Duck Reach and Gorge Bushland – Sat. 21st June
This year’s Duck Reach and Gorge Circuit again coincides with the eve of the winter solstice. While the temptation might be to stay at home curled up in front of the heater, some brisk exercise will do you good, especially because you can still be home in time for lunch.
From the Duck Reach carpark, we follow the path down the east bank of the South Esk gorge past the “second basin” where the river broadens around what becomes an island during floods. At time of writing, it is uncertain whether the track from the impressive Sentinel Lookout to the Basin suspension bridge is open due to damage because of a bushfire, and if closed, the walk will continue up the fairly steep access trail to Denison Road, and then follow the park boundary down from there to the gates of the First Basin in Basin Rd. The descent will be a steep off-track section (but only about 300 metres) so sturdy shoes are recommended.
That will be just as well, because it brings us to the cafe on that side – the popular Cliff Grounds cafe is currently without a tenant, so no coffee break on that side! After the break, the walk resumes, crossing the suspension bridge or the low level crossing, up Snake Gully and following fire trails back to the northern side of the gorge above Duck Reach before the steep descent to the old power station, with its historic interpretation information, and across the suspension bridge before the steep climb back to the car park, before we head our separate ways for lunch. Total walk distance is about 5 km, on well-formed tracks except for the 300 metres off-track if we need to bypass. Suitable for energetic children, but not suitable for prams, strollers or wheelchairs. People with those needs could link up with the group during the time at the Basin area.
Meeting Times and Places:
If you are interested in going on this walk, please phone or text Basil Tkaczuk on 0438 664 402. (Regular Gorge walk leader John Potts hopes to join us, but some health concerns at the moment). The departure time is 9 am from Door of Hope car park, although most people will likely meet at Duck Reach car park (West Launceston/Summerhill side in Corin St, NOT the Reatta Rd. Hoo Hoo Hut car park!) by about 9:15 am. If you wish to meet with the group at any other place or need to be picked up from Door of Hope, please arrange with the leader. Please be at any meeting place 5 minutes ahead of departure time. However, you still need to contact the walk leader, if intending to walk, so he knows who to wait for. The leader should be notified of any other people you intend to bring along. Please be at any meeting place 5 minutes ahead of departure time.
To access this area from northern Tasmania: The walk is in the Launceston area. See notes above about car park.
Warnings:
The following codes [from our 2025 walks calendar] apply:
S Steep incline for at least part of the way
For this walk, there are no special clothing requirements apart from normal precautions against cold or rain (carry a raincoat, please!). Solid shoes or sneakers (with reasonably thick socks to protect against blisters) should be fine, and gaiters are not needed.
Map details:
For this walk, there are some good maps in Trails in and around Launceston, a brochure which can be downloaded from this link. See page 5 for the route we will follow (red dots).
No peakbagger points on this walk! To find out about these, see The Peakbaggers Points List, which can be downloaded (Excel) from http://tastracks.webs.com/peakbaggers.htm which contains the 1983 and 2000 versions, developed from the original 1968 Hobart Walking Club version. A parallel and more recent but not identical list system is The Abels – also available on the same website, which also contains some other listings of Tasmanian peaks.
Various websites show walks in the Cataract Gorge reserve including Duck Reach and Kings Bridge (6.7km), Cataract Gorge Reserve, TAS > Trail Hiking Australia, although that walk also includes the section from Kings Bridge to First Basin.
GPX version of the track: Click here to download.
For GPX (.gpx) and Google Earth (.kml) versions of tracks for most Boots N’ All Walks: Click here to download.