Fagus 2010 (Warning: Number of Photos)

[Steve]

I've not been out walking anywhere in the vicinity of fagus in the last few weeks, so I was wondering if anyone's noticed it beginning to turn anywhere yet. The peak time is usually around the end on April I believe.

Feel free to post pics!

[ILUVSWTAS]

It was starting to turn in the Cheyne Range over Easter.
Not sure if I have any pics, but some of the others on the trip might have some they can post when they read this....

[Son of a Beach]

I saw a few (very few) yellow leaves on the overland track a few weeks ago, and a few more last week. I expect another week or so will start to get interesting, but late April is probably best.

[stepbystep]

Some developing pics in this viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3842 gallery

[Steve]

I stayed up Cradle last night and took note that all the fagus is getting quite orange on their tops, on the more exposed stands they're nearly entirely orange. Will be back next weekend.

[stepbystep]

Ossa and Oakleigh was turning, green and gold - mostly green though

Sorry, that was on the 15th-16th

[Drifting]

We're off to the Scout Lodge next weekend to photo the fagus- I wonder if we're too early?

[SueOfTheSouth]

We have just had three good days at Cradle around Twisted Tarns area and the Fagus is well out. Some is almost finished ,some still green and some a beautiful golden colour. Enjoy.

[Drifting]

Excellent- thanks Sue!

[GerryDuke]

The fagus show is right on time. Just about all out at Cradle and Tarn shelf.

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Twisted Lakes Wednesday

TARN-SHELF-055.jpg (135.96 KiB) Viewed 25338 times

Tarn shelf Today

Hopefully the wind won't blow it away over the next few days.

Gerry

[Steve]

Wow, that changed quick. Looks amazing - thanks for sharing!

[Taurë-rana]

Can anyone tell me where the closest fagus to Hobart would be? I'll have about 6 hours max to get there and back including travelling time. Is there any that close that's worth going to see?

[johnw]

Can anyone tell me where the closest fagus to Hobart would be? I'll have about 6 hours max to get there and back including travelling time. Is there any that close that's worth going to see?

I think you should be able to get to the fringe of Tarn Shelf at Mt Field NP but probably not a lot of time to go too much further. When I went there some of the best fagus was only just beyond the Rodway ski hut anyway. It's about 1.5 hours drive to the walk start at Lake Dobson from Hobart. From memory less than an hour's walk to the edge of Tarn Shelf from there.

[tasadam]

That photo of Twisted Lakes Wednesday (above), I was there the previous Fri / Sat and it was nice but nowhere as yellow as that. It really is amazing how much it changed in 4 days.
I bet the weather today strips a lot of it off the trees, so often does it happen that just as the display is reaching its peak, the weather attacks with a vengeance.

[stepbystep]

Can anyone tell me where the closest fagus to Hobart would be? I'll have about 6 hours max to get there and back including travelling time. Is there any that close that's worth going to see?

Also, the Lake Fenton track, where we started/finished the walk to Mt Crooke has plenty and generally comes on a little later than Tarn Shelf.
Will save you 2/3 hrs as well

[seashell]

I went up to Tarn Shelf today, the Fagus is pretty up there. I only went a little bit past the Rodway Day Shelter as the weather was not good. I'm hoping for a nice day sometime very soon to go back up there.

This shot was taken as i'd started the walk back and it stopped raining for a little bit.

Tarn Shelf

[stepbystep]

Nice One M. - plenty of bushwalkers up there by the look of it too!
How was it looking around Lake Fenton on the way up?
I'm looking to go up Monday.

[seashell]

There were alot of people up there today, I guess most had the same idea as me, even with all the rain.

I wasn't paying too much attention to anything other than the road on the way up or down, but there seemed to be a bit of colour near Lake Fenton.

[GerryDuke]

If you haven't gone yet Rachel (T-R) it took 45 min to walk from Lake Dobson to the first lake on Tarn Shelf by the ski tow. An hour and a half drive from Hobart - perhaps a little more, You could just about make it. The fagus by the road at Lake Fenton had hardly a yellow leaf last Thursday so it may survive the current windy weather!!

Another shot - this time Lake Newdegate last Thursday. Lake Newdegate is the last lake on the shelf.

