LAKES GORDON & PEDDER

 

1/ Lake Gordon and Lake Pedder are located in south west Tasmania. Both are famous for their beautiful colors and reflections. They have a real air of enchantment about them. To reach the lakes you must drive west on the B61 Lake Gordon Road. There is a cafe, accommodation, tourist information and petrol pump at the Lake Pedder Chalet at Strathgordon.

2/ This is a view of Lake Pedder from a nearby mountain.

3/ Lake Pedder is famous for its gentle still waters and its brilliant colors, as this photo shows.

4/ This old photo shows the track to Lake Pedder in the distance. It was taken from a nearby mountain.

5/ This is a photo of the old Lake Pedder taken by Olgeas Truchannas. It was a uniquely, beautiful jewel of a lake. Visitors had to fly in and land on the narrow beach that you can see. In 1971 it was flooded to form the present Lake Pedder, which is 2400% larger. A desperate fight to save the old Lake Pedder was fought in the 7 years before the flooding. Surveys show that the old Lake Pedder is still there, waiting for the flooding to subside. Today there is a large movement to restore the old Lake Pedder to its former glory. It is led by Senator Christine Milne.

6/ This is another photo of the mystical atmosphere of the old Lake Pedder. It was taken by Olgeas Truchannas and shows what modern visitors are missing.

7/ The old Lake Pedder was famous for its mystical reflections as you can see in this image by Olgeas Truchannas.

8/ The road to Lake Pedder is B71 the Gordon River Road. There are many breathtaking sights to see along the way. On both sides you see forests punctuated by large mountains. This photo was taken near Shea's Lookout. It shows Mt Mueller in the distance.

9/ This photo shows the road near Mt Wedge at a stopping point. Note the stark mountains to the left.

10/ This is Mt Wedge, which is 1148 metes high. Before the forest is a field of button grass. This grass is native to Tasmania and supports many animals.

11/ This photo shows the Sawback range. Beyond this is the new Lake Pedder. This photo is symbolic of western Tasmania, which consists of huge expanses of wild forests punctuated by high mountains.

12/ On the long journey to the lakes you frequently see mountains and button grass in the gaps between the trees. This photo shows the mountains called the "Needles".

13/ This is Mt Cullen, which is 751 metes high. In the winter the peaks and the button grass fields in the foreground are bedecked with snow. This makes them an awesomely, beautiful sight.

14/ This is one of your first views of Lake Pedder. It looks to the south across the Hermit Basin. In the middle of the photo is Stillwater Hill, which is 580 metres high. The old Lake Pedder lies flooded just beyond these hills.

15/ This is another view of the Hermit Basin of Lake Pedder. Notice how the road comes close to the shore of Lake Pedder at this point.

16/ A canal near this inlet takes water from Lake Pedder to flow into Lake Gordon to be used to generate hydro electricity.

17/ This is the Lake Pedder Chalet at Strathgordon. There is a cafe, tourist information, accommodation and even petrol available here.

18/ These accommodation units belong to the Lake Pedder Chalet. Strathgordon was the town built for the workers who built the dams in the late 1960s. These units, though, are of a much more recent origin.

19/ This is the view from near Strathgordon looking to the south towards the Frankland range. This section of Lake Pedder is called the Serpentine Reach.

 

1/ The Gordon Dam is the largest in Tasmania. It is an impressive 147 metres to the base and is the largest water storage in Australia. Visitors can walk or take a cable car down to the dam wall to experience it. It is located west of Strathgordon.

2/ The road to the Gordon Dam flows beneath steep hills.

3/ This was my first view of Lake Gordon. The white area shows that the dam was only half full when I visited it.

4/ This tower connects to the Gordon Dam power station. This is located just to the right of this photo.

5/ The mighty Gordon Dam is located on a 200 metre deep ravine. This is your view as you approach the Dam. Across the ravine is a rope bridge used by bungee jumpers.

6/ This view looks back into the ravine. The drop from the rope bridge to the river below is more than 150 metres. You will appreciate why it is a favorite place for bungee jumpers.

7/ From this turret a cable car takes visitors to the base of the Gordon Dam. The cable car makes accessing the dam wall and base of the dam quite easy.

