Lake Rhona

The last walk on our wishlist was an easy one. We were hiking to Lake Rhona, another hike in the Southwest region, but this one starts from the northern end of Lake Pedder. To get to the trailhead you need to pay attention. The road in goes along forestry tracks in the area famous for the fight in the Styx Valley to keep the primary forest and the beautiful large gum trees protected from the logging industry. It’s a warren of narrow, dark, and sometimes overgrown 4wd tracks, but they do have names. From the turn off after Mt Field NP it takes about an hour on the dirt roads.

Once we had reached the small carpark we still had to pack our bags and prepare our food. We’re getting pretty good at this now and everything is done smoothly. Whilst Jude is making desserts and measuring out our breakfasts, Jon is climbing up to the roofbox to get our packs and sleeping gear out. We add chocolate, some amaretto, make scroggin as our previous batch is finished, cut off some cheese and decant some sundried tomatoes into a small jar.

Soon all our food and sleeping gear is packed. We need to decide what to wear (what’s the weather forecast) and which of our down jackets to take for the evening (thick or thin). There’s no reception out here, but we have taken screenshots of the mountain forecast so we double-check the temperatures. We are putting on shorts for the hike, Jude puts on her runners as the weather has been very dry and she’s anticipating there won’t be much mud. Jon puts on his boots as the track notes talk about substantial mud on large sections of the trail. On the downjackets we are more aligned, we take our thick ones as the forecast for the night is zero degrees.

With the packing done, we swing our packs on our shoulders and sign in at the registration booth, a safety measure. Not far in we come across another boot cleaning station to prevent the nasty root rot from entering in this pristine area as it spreads through spores that can stay in the mud on your boots. We clean our boots after every hike, so we just use the spray to kill anything that might be left behind. After 15 seconds we can start the hike, happy we have done our bit to protect this beautiful landscape.

It’s easy walking, a gentle trail winding it’s way slowly downhill to the Gordon River. A few ginormous trees have kindly created a bridge across and we don’t even have to get our feet wet. There’s apparently another tree a few hundred metres further upstream you can use if water levels are higher, but we can use this one.

crossing the Gordon River over two trees conveniently fallen across the river

The trail winds itself mostly through buttongrass, occasionally crossing a small stream or a strip of forest, up a wide valley. It’s stunning and hot under the fierce sun and we find small shaded areas for our lunch and snack stops.

Jon hiking in the Vale of Passelas, Mount Wright in the background

it has been very dry in the southwest, tiny creeks are the only places we see mud

even the small tarns are completely dry

After about 11km, the trail leaves the valley floor and turns west. After climbing around 400m in 2km we get our first view of Lake Rhona. Nestled in a natural amphitheatre with leaning cliffs, a small green forest behind her, white beaches and the deep red / brown colour of the water due to the buttongrass make it a picture-perfect view.

Jon hiking up the ridgeline to Lake Rhona

Jude with our first view of Lake Rhona

We walked down, crossed the outlet of the lake and found the muddiest and most overgrown section of the trails in the last 100m before popping out onto the white beach. We found an idyllic spot hidden in the scrub, and even though it was a bit small for our tent we decided we liked the privacy of it. This was home for the next two nights.

Ranger Alina showed us what happened to her when she was out for a day hike, the broad-toothed rats had eaten their way into her pack in multiple places and gotten into some of her food. They’re normally nocturnal, but had obviously discovered the benefits of rummaging around in the daytime. We decided to take all our food with us on our hike to Reed Peak the next day. The hike skirts the rim and has stunning views on a sunny day like we had. We had lunch on top and were greeted by a dusky antechinus and magnificent views.

we enjoy breakfast on the beach in front of our campsite, again we hung up the food bags with our hiking poles

the track to the toilet and the sign to show you when it is ‘occupood’

the view from the toilet at Lake Rhona

view of Lake Rhona as we start our walk to Reed Peak

Jon on the day trip to Reed Peak

once we get up higher we get a different look at Lake Rhona, every side is just beautiful

Jon at the top of Reed Peak

a dusky antechinus comes looking for crumbs we might drop as we eat our lunch on top of Reed Peak

Jon and Jude on top of Reed Peak with Lake Rhona in the background

a small part of the 360 view from the top of Reed Peak, we had a beautiful day

The lake was a perfect temperature to enjoy a long swim to wash off all the dust and sweat. And because the hiking times were short we enjoyed leisurely dinners, cuppas and desserts on the beach during the day, and some stargazing and night time photography after the sun set.

the lake again as a mirror, the windstill days are stunning

we spent half an hour swimming in Lake Rhona after our day trip to the top of Reed Peak, the water was just perfect

there is no wind and the lake is like a mirror for the stars, amazing

we have breakfast again on the beach in front of our campsite, magical

despite the fact there was no food in the backpacks the little broad-toothed rats decided to have a nibble on Jon’s pack

a healthy-looking King Billy pine grows along the edge of the beach

a final goodbye of Lake Rhona with its white beach, red water and blue skies

On our hike out we had lunch in Gordonvale. It’s an old homestead that was bought by the Tasmanian Land Council to preserve the historic values. For us it provided an idyllic, grass-covered, shady spot to have our wraps and air our feet.

the only section of the track that is through thick bush is the few metres after leaving the beach at the campsite

Jude crossing one of the few streams with water in the valley

we have lunch at Gordonvale, this area used to be a homestead but was bought by a conservation group

A final skinny dip in the Gordon River was our reward after another very pleasant hike in the Tassie wilderness. A perfect ending to another very pleasant hike.

when we got back to the Gordon River we decided to have a swim (wash) before hiking the final km or 2 back to Lara

A few of the animals we spotted on our hike (not including the birds we saw):

a tasmanian tree skink (we think)

a well-camouflaged cricket

an ocellated skink (we think)

a caterpillar from a tiger moth (spilosoma spp)

dusky antechinus on top of Reed Peak