Allison Wallace 11/6/23 Allison Wallace 11/6/23

Adrenalin-filled canyoning in Cradle Mountain

A place of jaw-dropping natural beauty, iconic Cradle Mountain is where is on display at every turn.

Cradle Mountain in Tasmania is known for offering up some incredible and challenging hiking trails (you may have heard of the Overland Track…) but there is another way to experience this incredibly scenic part of the world – you just have to be prepared to get a little wet.

A day trip to Dove Canyon with Cradle Mountain Canyons covers all bases. A short hike through the forest, abseiling into icy water, flipping off waterfalls and floating down the canyons.

Your day starts meeting just near the Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre – so there is heaps of parking and somewhere to grab a coffee before you plunge into the icy alpine waters.

After gearing up with about 4 layers of wetsuit, including booties and a hood, the team transport you to the start of a trail. From there it is about a half hour walk along boardwalks to reach what the guys affectionately referred to as the ‘change room.’

The change room is actually just a large rocky area where we spent at least 10 minutes pulling on all our layers of gear including a life jacket and helmet! Your regular clothes will be left here with the drybag backpacks until we hike back out of the canyon later in the day.

Feeling very much like the Michelin man in the bulky getup, we make our way down to the (literal) jumping off point into Dove Canyon. It is hot and uncomfortable now but I will be definitely grateful for the layers later on…

If you have a fear of heights the first step into the canyon – abseiling over the edge – will challenge you – and once down, the only way out is to keep going forward. I definitely got another shock as I make contact with the frigid water below too.

Over the next few hours, we make our way through the canyon by abseiling down cliffs, jumping into chilly pools, shooting down waterfalls along naturally formed slides, and swimming through narrow sections of the gorge.

There is some time waiting below falls until everyone in the group has made their way through each adventure. During this time, I am sure I look amazing standing there or treading water with my hands out of the water trying to get some sun on them to keep feeling. Yes, the water was THAT cold!

You wouldn’t know it from the amazing photo the Cradle Mountain Canyons team took of me, but an undeniable highlight for me is racing through the narrow Laundry Chute and launching into a deep pool of water below.

Lunch was a welcome break from the icy water and the surprising amount of exertion on a sunny sandy bank. We enjoyed a make-your-own wrap station that catered for all our dietaries.

And so, we continued down the canyon. My elegant forward jumps off heights of up the 7m were no match for the guides’ flips and turns but it was a thrill none the less. At times we were just floating with the flow of the water and enjoying the incredible scenery.

The team are with you all the way to make sure everyone is safe and sound – if not entirely comfortable.

All up we navigated six waterfalls over the course of the day, but the hardest part of the day was still ahead.

Layers of soaking wetsuits and booties weighing us down, helmets still on to keep our hands free, we climbed and crawled 20mins uphill back to the ‘change room.’ It was exhausting and strangely hot. After changing, we loaded all that wet gear into our backpacks – which had now doubled in weight – and lugged those back to the transport. It was taxing on the shoulders more than anything as the dry bags are hardly fitted hiking packs!

All smiles at the end of the canyon before hiking out.

The team from Cradle Mountain Canyons make sure that moments throughout the day are captured on camera and emailed to you while you are warm, dry and enjoying a Tassie pinot at the end of an exhilarating day.

All up, the day was amazing. We had great weather, great guides and great fun! If thrill-seeking is something you do, and you have some basic fitness and can swim, I highly recommend this adventure into Lake St Clair National Park.

Looking for more adventures near Cradle Mountain? Why not try your hand at feeding some cheeky Tassie devils, or head out after dark to spot local wildlife?

Allison Wallace 8/15/23 Allison Wallace 8/15/23

Making it to the Cradle Mountain Summit... almost

Sometimes you look at a mountain or hike and think it won’t be that hard. At other times, it is harder than it looks. Summiting Cradle Mountain in Lake St Clair National Park is definitely the latter.

The thing is, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Everyone says this isn’t an easy summit, and even the woman who sold us our registration passes reinforced the ‘this is a tough summit’ message.

The good news is, you don’t have to complete a full summit to appreciate the hike in and around Cradle Mountain as the changing landscapes in this part of Tasmania and incredible vistas enroute mean you don’t have to go all the way to the top.

