On our previous trip we visited this small National Park 75km west of Hobart and having done the lower level walk were itching to head up the gravel road and into the Alpine region of the park. The weather was appearing to be against us, but with limited time we decided to head up and just see how far we could get and hope the weather picked up. Getting out the car we were met with an icy wind and a short sharp downpour which had us running back into the Freelander and sitting looking at each other both thinking “Should we head back down the hill and just find a nice cosy café” But we decided to get fully kitted up and venture out and just walk around the Pandani lined beautiful Dobson lake.

Once we set off we were rewarded with some patches of nice weather and so decided to continue to walk along the Lake Webster Track and onto the ski hut for lunch. We did get blasted with a small hail storm, but it soon brightened up and we were able to sit outside with our packed lunch overlooking Twilight Tarn. The hut was used during the periods Mt Filed experienced more reliable snow and is packed full of interesting old ski relics.

We met a local walking group who were doing the same route and after chatting to them, we decided to complete the loop by taking the Lake Newdegate Track to the Tarn Shelf. Wow this has to be one of the most picturesque areas I have ever walked, lots of silvery blue chains of small tarns stretching out for miles in a glacial carved wonderland. The path then continues across an old ski field with tow bar lifts before heading down the ski road and back to the lake Dobson circuit.

If you want to do this map, pick up one of the maps from the parks and wildlife office, they also have webcams of the alpine area, so you can see exactly what the weather is doing at the top of the hill as it was certainly a different world at the top.

If you want a shorter walk in the lower area of the park, we loved the 6km Lady Barron Circuit which takes in the dramatic tall trees and both Russel and Lady Barron Falls. Another one of the 60 great short walks of Tasmania. There are lots of sightings of Platypus in the rivers, but once again we were not lucky. I will keep searching.

The campsite in the National Park has a lovely feeling of being close to nature, but with a lot of facilities including a café and shop, hot showers, flushing toilets and laundry facilities

From Mt Filed National Park we also took a drive out to the Gordon River Dam over the spectacular Wilderness Ranges. It’s a reasonably long drive, but beautiful. A Wilderness lodge in Strathgordon has a coffee shop and information on the building of the Dam.

We buy most of our backpacking and hiking gear from Wild Earth so if you are looking for something we highly recommend them.  Check them out by clicking the banner below and enter the coupon ‘subscribe5’ for 5% off your first order…

Sarah x