This year's Duck Reach and Gorge Circuit happens to coincide with the shortest day of the year! Definitely a time to get all the daylight, and hopefully sunlight, you can squeeze in, and if it's cold, the walk will hopefully warm you up, and you can still be home for lunch.
Starting from Duck Reach, we head down past the "second basin" where the river broadens around what becomes an island during floods, to the First Basin. There will be time for coffee and a snack at the historic Cliff Grounds tearooms (Gorge Restaurant) before the walk resumes, up Snake Gully and following fire trails back to the northern side of the gorge above Duck Reach. Possible further exploring in that area 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, all on well-formed tracks. 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 John Potts on 0418 576 011. 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, 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 2024 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.