The Dial Range is a prominent feature of the northwest coastal hinterland, rising steeply behind Penguin and extending south to the Gunns Plains area. The most prominent feature, the Gnomon, drops precipitously just a few km south of the coast, but is actually not as intimidating as it looks to climb. Short but steep climbs, somewhat unsteady descents, forests, views, old mines and the pretty Ferndene reserve all feature in this walk. Great views are available from both peaks on this walk, especially to the east and southeast.
Walk Route:
Following last year's great Boots N' All traverse of the top of the range, this year, the challenge will be the rather steep Mt. Montgomery (alt. 470m), via Myrtle Creek, then descending the northern ridge back to the carpark (alt. 180m). The northern ridge descent can be extremely slippery if it is dry, so good, grippy footwear is needed. This part of the day will take about 1.5 hours.
Next, we drive south to climb the Gnomon (alt. 490m). Starting from the carpark (alt. 300m), a steep climb gets you quickly up to a spectacular view at the summit of Gnomon, which is the signature feature of the range, especially when viewed from as far east as West Head. This part will take about an hour.
At Ferndene, there will be an opportunity for those who are up for some off track adventure and would like to check out some hidden mines 5 mins past Thorsby's tunnel.
Total distance for the 3 walks is approximately 7.5 km and 3.5 hours of walking. This should be a great walk for kids. Walkers do need to be reasonably fit and steady on their feet.
Meeting Times and Places:
If you are interested in going on this walk, please phone Darren Wunder on 0438 557 046 to book in. Meet 9 am at Hiscutt Park, Crescent Street Penguin by taking the right hand turn straight after the traffic lights if coming from Burnie or off the Bass Highway. A pond and windmill make it easy to spot. Please negotiate any alternative travel arrangements with the leader. You must contact the walk leader per details above if intending to join this 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 Burnie: Follow the Bass Highway east from Burnie, turning off at Howth to follow the coastal road to reach the meeting place - 16 km. If coming from Devonport, its 22 km via the Bass Highway. Take the second exit off the highway, turn right at the traffic lights and the right turn straight after gets you to Hiscutt Park. An hour and a half from the middle of Launceston (130 km) is ample time to make it to Penguin.
To access the first walk from Penguin, head 2.7 km south up Hardy's Rd to a point where powerlines cross the road. Turn right and head a further 300m along the power lines to reach the car park for Mt. Montgomery. After that walk, return to Hardys Rd and turn left. Continue 450m and turn right into into Ironcliffe Rd. A little under 3 km will bring you to Ferndene, which will be visited later in the day. Follow Ironcliffe Rd. a further 4.5 km south to reach the Dial carpark and the start of the walk.
Equipment and Warnings:
Bring sturdy shoes, wet/cold-weather gear (even in March, Tasmania's weather can vary greatly), plenty of water, lunch and snacks. Optional: trekking poles, gaiters and camera
The following codes [from our 2021 walks calendar] apply:
S Steep incline for at least part of the way
For equipment and safety guidelines, Click Here.
Map details: Mt Gnomon & Mt Dial: 1:100000 map is Tasmap 8115 (Forth) and 1:25000 map is 4044 (Stowport)
Map references:
Short ref.188413 for Gnomon
.......................... Zone Easting Northing Latitude Longitude
Gnomon: 55G 4 18 900 54 41 380 -41.17487 146.03314
Mt Montgomery: 55G 4 21 570 54 44 070 -41.15090 146.06531
Mt.Gnomon (alt. 430 m) is worth 1 peakbagger point. No point for Mt. Montgomery. For listing of peakbagger points, see the Hobart Walking Club Peakbagger’s Guide (2000 revision) which can be downloaded (Excel) from http://tastracks.webs.com/peakbaggers.htm The same web page contains several other listings of Tasmanian peaks.
For GPX (.gpx) and Google Earth (.kml) versions of the track: Click here to browse our collection.
Direct links: GPX for this walk … KML for this walk
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).
