Also reminiscing for me. I did most of the walks you've filmed during my younger days whilst living in Tassie. Really appreciate being able to revisit these routes, see current track/hut conditions and revive treasured memories. I've come to admire your camera work and editing - it's consistently good, even when the weather isn't. Many thanks.
As a member of mhps and a volunteer for NRE tasmania I still have not done this yet...great video prob 3 months late but lol 🤣 ( update....going in week one of September hopefully find daverns cavern too 🤞🤞🤞)
Reminiscing for me. I’ve done the walk four times but always before the new track. So walking the Sodden Loddins was always a high light after the walk. Perhaps one day I should do it again.
Unfortunately - or fortunately - we never got to experience the original track. It would have been wild to experience it in the 1970s with the old flying fox!
Thanks! The 3D map graphics are generated from Relive.cc, which converts GPX files or Strava/Garmin entries into a neat little animation. Good way to visualise routes over and around mountains!
It’s pretty impressive , have you guys done mount anne ? We are from Melbourne and were looking at doing that after Frenchman’s cap which was absolutely spectacular 😊
@@youradventure0710 we sure have. No video yet but we have a detailed blog on www.adventuresofxing.com/mount-anne-circuit Lots of info that should help out. 😀
What great weather you both had. I had snow and rain late October 2021. The track was like a running creek. Too much snow for me to summit so will need to head back again one day.
We totally lucked out with the weather that time. Marked difference from my first visit, couldn't see a thing from Vera onwards! SW Tas weather is anything but predicable.
Congratulations on a great video. I really like how you paint the visual picture in great detail when you are walking. This takes a lot more time so you do incredibly well to still make good time. In other videos you really go to great lengths to shoot in the rain which is so much more difficult, it results in much truer walker experience. One tiny bit of feedback please take more time with your panning, absolutely no need to be quick when there is so much beauty to take in.
Thanks Robert, glad you enjoyed the video. Yes, trying to film in the rain is tough (really struggled on a recent trip to the Needles, at the other end of the Eastern Arthurs) but we feel it is really important to represent these walks accurately so people don’t get a false impression of what the weather and conditions can be like. Pans are tough as everything is shot handheld on the fly and we usually have to keep moving to stay on schedule or keep warm. In this particular film we also really wanted to keep it around half an hour, which meant whittling down about 3-4 hrs of footage, quite a challenging edit.
There's not a heap of markers or signage per se, but honestly they're not really needed. There's no real track junctions (unlike the Overland Track) where you could accidentally head off in the wrong direction. The track is very obvious and easy to follow throughout, save maybe the last few hundred metres of scrambling up to the summit where you do need to look out for the cairns.
Love the trips and commentary as well as the footage. We are reasonably new to hiking but done 5-6 multi days in the last 6 months. Was disappointing that you booked a site but couldn’t stay on it presumably because others just turned up without booking. Interested to know what the etiquette is here?
Thanks Scott, glad you enjoyed it :-) The Overnight Walks Booking System was introduced in mid-2020 ostensibly as a way of managing social distancing on popular trails when Tasmania came out of full lockdown. It’s use was and still is though voluntary, free and - except in rare exceptions - not policed, as most of the walks included don’t have permanent rangers. As such it’s basically an honour system and relies on walkers doing the right thing, which doesn’t always happen. Sometimes it’s a lack of knowledge or people not doing researching the walk on the Parks website first, but more often it seems (based on our experiences) to be people not bothering with it at all because they see it’s voluntary and/or doesn’t suit their travel plans. Unfortunately another issue that has cropped up since is that people who do use the booking system end up booking multiple dates in case of weather or travel issues, then don’t cancel the other dates, creating the impression of walks being ‘booked out’ when they’re not. There’s been lots of complaints of camps being near empty when the booking system said it was at capacity. News of this of course has spread to the point where otherwise honest bushwalkers are now just shrugging their shoulders and wondering what’s the point? Either way many of our walks do have serious capacity concerns, both in terms of physical tent space and the actual track’s ability to handle increased walker numbers. I’ve been talking to Parks about the issue, as I’m sure many people have, and know they’ll be reviewing the system soon. I suspect the only real answer is to start charging for access a la the Overland Track and Three Capes. Hopefully this can be done in a way that stays affordable - a token fee would at least discourage people from booking out multiple slots months in advance ‘just in case’ - but without active rangers on track actually checking people’s bookings it still relies on honestly. Alas, not everyone is honest.
@@benderandxing Thanks for the response, good insight into both sides some factors which I hadnt considered. I guess if I had booked I would be arriving with an expectation that I have a site and if that wasnt the case after 20kms + I would be pretty annoyed. That said and as you point out the system relies heavily on people doing the right thing including honoring bookings (or cancelling with reasonable time) and not overbooking to cover contingencies. I guess its a reflection on life, if everyone was to be considerate of others and do the right thing we probably wouldnt be having this discussion. All the best with your talks with Parks.
