Cradle Mountain Tasmania

Cradle Mountain Tasmania is the greatest national park in the state.
Tasmania’s most famous national park, Cradle Mountain NP covers some beautiful alpine plains, rainforests, deep blue lakes and glacier-carved peaks.
The most famous ones are Cradle Mountain and Mount Ossa and Lake St Clair – the deepest freshwater lake in Australia.

Easy ways to visit this fantastic national park:

ORGANISED TRIPS, TOURS AND BUSHWALKS













Geology of Cradle Mountain Tasmania
Glaciers that covered the area during the last ice age, left behind a range of glacial formations – U-shaped valleys, moraine deposits, tarns and glacial lakes. Most of Tasmanian mountain tops have a distinctive columnar appearance – about 40% of Tasmania is covered by dolerite, also called bluestone or diabase – a rock not found on the Australian mainland. It is an igneous rock that formed about 170 million years ago when the Gondwana continent began to break up. Weaknesses in the earth’s crust let magma to intrude into sub-surface cracks, where it cooled and turned into dolerite rock. Erosion removed the sedimentary rocks covering it, and today we can see the vertical columns of dolerite on the mountain tops.


Du Cane Range. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to buy.

Animals of Cradle Mountain Tasmania
Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair is known for about 20 species of mammals. There are Bennet’s wallabies, Tasmanian pademelons, eastern quolls, common brushtail possums, common ringtail possums, eastern pygmy possums, Tasmanian devils and common wombats.


Wallaby. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to buy.

Short Bushwalks around Cradle Mountain Tasmania
Cradle Mountain itself, in the northern end of the national park, is the most popular part of the park and there are many walking tracks around the Dove Lake and Cradle Mountain. Short walks include Pencil Pine and Knyvet Falls, (20 min return), Enchanted Nature Walk (20 min return), Weindorfers Forest Walk (20 min return), Dove Lake Circuit (2 hrs return), Crater Falls, Crater Lake and Wombat Pool (2-3 hrs return). Day walks include Cradle Mountain Summit (6-8 hrs return), and Artists Pool and Lake Rodway (6-8 hrs return).


Dolerite. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to buy.

Long Bushwalk - the Overland Track
But the most popular walk in the park (and in Tasmania) is the Overland Track, an 80km bushwalk that takes about six days. You have to carry all your supplies including food, and a tent in case the free camping huts along the track are full.


Overland Track. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to buy.

Barn Bluff and Lake Will Cradle Mountain Tasmania
The Overland Track starts at Ronny Creek (many walkers also start at Dove Lake), about 5km from the visitor centre. You’ll first walk high up on the Cradle Plateau, where there is a side trip to Barn Bluff on your right hand side, and another one to Lake Will, which passes some 19th-century mining works on the way to the lake.


Winter. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to buy.

Waterfall Valley to Frog Flats
Then the track descends to Waterfall Valley, where there is the first free camping hut, and a second one, Windermere Hut, further downhill. The following day’s walk will go further downhill to Frog Flats, a deep valley after which there is an uphill climb to Pelion Plains.


Mountain peaks. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to buy.

Mount Ossa - Cradle Mountain Tasmania
You can camp at the new Pelion Hut nearby, and the next day there are two excellent side tracks - Mount Ossa, and the Mount Pelion East. Mount Ossa is Tasmania’s highest peak, and the most popular side track from the Overland Track. It is not far, but if you want to climb up to the top, allow 3-4 hours as the climb is quite steep.


Lake views. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to buy.

Kia Ora to Lake St Clair
Back on the main track, the walk goes downhill to Kia Ora Hut. The following day’s walk is pretty flat, it goes around the mountain range of Windy Ridge, where there is another free camping hut. Further south (the track is now flat for the rest of the walk) is the turnoff to Pine Valley, where there is a hut. The next hut south is at Narcissus in the northern end of Lake St Clair, where there are two side tracks to Lake Marion and Gould Plateau, and the final day you walk around Mount Olympus to the Lake St Clair Park Centre in the southern end of the lake.


Lake St Clair. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to buy.

Short Walks around Lake St Clair
If you are not doing the Overland Track and only visit Lake St Clair, which is easily accessible from Derwent Bridge in the south, there are some walks around Lake St Clair too. Short walks include Watersmeet (1 hr return), Platypus Bay (1 hr return) and Larmairremener Tabelti Aboriginal cultural walk (1 hr return). Longer walks are Lake Circuit (4-5 hrs return), Lakeside Track (4-6 hrs one way) and Mt Rufus (5-7 hrs return).


Cradle Mountain Tasmania. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to buy.

Accommodation in Cradle Mountain Tasmania


Accommodation includes AAA Granary Accommodation, Cosy Cabins Hotel, Cradle Chalet Botique Luxury Lodge, Cradle Mountain Chateau Lodge and Cabins, Cradle Mountain Lodge Sheffield, Cradle Mountain Wilderness Village, Doherty's Hotel, Harrington Retreat, Highlanders Cottage, Lemonthyme Lodge and Voyages Lodge in Cradle Mountain; and Derwent Bridge Chalets Hotel and Wilderness Lodge Hotel in Lake st Clair.


Lake St Clair. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to buy.

Weather in Cradle Mountain Tasmania
Tasmania is not spoilt by sunny hot weather and the Overlander Track passes through an area with a lot of rainfall (2800mm) even by Tasmanian standards, so be prepared for some rain along the track. The views can disappear in mist for a while, but rains are known to pass quickly and leave clear skies behind again.


Winter. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to buy.

Map of Cradle Mountain Tasmania Here's a map of Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Park, where I have tagged the places that I mentioned on this web page. You can click on the tags to see what places they are, and double-click anywhere on the map to zoom it in and see the places closer. Drag the map to move around, and if you want to see the satellite image with Google Earth, click on "Sat" in the top right hand corner.

 
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