Mt. Cameron - 5th August 2017

With highland snow and mixed weather making much of the state less inviting, this walk takes us to the sunnier northeast. Mt. Cameron is about 40 km east of Bridport, and only 12 km or so from the north coast, and offers interesting granite formations and spectacular views to Flinders Is. and other coastal areas. Access is through former alluvial tin mining areas, with the walk proper starting with 1.5 km of road from a boom gate before passing the Scottsdale High School camp and beginning the ascent. From the camp, the walk climbs through about 400 metres of altitude over about 2 km each way, with some scrambling over steep granite formations which can be a bit slippery underfoot, but not exposed to sheer drops. The walk should take 4.5 to 5 hours return, and we should be back in Launceston by 5:30 pm at the latest. This walk is rated at medium difficulty due to the steepness and the couple of tricky scrambles, but should be fine for energetic and resilient children of 9 years and older.

Meeting Times and Places:
If you are interested in going on this walk, please phone Peter Davies, the walk leader, on 6344 8235 to book in. The departure time is 7:30 am from Door of Hope car park in South Launceston. Please discuss any other meeting places and times with leader.
Even if meeting us en-route, you still need to contact the walk leader, if intending to walk. 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: Depart Launceston via Lilydale Rd. (B81) and continue through Lilydale to Lebrina. About 2 km north of Lebrina, take Pipers Brook Rd. (C818) to Bridport Rd. (aka Flinders Hwy) (B82). Continue east to Bridport, about 1 hour and 74 km from Launceston. Instead of continuing into Bridport, turn right into Waterhouse Rd. (B82) and continue east for approx. 40 km to the junction of Tomahawk Rd. Continue a further 12 km east to the junction of Old Port Rd. and turn right. Drive a further 7 km south and turn left. The boom gate which marks the start of the walk is a little under 3 km further east.

Warnings:
As mentioned, there are steep sections with some scrambling over granite which can be a little slippery under foot so the walk is rated medium. Make sure you bring drinking water - suggest 1 litre per person. Walkers are advised to wear sturdy boots or sneakers. You should always carry wet weather gear as well as warm clothing including gloves and beanies in case of sudden weather changes. The exposed top of Mt. Cameron can be cold and windy, especially at this time of the year.

Click this link for a more detailed discussion of Preparation, Food and Safety guidelines for Boots N' All walks.

Map details and references:

Mt. Cameron (alt. 551m): 1:100000 map is Cape Portland (Tasmap 8416) and 1:25000 map is Monarch (Tasmap 5646)
Map references:
Short ref. 792627
Zone      Easting        Northing     Latitude     Longitude
55G      5 79 220      54 62 830  -40.98186  147.94169

Mt. Cameron is worth 1 peakbagger point. For listing of peakbagger points, see the Hobart Walking Club Peakbagger's Guide (2000 revision) which can be found and downloaded (as an Excel spreadsheet) from http://tastracks.webs.com/peakbaggers.htm  The same web page contains several other listings of Tasmanian peaks.

GPX version of the track: Click here to download. Google Earth version of the track: Click here to download.
Right-click on the file and “save target as” to a location of your choice. (Suggest you click the “Last modified” at top to sort by date to get the most recent at top to find the file for the next walk).

When you have downloaded the track file, double-clicking on the Google Earth (kml) track should open Google Earth and zoom in to the location if you have Google Earth installed on your computer. The .gpx version of the track should import into mapping software or devices that support gpx tracks and waypoints.