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Frenchmans Cap, Tasmania

menu_book picture_as_pdf bookTim Goble Bushwalk Australia Tasmania Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers NP
BWA_August_2022_new_look-10

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Frenchmans Cap Tasmania

Text and photosTim Goble

Frenchmans Cap summit

Frenchmans Cap is one of those iconic walks that would or should be somewhere on every hiker's "must do" list. It is definitely a "journey not the destination" type of walk with spectacular and varied scenery over the entire 50 kilometres. It's a walk in, walk out hike but walking in reverse gives you plenty of unseen beautiful scenery, or at least scenery from a different angle.

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Lake Vera camping

Frenchmans Cap has the reputation of being a tough, challenging walk, particularly the last push to the summit. Having said that, the weather will often close in, making a summit push inadvisable and dangerous.

We were lucky enough to have perfect weather all the way.

The guides say to allow 3-5 days for this walk. We met a few people that did it in two and a couple that ran it in a day, but it is definitely worth taking the extra time to relax, enjoy the view and "smell the roses". We took four days to complete, which was plenty of time to do it comfortably and have a look around.

Day 1: Car park to Lake Vera, 15 kmStart at the car park - which was surprisingly empty - and cross the suspension bridge over the beautiful Franklin River. It must have been challenging and cold to wade across during the early days.

A gentle climb up beside a gorgeous creek gives rise to an amazing glimpse of Frenchmans Cap.

Following this was a walk through button grass and over the Loddon Plains. Realignment and upgrading of the track now make this trip easier as opposed to struggling through knee deep and often thigh deep mud of yesteryear. Thanks, Dick Smith, for the funding! After some more scenic walking, we arrived at the mighty Loddon River for lunch. A relatively simple traverse brought us down to Lake Vera where we spent the night. There is a hut here, but we decided to pitch tents nearby.

Day 2: Lake Vera, Frenchmans, Lake Tahune, 8 km A beautiful walk through temperate rainforest. We were clambering over old tree roots, through magical and mythical creeks, and waterfalls. You expect Frodo to jump out at any minute. Although this day is only about seven kilometres, it can take quite a while to navigate. Another climb brought us to Barron Pass, which has one of the best views of the walk. Make sure you spend a bit of time here to take it all in. We arrived at Lake Tahune just after lunch, and given the weather was clear, we decided to summit Frenchmans that

Rare stillness at Lake Vera

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Bushwalk.com notes and maps on webpage, GPX and PDF

This map is © Bushwalk.com and is created using data © OpenStreetMap contributors

Frenchmans Cap

Road, four-wheel drive track, walking track (treed)

Main track, side trip, alternate route

Cliff, major contour line, minor contour line (20 metre interval)

Lake, river, waterfall or creek

0 km 0.5 1 2 km

Start of the walk

Hut

Campsite

Toilet

Parking

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afternoon. Again it's only a few kilometres, but the ascent is over 400 metres. There are lots of false tops and quite a bit of rock scrambling to reach the summit. The view from the top on a clear day was absolutely spectacular.

We clambered down and reached the Lake Tahune campsite around 6 pm. Again there is an amazing hut there (hydropower provides lights, heating and phone charging). Still, we decided to camp again - especially given we had carried tents all that way!

Back to the car parkThe next two days were the same as the first two days, but reverse. It was a bit easier on the legs as it was mainly downhill.

I would definitely recommend this walk to anyone with moderate to experienced hiking skills. It seems like Tas National Parks want people to book in now to limit numbers and also to be COVID safe. Also makes sure you have a bed in one of those huts if required.

Have fun!

The sodden Loddon is now mainly duckboards

This is the most technical part of the climb

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