2009/10 Walls of Jerusalem to Lake St Clair Part 2

30^th Dec 2009 Lake Meston to Lake Artemis

Low lying cloud gave the impression of rain that never eventuated. An hour of walking or so and Meston Hut was reached. This too held the promise of 3 - 4 tent sites for camping but not as nice a location as hut north end of Lake Meston. There is a turnoff at the hut for Lake Myrtle and at least two parties including a Tas Expeditions group we met were heading that way as part of a circuit back to Lake Rowallan. Our group followed me along false trails in the Mayfield flats area where we should have maintained closer proximaty to the Mersey River to Junction Lake.

We had some lunch at Junction Lake Hut before cruising to Junction Lake before back tracking to pick up the trail to Lake Artemis across the creek from the hut. In times past this was aparently a more utilised route but presently it was a cairned route that was overgrown in places. This suited me as I was hoping to get to locations that were less travelled. Even though the ascent was only 160 m, the bauera that grew across the track around the base of Mountains of Jupiter and the 30 degree heat made this early afternoon walk a tough section.

We arrived at Lake Artemis expecting a lovely open camp site to find barely a track at all. Greg went anti clockwise and I went clockwise around the edge of the lake. Both of us found somewhere to camp but as Greg made a big deal of how tough his progress was we moved to the other side of the outflow creek and camped where we could in the heath. The campsites were comfortable and the outlflow creek had some lovely pools to cool off in. I took an afternoon hike up to the top of Mountains of Jupiter and I strongly recommend the beauty of this range. There was a clear cairned route from the track just above lake Artemis and the way up was easier than I was anticipating. The summit gave 360 degree views including Walls of Jupiter, Lake Meston, Lake Artemis, The Du Cane Range and even Frenchman's Cap and I had it to myself. I hope I can get back here again with or without people.

I could just make out our tents down below and it was hard to descend again. But descend I did. After describing what I could see as an ascent into the Traveller Range, Kerry and Julie helped locate the best route for the following day.

31^st Dec - Traveller Range

Expecting a tough day of bush bashing we were pleasantly surprised with the openness of the Traveller Range. This was by all accounts one of the most exciting sections of the walk with fabulous views all day af the Du Cane Range, Mt Ossa and some of the north peaks of the overland track. Cradle Mountain was not in view as it was obscured by Cathedral Mountain and Pelion East. The whole day was trackless and yet there was plenty of dolorite slabs to reduce the need for any scrub bashing. The amount of ascending and descending was also mild and so it was a cruisy day past lovely tarns with great views and fun with a compass and navigation to make our way towards Du Cane Gap. At Du Cane Gap a good track formed and we comfortably descended to join the Overland Track. New Years was celebrated early at our camp site north of the new hut at Windy Ridge. There was a fierce storm with loud thunder and close lightning strikes. The same storm also hit Hobart about 200km away.

Up until now the wild life had left us unmolested but Mary had a bag of nuts that a possum put a bute mark on each nut and the others had some encounter with possums or pademelons. Greg claimed to have punched a possum to make it leave him alone. Next time I would recommend leaving all food in the hut. Having said all this I was left entirely alone as I slept with my food and was probably considered a harder target than the other campers from QBW.