Today we will be walking in an area we have been in before - weather and time permitting it is hoped to walk to Mount Field East and Seagers Lookout before returning to Lake Fenton. If possible we will also spend time looking at the Fagus around the Lake.
One of our members has had his 80th birthday recently and so Marilyn brought along a cake. We forgot that he wasn't going to attend today's walk as he was away scoping out a possible future walk. Never one's to waste food, our group decided to stop at the visitor center at National Park where the cake was eaten - verdict -- delicious.
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We then drove to the car park near Lake Fenton where today's walk will begin.
Getting ready to start.
Off we go
It didn't take long till we spotted the Fagus - unfortunately the timing wasn't right and we only saw a few bushes that had 'turned'. Fagus is Australia's only cold-climate deciduous tree who's leaves become flush with brilliant autumnal yellows and oranges. The rare Tasmanian Nothofagus gunnii is a small tree mostly less than 2m tall and is entirely unique to the mountains of Tasmania.
Some boardwalk makes the walking easier
We reach the turn off to the Mount Field East Track. From here the climbing gets more difficult
As we get higher the track becomes steeper and rockier
In some parts there is lots of water on the trail
An unusual rock with a flat top
In this section snow gums are prominent with their twisted, gnarled branches. Very spectacular
We finish this part of the climb and make our way along the ridge
Even though it is a harsh environment there is quite a variety of plant life - the orange in the photo below is sphagnum moss.
Down from the ridge onto the boardwalk which winds its way across Windy Moor.
Our destination (Mount Field East) is the mountain directly ahead of us - it seems to still be a long way away
Some moss growing amongst the waterways
After crossing Windy Moor we soon reach the intersection of Mt Field East and the Lake Nichols Tracks. Half the group decide that they don't want to do the climb to the top of Mt Field East (they will have lunch) - the rest of us leave our packs and commence the climb
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Michael looks at home amongst the rocks
A little further along we pass a woman and her 3 children. It turns out that she is French .. Michael's first language is also French .. so the two have a conversation in French!
We reach the cairn at the top
Looking east
Looking west
A view of the duckboard snaking across Windy Moor
Back down for lunch at the track intersection
Lunch completed we retrace our steps
Lake Fenton in the background
Chris looking over his domain
This tree looks like someones behind
Close to Lake Fenton almost back to the cars
Today 16 walkers covered 7.5kms in 4.5 hrs. We ran out of time and didn't get to go to Seagers Lookout. The walk had 4 distinct sections - near Lake Fenton there was dense bush, as we started to climb it became very rocky with striking snow gums, next we crossed the marshlands of Windy Moor on duckboards and finally the bare rocks on the slopes of Mt Field East