8/ This is the view from the dam wall to the start of the cable car. Only fit people can climb up this long flight of steps. However, the views you see from the dam wall are awesome.

9/ This view looks down the dam wall to the base. It is a massive 147 metre drop.

10/ This is the view straight down the dam wall.

11/ This is the beautiful view of Lake Gordon you see from the dam wall.

 

1/ To see the Scotts Peak and Lake Edgar Dams you must drive south on C607. This road has great views of the nearby mountains as well as of Lake Pedder. This photo shows Celtic Hill, which is 771 metres high. Beyond on the horizon is the peak of Mt Anne.

2/ You see many stark hills as you drive south on C607.

3/ This photo shows the North East Ridge. The peak on the extreme right is Mt Anne, which is 1425 metres high. The road drops sharply to the right. C607 was a gravel road, but fortunately in 2014 it was in good condition.

4/ This view looks towards the west towards the Marsden Range. The mountains really do look blue, when you look west in the late afternoon. Lake Pedder is located beyond these peaks.

5/ This is your first view that you get of the southern end of Lake Pedder. It shows the still waters that the lake is famous for.

6/ This photo shows the top of the Lake Edgar Dam. This dam is 17 metres high and it is made of earth fill. The water to the right is Lake Pedder.

7/ This view looks to the south from the top of the Lake Edgar Dam to the road, which goes on to the Scotts Peak Dam. The mountain range on the horizon is the Western Arthur Range.

8/ This view looks towards the north east towards the North East Range. The peak of Mount Anne is to the right.

9/ This view shows the road to the south of the Lake Edgar Dam. A few kilometres to the west is the Scotts Peak Dam.

10/ This view was taken from the top of the Edgar Dam. It looks towards the south to the mountains of the Western Arthur Range.

11/ This is the Scotts Peak Dam. It is 47 metres high and is made of rock fill. The mountains on the horizon are the North East Range.

12/ This is the view along the top of the Scotts Peak Dam. It looks towards the North East Range.

13/ This is a sunset view of the waters of the southern end of Lake Pedder. This photo was taken from the top of the Scotts Peak Dam.

14/ This is another view along the dam looking towards the north east.

15/ This view looks towards the south. The track to the left is the start of the famous Port Davey Trail, which explores the wild western wilderness of Tasmania. The range on the horizon is the Western Arthur Range. The peak on the extreme left is Mt Aldebaran.

 

1/ The Mt Lot is in south western Tasmania east of Lake Pedder. You reach it via the Mt Anne Track. The complete Mt Anne Circuit takes you through a truly awesome of collection of mountain peaks and lakes, as it passes through Mt Eliza, Mt Anne, Mt Lot and Mt Sarah Jane. However, it is a multi day walk through very exposed mountain spurs and is, thus, only suitable for groups of experienced bush walkers. This gallery shows a visit made by our club in 2015. We visited Mt Sarah Jane, Mt Lot and Lot's Wife. This image looks south from Mt Lot towards Mt Sarah Jane. To the right is Lake Judd and to the left is Lake Picone.

2/ Our journey began on the Lake Judd Track, which is further south of the Mt Anne Track. Both tracks exit from Scott's Peak Road on the eastern shore of Lake Pedder. Journeys in this area are strictly for groups of experienced trekkers. The walks are of multi day durations, they are through very rocky terrain and they are in an area subject to very severe weather. This image looks back at Lake Pedder. Mt Solitary is the island to the right.

3/ The first part of the journey was through the button grass plain and light forest area near the Anne River. Just before Lake Judd we diverged onto the Mt Anne Track. This image shows the hills and button grass south of Lake Judd.

4/ We now got our first view of the Mt Eliza Plateau. The Mt Anne Circuit Track exits across this plateau. You can also see a distant Mt Lot visible on the extreme right of this image.

5/ We were now ascending Mt Sarah Jane. I looked back to the south east to capture this image of the glacial moraine valley that we had passed through. To the left is Schnells Ridge and in the distance is Lake Pedder.

6/ We were now ascending Mt Sarah Jane. We would have to ascend 700 metres to reach its summit. About half way up Mt Sarah Jane, Lake Judd became visible to us. This image looks west and shows Lake Judd and beyond it Lake Pedder.

