Today, I walked up to Adamsons Peak in South West Tasmania, a return trip of about 10-15 km, with 1000 metres total ascent. The first section of the walk climbs steeply through moderately dense forest up to a plateau which lies east of the summit. It was quite a hot day, so by the time I made it to the plateau, I was drenched with sweat. This part of the walk was quite tedious, as it took almost 2 hours with no scenery for the entire duration. Additionally, the heat and the gradient took their toll on me.

Nevertheless, the views from the plateau quickly made me forget about the climb. Gorgeous views of the Huon and Bruny Island back to the East, and the Adamsons summit to the west kept me entertained on the approach. The plateau was quite overgrown and muddy; my legs were quite badly scratched from pushing through the bracken, and on more than one occasion my feet sunk up to half a foot into the mud. I suppose that it rains quite frequently, and a day as hot as today is quite rare in this area, so the track must remain perpetually muddy.

The final ascent to the summit took a little longer than I expected. It looked deceptively close as I approached from the plateau, but I ended up taking nearly 1.5 hours to reach the top. The views of the south west from the summit were breathtaking; I would have loved to have spent more time up there, but it was very hot, and I’d forgotten to bring sun cream, so I took my photos, had a bite to eat and started back down. I completed the return journey fairly quickly, getting back to the car after a total time of about 5 hours 40 minutes.