintained tracks in the Lake St Clair area.
As far as I know, Parks don't work on the Cuvier Valley. It's all a matter of where they are going to spend their limited $$, and there are hundreds of tracks in Tassie like the Cuvier Valley, that would be nice to have kept clear. But the reality is that there isn't enough money to go that far. The C.V. track is worked on from time to time by volunteers, with a number of working bees every few years. There aren't enough people to go in regularly to cut fallen trees. It's a big commitment for the volunteers (mainly from bushwalking clubs), and while they're working on the track, they're not out doing other walks they'd like to do.
I last walked the track a few months ago, before the last working bee. Apart from a section that hadn't been done (north of the lake), we didn't have any problems with it. A couple of times we had to look around for the markers, but generally found them not too hard to find. I actually loved Lake Petrach, which we got to enjoy in perfect weather. I thought I'd better not advertise that too widely, because I'd hate to see it overrun by hordes of people. I've done a lot of off-track walking in recent years, so for me, any track is a bonus, I guess. It's hard to imagine it's got so overgrown in a short time, especially as there's been another working bee. But, if you've mainly done walks on well-maintained, more formed tracks, I can see it could be a nasty surprise in places. I wonder, though, if you missed the track sometimes. We were very impressed with it south from Lake Petrach. But we are used to sniffing out anything vaguely resembling a pad, so that might have helped us from time to time. Fallen trees are another matter. One big storm can bring down a LOT.
The other thing that can make a huge difference is how much rain there's been, with button grass being notorious for hiding deep bogs. I avoid tracks like that after rain when I can!
Out of interest, what walk did you do there?
Cheers, and thanks for sharing your perspective on it.