There is one than one route to the top and with the added benefit of shuttle buses that move around every 15 minutes, you don’t need to start and finish at the same point. In my opinion, any hike that has minimal backtracking is a win!

The day we set out was a little cloudy, but as we ascended, we had bits of sunshine, but a lot of wind…

We started out early but just parked in the main car park and used the shuttle bus to get to the starting point of our choice. We decided to head off from Ronny Creek and finish at Dove Lake in the afternoon. This is a slightly longer route but provides more different landscapes along the way and considering I am definitely looking for the journey AND the destination, this seemed the way to go.

This route took us up to Crater Lake, Marion’s Lookout and Kitchen Hut before Summit, then down via Wombat Pool, Lake Lilla and finishing with some epic views from Dove Lake before grabbing a shuttle back to the main carpark (and a well-deserved wine at Cradle Mountain Lodge).

The hike started out easily enough after signing in at Ronny Creek (safety first of course) with gentle boardwalks surrounded by small creeks and native bushland. If you come back here at dusk, you will find this area lousy with wombats!

The scenery then changes as the elevation increases. There are a couple of small waterfalls and dense forest – the temperature is noticeably cooler in this section.

Soon after this section, you get to Crater Lake, marked by a cute little boat shed. The lake is immense and you get a reprieve from climbing until you reach the other side – then you start the UP to Marion’s Lookout.

This section of the trail is steep and you will have to do some rock scrambling. There is a chain in sections to help you get up the bigger steps – very handy for those of us with shorter legs and not to mention those we met attempting The Overland Trail with giant packs as this is where the trails intersect.

Working up that sweat is all worth is for one of the best views of the day – panoramic vistas over Dove Lake on one side and Cradle Mountain peak on the other.

From here, we headed towards Kitchen Hut. This was a relatively cruisy walk with flatter sections and boardwalks but it was exposed to the elements and the cold wind was seeping through my layers. As we walked on, Cradle Mountain was at times completely enclosed in cloud – and simultaneously seemed very far away…

Kitchen Hut is a spot for emergencies and not somewhere you can stay, but we sought a break from the chilly wind and ate our packed lunches inside. This is also the only bathroom on the trail so make the most of it (I would recommend BYO toilet paper in busy seasons).

This is where the summit to Cradle Mountain proper really starts and just looking at it from here, you can see how steep the section is going to be.

After about 20mins of rocky incline you reach the point where it is all-rock scrambling. I am talking big, sometimes wobbly, sometimes jagged rocks with limited trail markers on white poles as you make your way up. You need hands and feet to scramble up here.

It was a little over half-way through this rock-scrambling – close to what is referred to as the false peak - and with shaking legs that I decided to take a break and decide if I had it in me to make it to the top. Thankfully my wonderful hiking partner didn’t hate me for deciding I didn’t.

In good weather conditions, I would say that the Cradle Mountain summit walk is definitely worth it. I have heard the 360-degree views are incredible, but we were in the clouds, with high winds and low visibility. We probably turned around not far from the top, but I had to choose safety over ticking a summit off the list.

We headed back down to Marion’s Lookout (the only backtracking we did all day) and then turned off at Crater Lake to go down towards the Wombat Pool and Lake Lilla. This section of the trail was busier than any others and I have seen that a lot of people do the hike both from and returning to Dove Lake.

Walking along here, past Wombat Lookout, it is easy to see why it is referred to as the scenic route down some steep steps from the Wombat Pool to Lake Lilla.

From Lake Lilla, there are a few steps down but it is mostly flat and about 20mins before you reach Dove Lake. Time for the legs to begin rejoicing.

One of the last stops before you get to rest your legs is Dove Lake Boatshed – arguably the most famous photographed location in all of Cradle Mountain.

All up it took us a bit over eight hours to get to Dove Lake – not including our paddling time at the lake to refresh our feet in the icy waters. What an epic day and maybe one day I will go back and try the Summit again… but if I don’t, i still have incredible memories of this stunning part of Australia.

Freezing but refreshing for tired feet at Dove Lake.

Not feeling up to going it alone? Find a tour to get your bearings here!