7/ The track sidles to the east of Mt Sarah Jane, but we had planned to reach the summit. This required us to scramble over many boulders to reach the summit.

8/ This image shows the scree field that we ascended to reach the summit of Mt Sarah Jane. It looks to the west. A slither of Lake Judd shows in the middle ground, Schnells Ridge is to the left, while Lake Pedder is in the distance.

9/ Finally we were able to relax on the summit of Mt Sarah Jane. This image looks to the west and shows the vast expanse of Lake Pedder. The lake on the right is the northern part of Lake Judd.

10/ From the summit of Mt Sarah Jane the views were simply awesome. This image is looking north along the spur towards Lightning Ridge and then Mt Lot. It is on the distant left of this image. On the distant right of Mt Lot is the ridge to Lot's Wife. This was our final objective. We would be camping at Lake Picone, which is in the valley to the right of Mt Lot. The track continues through the flatter terrain to the right.

11/ This image looks down into the plateau to the north east of Mt Sarah Jane. You can see part of the track that we would be following.

12/ This image shows the descent down the north east face of Mt Sarah Jane. We would be rejoining the Mt Anne Track that you can see below. We had left our large packs on the track before we had ascended Mt Sarah Jane.

13/ We now trekked to the north towards Mt Lot, which is on the extreme left. This image shows the sparse, alpine terrain that we were crossing. Beyond the small tarn is the spur line to Lightning Ridge and finally Mt Lot.

14/ This image looks back to the south at Mt Sarah Jane.

15/ When we now looked to the west, we could see the Mt Eliza Plateau. The Mt Anne Track runs along this plateau back to the highway. The weather was now overcast, but burst of sunlight were able to light up patches on this distant plateau. Lake Judd was now between us and this plateau.

16/ It was now late in the afternoon and we were approaching the descent to Lake Picone, where we would be camping overnight. This image looks north towards Lightning Ridge and Mt Lot. Lake Picone was in the valley to the right of Mt Lot.

17/ The Mt Anne Track we were following was now descending steeply. This image shows a large unnamed tarn. To the right of it is Lightning Ridge and in the middle is Mt Lot. Lake Picone is in the valley beyond the middle ground spur line on the right. The trail to Mt Lot runs along this spur. Note how you can still see patches of snow on Mt Lot.

18/ This image is looking west across the unnamed tarn towards Lightning Ridge. A burst of sunlight has lit up the exotic king billy pines on the edge of the tarn.

19/ This image shows how Lightning Ridge is a sheer 300 metre wall. This was our view of Lightning Ridge as we descended towards Lake Picone. The distant peak on the right is Mt Anne

20/ The sun was now setting, but we had reached our camping place at Lake Picone. This image looks to the east across Lake Picone towards Mt Lot.

21/ This image looks to the south west across Lake Picone to Mt Sarah Jane on the left and the wall of the Lightning Ridge on the right. It was now dark, so I have enhanced the colours to bring out the detail. We chose this area to camp in as it was relatively protected from the freezing winds.

22/ This was my morning view across Lake Picone. A burst of light is lit up Lightning Ridge and beyond it in the distance is Mt Anne.

23/ We now walked back to the Mt Anne Track. I looked back to the south west and saw this brilliant view of Mt Sarah Jane and the Lightning Ridge. It is amazing how rapidly the colours can change as the sun rises in Tasmania.

24/ Our next objective was to climb Mt Lot. The track follows the spur line on the left. Mt Lot is 1262 metres high and we would have to ascend about 200 metres.

25/ We now had to climb up this rugged spur line to reach the summit of Mt Lot. It involved a very difficult scramble over boulders all the way to the summit.

26/ Finally we reached the wind swept summit of Mt Lot. Fortunately, the clouds now parted to give us simply awesome views of the world below.

27/ We could now look south at Lake Judd and see how large it really was. You can see how a 300 metre wall rises from Lake Judd to form the Mt Eliza Plateau.

28/ This is the view south from Mt Lot across the Lightning Ridge towards Mt Sarah Jane.

29/ This is the view to the south east of Mt Lot. It shows an area they call the Lonely Tarns.