Lake Newdegate

TARN-SHELF-181.jpg (115.29 KiB) Viewed 25225 times

Gerry

[corvus]

Went looking for the Fagus at Cradle today got really rained and Leeched out
corvus

[Taurë-rana]

Thanks for the suggestions, maybe Monday I'll be able to get to Lake Fenton at least. I promised myself I'd go and look at the fagus this year but its timing has been awkward. I like that shot of Lake Newdegate, Gerry, pity I can't get up for the full day.

[GerryDuke]

Thanks Rachel. The best is often at the end of the track!! Newdegate is superb. When I first went there with my very ordinary 1.3 megapixel cemera I met up with one of the park rangers. It was a particularly good year with an extended long calm autumn. He had a 70mm slide camera with him. Processing at the time cost him $10 a slide. I was lucky enough to see the results along with some from Lake Judd, Lake Rhona and Mt Anne. They were/are superb. We spent some time at Lake Newdegate and walked out in the dark on a very mild evening.

The times I had been back since the fagus had blown away so I was determined to get the timing right this year. It looked very strong on Thursday so much of it may still survive the wind.

After reading Stepbystep's post above I was giving consideration to going to Lake Fenton as well on Monday with my daughter. I will be the one with the red hat if we cross paths.

Gerry

[Taurë-rana]

Perhaps we should have a southern Strollers fagus picnic at Lake Fenton!

[stepbystep]

Perhaps we should have a southern Strollers fagus picnic at Lake Fenton!

Nice idea Rachel - I have decided however to see if there is any Fagus around Lake Belton going in via Wombat Moor then up to Tyenna/Florentine Peaks dropping back down to Belcher from K-Col and back out Wombat Moor. If there is nothing to be found on this circuit walk I will drop by Lake Fenton in the late afternoon on the way out.
I have been wanting to do this circuit for ages now and would like to do it before the snow and ice comes...

P.S. Gerry if you are about Fenton later on I'm the one with the daggy faded blue hat

[Taurë-rana]

Gerry, definitely intending to head to Mt Field tomorrow, probably only as far as Lake Fenton and Seagers LO but if I get away a bit earlier I might get up to Tarn Shelf. I'll be the one with the whitish, floppy sun hat wishing for a beanie no doubt and probably huddled in a maroon/red down jacket.

[Steve]

The Fagus is at its prime around Hounslow Heath and Crater Lake. From Dove Lake it looked as though it was just as good around Lake Wilks.

Photos taken today.

[GerryDuke]

Thanks Steve. Should still be OK at Tarn Shelf. May see you there Rachel and SBS!

Gerry

[Taurë-rana]

So Gerry, were you the person with two kids and no red hat who waved to me today?

Not much colour yet at Lake Fenton (although I swear it was turning while I watched), so I wandered up to Seager's LO for a quick fix of altitude, then back down to head for The Possum Shed's coffee. On the way back down the road, I realised that there was far more colourful fagus on the sides of the road than there had been at Lake Fenton, then looked over at the underground creek near the "Woodland Walk" and there was lots of colour there. At the risk of missing on coffee, I parked and had a wander round the boulder field and enjoyed some lovely stands of yellow fagus.

Had a lovely run down the stunning Lake Dobson road - little Barinas are actually good for something! - and just had time to squeeze in a coffee before heading for Hobart. So in the space of 5.5 hours I managed to climb a peak (well, almost a peak), enjoy Tassie's autumn show, and have a great coffee next to a gurgling river. I got back at 4.05pm, 5 minutes after I was aiming to be back, well content with the day, if a little stressed at Hobart's traffic.

[GerryDuke]

It wasn't me Rachel. My daughter is 30 something. We got to Lake Newdegate again. The fagus that was out last Thursday has been fairly depleted. There were still many patches still turning but most of the show there is over!! Still plenty of close in shots made the trip very worth while. It was cold up there alright although sunny early. Very windy again.

Gerry

[stepbystep]

Yep, as Gerry says Lake Newdegate and Tarn Shelf is almost finished, some nice stuff lower down near Fenton though - none to be found around lakes Belton/Belcher though.
Here's a pic from above Newdegate