Sunday, December 4, 2016

Snow Gums Boardwalk, Kosciuszko Nat Pk, NSW, Australia


2016 December: Short walk - Snow Gums Boardwalk in Kosciuszko National Park, NSW, Australia

Prolog

AB, DN and I will spend the rest of the morning climbing Mt Stilwell and Kangaroo Ridge. As an appetizer, we check out the Snow Gums Boardwalk first.


Snow Gums Boardwalk

It is an easy short walk (about 180 meters oneway) to Main Range Lookout, offering a wonderful panorama to Australia's highest peaks in Kosciuszko National Park.

The starting point of the walk is at the north side of Charlotte Pass turning circle and carpark ... Refer to the map below.


Maps

- 1:25,000 scaled 8525-2S Perisher Valley
- 1:50,000 scaled Kosciuszko Alpine Area map, 1st edition, by Spatial Vision Innovations Pty Ltd
- 1:100,000 scaled 8525 Kosciuszko

Here is the 1:25,000 scaled map of the relevant part of the walk:
    - Blue oval: Snow Gums Boardwalk
    - Upper blue arrow on the left edge: Club Lake Creek
    - Lower blue arrow: Snowy River
Also, scroll forward to see the satellite image.


GPS tracklog file & Route

Our GPX tracklog file can be downloaded from:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B877-h5SCJaSZDFoaXdleF85Snc/view?usp=sharing

Satellite image: The same tracklog, red colour, on Snow Gums Boardwalk

In summary:
- Start at the north side of Charlotte Pass turning circle and carpark
- To Charlotte Pass Lookout, the 1st viewing platform
- To Main Range Lookout, the 2nd viewing platform
- Return to carpark


Timeline & Distance

07:55  0.00 km  Start at Charlotte Pass turning circle and carpark
07:56  0.02 km  At Charlotte Pass Lookout, the 1st viewing platform

07:59  0.04 km  Resume walking
08:02  0.18 km  At Main Range Lookout, the 2nd viewing platform

08:04  0.19 km  Start to return to carpark
08:09  0.37 km  Back at Charlotte Pass carpark

==============================================

Total:  0 hr 14 mins
           0.37 km  Distance is from Google Earth
           0.40 km  Distance is from Garmin GPS


Pictures - Charlotte Pass Lookout, the 1st viewing platform

1)  Just a few steps into the Snow Gums Boardwalk is Charlotte Pass Lookout, the first viewing platform of the Kosciuszko Main Range.
- The 6 red arrows, from left to right, point to:
       1 Mt Kosciuszko, Australia's highest mountain; towards west-south-west
       2 Mt Clarke; west
       3 Mt Northcote
       4 Mt Townsend, Australia's 2nd highest mountain
       5 Mt Lee
       6 Carruthers Peak
- AB is the guy in the pic.
- The 2 shadows on the ground, from left to right, belong to me and DN.


Boardwalk to Main Range Lookout, the 2nd viewing platform

2)  We are on a well constructed boardwalk to Main Range Lookout, the second viewing platform.
- DN is leading.
- The tree in the semi-circle is a Snow Gum ... see photo #3.


Snow Gums

3)  This is the gnarled Snow Gum in the semi-circle of the previous pic ~~~
Both pics below are of the same tree, viewed from different directions.


4)  Another Snow Gum, this one is almost rainbow-coloured ... beautiful !


Main Range Lookout - the 2nd (higher) viewing platform

5)  Main Range Lookout is in front.


6)  At Main Range Lookout ~~~
- The guys from left to right: DN, AB, a lone hiker (we don't know him.)
- The 4 red arrows point to, from left to right:
       1 Mt Kosciuszko, Australia's highest mountain; towards west-south-west
       2 Mt Clarke; west
       3 Mt Northcote
       4 Carruthers Peak


Panorama from Main Range Lookout, the 2nd viewing platform

7)  The photograph below, from south to north-west, is a section of the panorama at Main Range Lookout.
(Click on the image to enlarge it.)
- Left red oval: Snowy River
- Right red oval: Club Lake Creek
- Turquoise oval: Toilet block at Charlotte Pass carpark
- Turquoise arrow: Summit Walk track to Rawson Pass & Mt Kosciuszko
- 10 red arrows point to, from left to right:
         1 Little Stilwell; towards south ... we'll climb it later this morning
         2 Mt Stilwell ... we'll climb it later this morning
         3 Rams Head North; south-west
         4 Highest (unnamed) peak on Etheridge Ridge
         5 Mt Kosciuszko; west-south-west
         6 Mt Clarke; west
         7 Mt Northcote
         8 Mt Townsend, Australia's 2nd highest mountain
         9 Mt Lee
       10 Carruthers Peak; north-west


8)  From north-west to east-north-east (continuation to the right of previous pic) ~~~
- Turquoise oval: Blue Lake; towards north-north-west
- 7 red arrows point to, from left to right:
       1 Mt Twynam, Australia's 3rd highest mountain
       2 Little Twynam
       3 Mt Anton; towards north
       4 Mann Bluff
       5 Mt Tate
       6 Gills Knobs; north-north-east
       7 Mt Guthrie; east-north-east


9)  Zooming onto Mt Kosciuszko and its nearby peaks of photo #7 ~~~
- Turquoise arrow: Summit Walk track to Rawson Pass & Mt Kosciuszko
- 3 red arrows point to, from left to right:
       1 Rams Head North; towards south-west
       2 Highest (unnamed) peak on Etheridge Ridge
       3 Mt Kosciuszko; west-south-west


10)  Continuation to the right of previous pic, and zooming onto Snowy River and Club Lake Creek of photo #7 ~~~
- The river on left half of the pic: Snowy River
- The river at the centre of the pic: Club Lake Creek
- The track on the right half of the pic: It leads to Blue Lake.
- The 4 red arrows point to, from left to right:
       1 Mt Clarke; towards west
       2 Mt Northcote
       3 Mt Townsend, Australia's 2nd highest mountain
       4 Mt Lee


11)  Zooming onto the peaks around Mt Twynam & Mt Tate of photo #8 ~~~
- Turquoise oval: Blue Lake; towards north-north-west
- 6 red arrows point to, from left to right:
       1 Mt Twynam, Australia's 3rd highest mountain
       2 Little Twynam
       3 Mt Anton; towards north
       4 Mann Bluff
       5 Mt Tate
       6 Gills Knobs; towards north-north-east


Return to Charlotte Pass carpark

12)  Time to return to Charlotte Pass turning circle and carpark ~~~
I am still at the Main Range Lookout viewing platform, looking down at the boardwalk:
- 2 guys on the boardwalk, from left to right:
       • The lone hiker (same as the right-most guy in photo #6)
       • DN
- Turquoise circle: Toilet block at Charlotte Pass carpark
- Turquoise arrow: Summit Walk track to Rawson Pass & Mt Kosciuszko
- 3 red arrows point to, from left to right:
       1 Little Stilwell; towards south ... we'll climb it later this morning
       2 Mt Stilwell, we'll climb it later this morning
       3 Rams Head North; south-west


Back at Charlotte Pass carpark

13)  This black bird is called Little Raven (I think). There are plenty of them around the Kosciuszko Alpine area.


14)  Does anyone know the name of this yellow flower? It looks like weed in my garden  :-)


Post Script

Straight afterwards, we go to climb Mt Stilwell and Kangaroo Ridge. Photographs and trip report are in this link:
http://mntviews.blogspot.com.au/2016/12/mt-stilwell-and-kangaroo-ridge.html


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