THE BEN LOMOND TRAVERSE


by
Keith Lancaster 

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Note: This report has been scanned in as written. I have included the height, distance and time indications, e.g.:
(1000'- 12m.- 4.45p.m.)
which read as follows: height in feet - miles for the day - time.

On Sat., Feb. 24th. 1962, in company with Terry Woodward and Norton Harvey I left Launceston quite early, planning to traverse the Ben Lomond plateau from north to south in one day. The new road to Ben Lomond turns off the Upper Blessington Road about 50 yds. beyond the Ben Nevis turnoff and follows a good grade for 7½ miles where it forks, the right fork going a short distance to Carr Villa hut and the left fork going nearly 2 miles into the Strickland Gorge where we left the car and its driver at 6.10 a.m.

We climbed up the trough of the gorge and soon reached easy going along Meadow Vale, spending ample time inspecting floral and rock formation on the way. We detoured to the top of Legges Tor (5162’ - 8.50-9.50 a.m.). Then we rambled across to Ossian’s Throne (4950') on the eastern edge of the plateau. From here Legges Tor lies at 229 deg. mag. and the northern peak at 250 deg. A broad alpine shelf extends below on the eastern side about 500' below and half a mile wide and, below this, wooded ridges run down to a narrow ribbon of open clearing far, far below.

Turning S.S.W., we pushed on to Youls Tarn for lunch (1.10-2.10 p.m.). Like Youls Lake, it occupies, a broad basin on the plateau, too elevated to produce any sizeable tree growth. Passing between the two lakes, we swung S.S.E., keeping fairly close to the eastern edge of the plateau over the latter section and ever on the qui vive for signs of a track leading southward. At 4.15 p.m. we located a few stakes near an old hut site where only a few sheets of rusty iron remain as evidence. The track led us to the plateau edge at 4.30 p.m. and here it zigzagged steeply down between Bent and Broken Bluffs. It is somewhat overgrown but recent fires have left it reasonably clear. There are neither cairns nor blazes on this descent but the pad is unmistakable. Rock cairns appear below the cliffs as the descent tapers but the route becomes overgrown farther on and we lost the track at 5.30 p.m.. (We understand that, if the base of the cliffs had been followed for less than a mile eastward, a new road would have been reached.)

However, we were not concerned at losing the track as we realised the road was near. We followed a shoe track into an old logging track to its junction with a graveled road at 5.45 p.m.. This we followed westward a short distance, but the direction wasn't helpful, so we went trackless S.E., finally descending into a creek which we crossed at 6.10 p.m.. to find a cleared paddock with test plots for grass. Passing a stock paddock and hut to the S., we reached a building in the course of construction on the Storeys Creek - Rossarden road at 6.15 p.m.. We later learned that we were about three miles eastward of Storeys Creek and that the new road leading to the base of the mountain turns off about a mile to the east.

We waited a while for our planned transport to arrive and finally started to walk westward, receiving a lift into Storeys Creek before we had gone far, and were soon in touch with our own transport, arriving home at Launceston about 10 p.m..

 

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