Raglan Range

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Raglan Range

Postby Angus » Tue 25 Jan, 2022 8:45 pm

Would like to do Frenchman's cap in via the usual track and out via irenabyss and raglan range. Got a couple questions that I'd appreciate any advice on...

How challenging is the track to follow after Irenabyss? Is it fairly obvious, or overgrown and hard to find the way? And how long have others taken to do it? Also if anyone has a GPX file for the route that would be super!

Also for this time of year when the Franklin is fairly low, can I swim across, or would it work better to float across on an air mattress?

Cheers Angus
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Re: Raglan Range

Postby CBee » Wed 26 Jan, 2022 8:34 am

Hi Angus, once you swim across the Franklin, is a route not a track. Requires navigation, water finding and it may take a day to reach the highway or few. Asking for GPX here is frowned upon and especially for off-track terrain. If you are planning to do this route my suggestion is John Chapman's book as a starting point.
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Re: Raglan Range

Postby Angus » Wed 26 Jan, 2022 11:35 am

Thanks for the info CBee

I’ve got chapman’s book, and I’m more so just wondering if there’s much of a pad at the moment, just to gauge how long/ slow it will be. Also would it be best to carry water for a couple days, or is the water along the route fairly reliable?

Happy to navigate off a map but it would be cool if someone could share a GPX to help with speed and safety :)

Cheers Angus
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Re: Raglan Range

Postby Thylaseen » Wed 26 Jan, 2022 7:17 pm

We did it a few years ago and found it fairly straight forward. We used Chapman's book as a guide.

The Franklin was low when we crossed but I imagine this would depend on amount of recent rain. We waded across with packs on airbeds and swam in some shallow water as easier than walking on the rocky bed.

Had difficulty locating the start of the track up the hill. In the end picked what we thought was the best line and it turned out this was where the track was. The route more or less follows a ridge to Mary's plain, I don't think we had any water on the ridge but refilled on the plain.

We picked what we thought was the best line going onto Raglan and didn't have any issues. Then eventually onto an old Hydro track and down to the road. We did however lose our way in one spot - due to weather: extremely heavy rain with minimum visibility. You wouldn't have a problem in better weather.

There's another thread somewhere, I'll add if I can find.

Try here:

https://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=29149
It's out there
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Re: Raglan Range

Postby Son of a Beach » Thu 27 Jan, 2022 8:19 am

It takes 2 days (for me) to get from Irenabyss to the highway via Raglan Range.

There is a bit of a feint pad from the Irenabyss to the top of the hill, but after that, it's all about knowing how to navigate. There is some difficult scrub to bash through occasionally.

There are a few variations on the route. The main two are:

1. Either walk through Mary Creek Plains, or walk around Mary Creek Plains on the east side. We went around, which avoids some significant descent and ascent, and the plethora of leeches. But finding water requires sucking out of yabbie holes.

2. Follow Raglan Range all the way out to the highway, or detour off the range at Bubs Hill. We went via Bubs Hill, which is shorter in terms of distance, but much harder in terms of scrub, and steep terrain.

Once you get onto the Raglan Range, the main route is easy to follow, as the old (Franklin Dam exploration) bulldozer tracks are mostly still quite clear.

The entire route is actually marked on LISTmap now (if you zoom in far enough). It follows the first two of both my listed options (ie, the more common variations that I did NOT follow). I'm not sure how accurate the LISTmap version is, and would not recommend this route if you are not quite experienced with off-track navigation and scrub bashing.
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Re: Raglan Range

Postby danman » Thu 27 Jan, 2022 5:33 pm

Angus wrote:Thanks for the info CBee

I’ve got chapman’s book, and I’m more so just wondering if there’s much of a pad at the moment, just to gauge how long/ slow it will be. Also would it be best to carry water for a couple days, or is the water along the route fairly reliable?

Happy to navigate off a map but it would be cool if someone could share a GPX to help with speed and safety :)

Cheers Angus


the west is currently experienced the driest January on record. i'd expect you might not find any water between the Franklin and the Nelson at the end of the walk. So you'd want to carry at least 2 days supply to be on the safe side in hot conditions...
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Re: Raglan Range

Postby Angus » Mon 31 Jan, 2022 7:31 pm

Thanks for the advice everyone!
Just got back from an amazing trip past the cap and through the raglans. Very though with the heat, lack of water and SCRUB!! But so worth it!

Cheers
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Re: Raglan Range

Postby CBee » Tue 01 Feb, 2022 6:36 am

Well done. It's a beautiful part of the world.
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