Cradle Mountain Running Tour

Cradle Mountain is a bit like a supermodel - it looks stunningly beautiful from whatever angle you see it from, everyone wants a photo with it, and you can get in a lot of trouble climbing over it!! Cradle Mountain is truly worth every postcard picture ever taken of it, with a sunny day bringing out the best of the mountain and the surrounding areas…interlaced with tracks, dotted with lakes, creeks running with fresh water and breathtaking views for as far as the eye can see.

The Cradle Mountain National Park is included in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area which is inscribed on the World Heritage List of UNESCO. It comprises one of the last great temperate wildernesses in the world…all of which means it is a very special place, and a priviliege to be able to visit it as I - and thousands others - do. I doubt we really recognise the significance of what this park is - it's a unique part of the planet.

There have been many thousands before me to have walked the tracks around Cradle Mountain - the Overland Track is world famous (and there's even a running race along it's length!!) - so it was with a detailed map in hand that I set out from the Ronny Creek Car Park along the Overland Track for a running tour along some of the more spectacular tracks, and over a few peaks. With a little research I'd mapped out a route which would usually rate as about a 1-2 day hike, that I planned to cover by about lunch-time!! There were no records to be set, just to slowly run and stop for photos along the way - I'd been looking forward to this run for weeks.

As always, the one thing you can't control is the weather, and dammit if the clear skies of the previous day weren't replaced by early morning low cloud, wind and cold. So with a couple of layers, gloves, cap (and more clothes in my backpack) I set off hoping the cloud would blow away while I ran…hoping, hoping…

My route took me along the Overland Track for a distance, alongside Crater Lake, up and over Marions Lookout, past Kitchen Hut before turning off for the Cradle Mtn summit. I then planned to run around the back of Cradle Mtn, down past Lake Rodway then up again and over Hansons Peak before heading back…roughly speaking!!! I had no idea of what kind of tracks lay ahead…but suffice to say that running laps of the tan wasn't great preparation…

After passing a couple of early groups of walkers on the Overland Track I was on my own with the only sound being my breathing and the wind, which grew stronger the higher up I went. Early on the track was good, a mix of boardwalk, sandy track and steps lined with low bushy vegetation and some trees. A smally but fast running creek ran alongside parts of the track, with some small waterfalls.

Crater Lake was the first main feature to arrive at, named because of its likeness to a volcanic crater but actually formed by glacial action. Like several other lakes, right on it's shore is a very quaint, wooden boatshed - only in name as it was empty. If only it were a clear, sunny day as the view from this corner with the "crater" walls circling the lake would be stunning. But onward the track went, taking a distinct vertical turn upwards into the clouds and wind.

The previous day you could see people standing on Marions Lookout from Dove Lake, below. Today, all that could be seen from the lookout was a sea of cloud…and a cold, whistling wind blowing around the rocks. Dammit.

The Overland Track "flattened" out a little from here on, covering some old and rotten sections of boardwalk as it traversed over the Cradle Plateau. In places it was muddy, and in other places newer boardwalk was being laid - the track was easy to follow and made for nice running.

In various locations around the area are huts; small wooden structures that have the appearance of a boarded up house to withstand the extreme weather. They're there as emergency shelters for walkers but also act as landmarks along the way and good reference points for maps. It was at Kitchen Hut where the turn-off to the Cradle Mtn summit was…which was good because I surely couldn’t see the summit through the cloud/fog!!

The sign at the bottom said 2.5 hrs return to the summit - it was a steep and arduous clambour (it ended up taking me about 40-45mins). At first the track just a bit steeper, with small rocks and a deeply worn track to negotiate. Then it got a lot harder. I still couldn't see where I was heading to, only following the marker poles as they crossed rocks the size of small cars - a bit slippery in the fog, and a challenging climb. The wind was still blowing; whistling around some rocks, and then eerily quiet when in the shelter behind some bigger boulders. If only I could see anything…

Eventually I got to a point where I think I was at the summit…whoopty-doo!!! There were no breaks in the cloud so I couldn't see a damn thing, but I did have distinct sense of being totally alone without anyone else for a long distance around. Then I turned around and went back down…literally on hands and knees again over the rocks trying not to slip or be blown off, being relieved to descend a little to see the cloud clearing in the lower altitudes, and the view of the surrounding mountains coming into sight.

I rejoined the Overland Track as it went alongside Cradle Mtn, with spectacular views of peaks, spurs and valleys in the distance, and then made a turn around behind Cradle Mtn and down into a valley where Lake Rodway was located. This was a steep, steep descent down a track where the sparse bushes gave way to thick and damp bush. The track twisted and turned, and with each bend the vegetation changed, and the nature of the track along with it. It was a spectacular route down and down, dodging bushes, branches, tree roots, muddy bogs, until I finally came out deep in the shadow of "backside" of Cradle Mtn at Lake Rodway.

The cloud was generally clearing by now - although the summit was still mostly shrouded - and the views around this side of the mountain continued to be stunning. Mountain peaksas far as the eye could see, deep valleys, bush, occasional lakes and more. In the shelter of the mountain it was peaceful and quiet…not even many birds were flying around, so it was the odd trickle of a stream to break the quiet.

I was over halfway by now, but reflecting the difficulty of the terrain I'd only covered about 12km (by GPS) in the first 2 hours - I've never run that slowly before!! I had some uphill ahead as I came around and up from behind Cradle Mtn and then into view of Dove Lake. Up and over Hansons Peak with a great view of Cradle Mtn, across to Marions Lookout, and to the side were the Twisted Lakes. The path was now very loose rocks, and sharp edges to the mountainside rocks - you could easily imagine a rockslide tumbling down from here.

I was disappointed to see that Mount Campbell - the highest on the eastern side of Dove Lake - didn't even feature a track to it's summit. How disrespectful!!! On the flipside, at least it means the riff-raff won't go clambering it's pristine slopes!!

My running tour was nearing an end, as I pulled into the Dove Lake car park - several people asked if I was just starting out(!!) - and then headed back past Lake Lilla and onto thhe Cradle Valley boardwalk, which joins up with the Overland Track and back to the start point. But before doing so I made a short little detour along a bit of the Maryland Track, over some thick heathland, and across some mud bogs and streams.

Eventually I re-joined the Overland Track boardwalk back to Ronnys Creek car park about 4:30 hrs after I left, with a net running time of about 3:40 hrs covering about 25km. It was a slow run, but the quality and diversity of terrain covered was spectacular - it's a run I'll remember for a long time. Next time maybe the Overland track might be a great course!!!