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Now, it feels extremely weird that I have been on and on about cradle mountain without even once mentioning the OverLand Track yet until this thread! But, to show you how significant this track is to those adventurous hikers, I would like to touch base with you on this track in details and I will come back to it again when I take you all through Lake St Clair!
This track is an internationally known walking trail that extends about 80+ kilometers in total. It winds through a mountainous terrain that starts from the cradle valley trekking southwards and ends at Lake St Clair at a altitude above 1000 meters high, with the highest at 1600+ meters on Mt Ossa's summit.
It takes the average hikers about 6-7 days to complete this track, the hot season runs between 1st Oct and 31st May during which the weather becomes less harsh on the hikers. There are quite a few rehabilitation huts along the track for the hikers to shield themselves from the unbearable cold overnight and to rejuvenate themselves. The hikers must be very well equipped to fend off the extremely wild weather, which is ever-changing during one day from a perfect sunny morning, to unbelievably windy, to a stormy rainfall and even worse, to a blizzard! Over the recent years, two deaths have unfortunately taken place: One man died of a cardiac arrest and one woman died of hypothermia as a result of the unexpected blizzard and her less-preparation!
Having said that, there are still many adventurers (about 8000 a year) fighting against the tough odds and pulling themselves through this challenging journey!
Why is it so attempting and attractive?
Guess all of those who take up this challenge would consider this the toughest task they could possibly come across in their lifetime, and they put their potential on test and believe they would be omnipotent if they could shrug off this challenge! (Make sense?!)
More importantly, there are the most spectacular landscapes, unique vegetation that can only be appreciated along this track.
"The landscape was all carved by glaciers during the last ice age, and the prominent mountains are composed of dolerite columns." Along the way, the adventurers get to appreciate "the Lakes (Lake St Clair, Lake Will, Lake Windermere, Dove Lake); Mountains (Cradle Mountain, Barn Bluff, Mt Ossa, Mt Pelion East, Mt Pelion West, The Acropolis, Mt Rufus); Waterfalls (Hartnett Falls, Ferguson Falls, D'alton Falls)".
Vegetation wise, I would like to bring to your attention the deciduous beech, which grows nowhere else in the world except in Tasmania's high, cold mountains along the overland track. It will present its vast range of colors in its leaves in autumn, from rusty, bright red to pure golden color, and it will lose those colorful leaves in winter!
What do you reckon you can do now? Feel the urge to take yourself to the track?  |
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楼主: yping88
楼主
发表于 26-11-2014 21:17:16
发表于 28-11-2014 13:24:39
In the same time I'm glad to see my garden is as happy as ever. It at long last got a deep watering.