30/ We then walked a short distance to the west to the Notch to see the track to Mt Anne. This follows the spur line that you can see in the middle. Mt Anne is to the extreme right covered in cloud. There is another peak before Mt Anne. We did not go this way, but the photos below show you some of the sights on this very difficult trail.

31/ This image shows the first peak on the way to Mt Anne. It is 1323 metres high. Most of the way to Mt Anne involved scrambling over rocks and boulders.

32/ This image looks towards the summit of mighty peak of Mt Anne. It rises 1423 metres above these sheer cliffs composed of huge dolerite columns.

33/ We now followed a trail to the east, through these trees, towards the Pinnacle of Lot's Wife.

33/ We now followed a trail to the east, through these trees, towards the Pinnacle of Lot's Wife.

 

1/ Mt Wright is in south western Tasmania east of Lake Gordon. This gallery shows images made on trips to Mt Wright and other nearby features east of Lake Gordon in 2015. This image shows the Thumbs. It is a salient peak that is 1204 metres high.

2/ You enter the Mt Wright area on the Rasselas Track. This track diverges west from a tertiary road that diverges north from the B61 Gordon River Road. It then crosses the Gordon River and takes you into the Vale of Rasselas.

3/ When you exit the forest zone west of the Gordon River, you enter a button grass plain and suddenly behold the massive sheer wall of Mt Wright. It is about 2 kilometres long. We would be ascending from the northern side on the right edge of this image.

4/ This image looks to the south of Mt Wright. Beyond the small hill on the left is Dome Hill. Our Mt Wright visit would end near the small hill.

5/ This image was taken as we ascended Mt Wright. It looks to the north of Mt Wright at the Vale of Rasselas. The historic town of Gordonvale once existed in this Vale. To the left is the Denison Range and the highest peak on the distant right is Wylds Crag.

6/ This view looks towards the north west across the Vale of Rasselas towards the Denison Range.

7/ This image was taken on the northern edge of Mt Wright and it looks north towards Wylds Crag.

7/ One of the major attractions of Mt Wright is this strange natural bridge.

8/ The natural bridge was so large that it formed a handy shade from the hot sun.

9/ Two of our more intrepid trekkers decide to cross it.

10/ They had to be very careful not to fall.

11/ Another strange feature of Mt Wright were these large rocky outcrops.

12/ This rocky outcrop was large enough to support small trees.

13/ This is the view of the rocky tundra landscape at the southern end of Mt Wright. It is looking south west towards Dome Hill.

14/ This is the view looking south west from Mt Wright towards the Thumbs and a distant Lake Gordon.

15/ This is the view from the south eastern end of Mt Wright. You can see the small hill in the centre and Dome Hill on the right.

16/ This was as far south as we went on Mt Wright. We stopped quite close to the small hill.

17/ I walked to the very end of Mt Wright to get this view of Dome Hill.

18/ This image was made on the return journey. It shows a strange fold formation on the side of Mt Wright.

19/ This rock strata shows that Mt Wright was formed by ancient, tectonic folding.

20/ The next group of images were made on a separate trip to the Stepped Hills in 2015. This is a formation just west of Mt Wright. To reach the Stepped Hills we diverged west from the Rasselas Track north of Mt Wright and made our own way across the button grass of the Gordon Plain.

21/ This image looks north west across the button grass towards the Denison Range.

22/ This image shows the Stepped Hills from the Gordon Plain.

23/ This image shows the Stepped Hills, as we approached closer.

24/ This was the view on the spur of the Stepped Hills looking North.

25/ This image looks east from the Stepped Hills towards Dome Hill.

26/ This image shows the prominent fold formations that created the Stepped Hills.

27/ This view looks across the button grass plain at the southern end of the Stepped Hills.

28/ This was a late afternoon view of the Thumbs, which are south of the Stepped Hills.

29/ This is the Needles Peak. It is a 1032 metre high peak just south of the B61 Gordon River Road. Here our party are ascending the peak late in the afternoon.

30/ This is the grand view north of the Needles towards the Thumbs. To the left is Lake Gordon.

31/ The summit of the Needles is a sparse, rocky plateau.

32/ The peak is probably called the Needles, because it has many prominent needle like extrusions.

33/ This image shows more of these needles.

34/ This image is looking north east towards the Thumbs across the B61 Gordon River Road.