After a weekend of heavy snowfall on the previous weekend, the thought of walking this coming weekend was enticing. After much deliberation, it was decided that a trip to Mt Mueller in the states south-west was to be our target. Three others joined me, James and Ben from the Tasmanian University Bushwalking Club, and Marco from the Hobart Walking Club.
To reach the start of the track, turn off Gordon Road onto Styx Road, a few kilometres west of Maydena. The road swings under the main road and heads south. Follow the road for 4.7km and turn right onto Mueller Road. It pays to check with Forestry Tasmania to see if a key is required for the boom gate on this road. Mueller Road is followed for 5km until a right turn onto Mueller Spur 6. Turn on your odometer, as this spur is not sign posted. The spur heads downhill for 2km, then a left turn onto a final spur leads to the track head, about 200m down the road. The start of the track is flagged with several orange tapes.
The track follows an old dozer trail, and is essentially straight right up to Fossil Lake. It was a little wet underfoot, but the solid base made for easy walking. The four of us set off from the car at about 9:30am, and almost immediately we discovered that the track was becoming quite overgrown, with bauera tangling around our ankles, making progress slower than anticipated. After 20 minutes of tangles and trips, the track opened out into a rocky base, surrounded by sphagnum moss and tall snow gums. After 50 minutes we had reached Fossil Lake. We were already walking through snow at this point. The lake had a thin film of ice over the surface. At Fossil Lake, with a bit of rummaging around, some old fossils can be found in the rocks. Due to the cold conditions, we did not stop for long, but we managed to find one fossil in a rock. From the lake, the track heads up a steep ridge to a false summit. The track to the top is quite old, and is typified by the old markers, at times nothing more than a piece of bailing twine or rope. The track became vague in places and at one point we had lost it, deciding that it was just as easy to ash our way up to the ridge. After ploughing up a few snow drifts, we reached the spine of the ridge and made good ground up the small boulder field. We stopped for a bit to eat at the top of the ridge.
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| A typical track marker |
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| This one has been there for a while |
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| The top of the ridge |
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| Marco reaching the top of the ridge |
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| Lunch up the top - a stunning view |
The ridge continues along for almost 2km, with a highpoint just 5m lower than the true summit, an easy place to turn around, just at the beginning of the ridge. Luckily we had prior knowledge of this false summit, and we continued down the ridge to a short drop into a saddle, where the climb to true summit begins. The sky began to tease us with patches of blue appearing every few minutes, but alas, it was never sustained. We reached the summit after about 2 and a half hours of walking. We stopped for some snacks and some summit photos, before heading back about 20 minutes later.
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| Summit break |
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| Ben at Fossil Lake |
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| The view to the top |
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| Fossils at Fossil Lake |
The walk back down took about the same amount of time as the walk up. The small boulders, covered in deep snow, made for a potential broken ankle, so great care was taken on the descent. After arriving back at the lake, we made good time back down the straight dozer trail, and we arrived back at the car at about 3pm. Snow walking always makes for tired legs at the end of the day, and this walk was no exception. We were back on our way and we were back in Hobart around 4:30pm. I feel that this won't be the last time I visit Mt Mueller. The views went begging this time, and we expected that to some degree. It was more a chance just to get out of the house for a day and climb a mountain, but I suspect that I will be back on a sunny day sometime in the near future.
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