Thanks Charlie :) The track is obvious enough and there aren’t any detours or intersections with other track networks (not official ones you’ll see anyway). The only section where a bit of care is needed is the final ascent onto Frenchmans Cap itself as the route can be a little vague in places on the rock and does zig-zag and then shoot straight up in places. Can be a little hard to follow in bad/fogged in weather, and there is always a risk I guess of accidentally getting on the Irenabyss Track. Obviously make sure you take a map/compass and a GPS with the track could prove helpful too. This trip was in early November, much nicer than the weekend before (typical spring weather). It was a *fantastic* sunset.
Our packs for the three days would have been around 12-14kg total, incl. food and water and (in my case) camera gear. Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania say it is Grade 4 and that "Bushwalking experience recommended". We'd suggest that it should be more "Bushwalking experience is essential". Despite a fair bit of the track having been much improved in the last decade, much of the route between Lake Vera, Lake Tahune and the summit itself is quite rough, rooted and very steep, and can be quite challenging when wet, which it usually is. If you've never bushwalked in Tasmania before, I'd recommend doing something else first (Walls of Jerusalem, some of Cradle Mountain/Overland Track, etc.). Is the walk dangerous? Well, sadly a young bushwalker passed away there just this past weekend, so the answer is very much "yes" in the sense that all bushwalking in alpine areas has a degree of risk involved. Not many details have been made public, apparently the man died as a result of a fall and was walking solo. The summit track to the top of Frenchmans Cap, though steep and rocky, doesn't really have a lot in the way of exposure or fall zones, so whether he got lost and ventured off the route into a dangerous spot, or simply slipped, fell and suffered a head injury, isn't known. Generally speaking, the far greater risk bushwalking in Tasmanian alpine areas is the weather. It is extremely changeable any time of year and Frenchmans Cap, being the highest of the southwest peaks, cops the worst of the weather fronts from the Southern and Indian oceans. The summit area itself is almost completely exposed and definitely not an ideal place to be in poor conditions. Waiting out in the Tahune Hut for a clear weather window has long been recommended. Hope that helps! - Bender
Thanks for the reply. I did the Overland Track in Nov' '23 and I will do it again this year late Nov' properly this time, no skipping huts. I was in Tassie last week when this person died, unfortunate. If I was to do this walk it would be in the Summer and not alone. Thanks again.
Also reminiscing for me. I did most of the walks you've filmed during my younger days whilst living in Tassie. Really appreciate being able to revisit these routes, see current track/hut conditions and revive treasured memories. I've come to admire your camera work and editing - it's consistently good, even when the weather isn't. Many thanks.
Thanks Graham for the kind words. Unfortunately the only consistency in our weather is inconsistency! This spring has been particularly frustrating.
wonderful video. Thank you
As a member of mhps and a volunteer for NRE tasmania I still have not done this yet...great video prob 3 months late but lol 🤣 ( update....going in week one of September hopefully find daverns cavern too 🤞🤞🤞)
Reminiscing for me. I’ve done the walk four times but always before the new track. So walking the Sodden Loddins was always a high light after the walk. Perhaps one day I should do it again.
Unfortunately - or fortunately - we never got to experience the original track. It would have been wild to experience it in the 1970s with the old flying fox!
Congratulations on your hike and pretty decent weather , your mapping graphics are on another level to the vast majority of videos out there 👍
Thanks! The 3D map graphics are generated from Relive.cc, which converts GPX files or Strava/Garmin entries into a neat little animation. Good way to visualise routes over and around mountains!
It’s pretty impressive , have you guys done mount anne ? We are from Melbourne and were looking at doing that after Frenchman’s cap which was absolutely spectacular 😊
@@youradventure0710 we sure have. No video yet but we have a detailed blog on www.adventuresofxing.com/mount-anne-circuit
Lots of info that should help out. 😀
What great weather you both had. I had snow and rain late October 2021. The track was like a running creek. Too much snow for me to summit so will need to head back again one day.
We totally lucked out with the weather that time. Marked difference from my first visit, couldn't see a thing from Vera onwards! SW Tas weather is anything but predicable.
Beautifully shot. Thanks, can’t wait to go.
Congratulations on a great video. I really like how you paint the visual picture in great detail when you are walking. This takes a lot more time so you do incredibly well to still make good time. In other videos you really go to great lengths to shoot in the rain which is so much more difficult, it results in much truer walker experience. One tiny bit of feedback please take more time with your panning, absolutely no need to be quick when there is so much beauty to take in.
Thanks Robert, glad you enjoyed the video. Yes, trying to film in the rain is tough (really struggled on a recent trip to the Needles, at the other end of the Eastern Arthurs) but we feel it is really important to represent these walks accurately so people don’t get a false impression of what the weather and conditions can be like. Pans are tough as everything is shot handheld on the fly and we usually have to keep moving to stay on schedule or keep warm. In this particular film we also really wanted to keep it around half an hour, which meant whittling down about 3-4 hrs of footage, quite a challenging edit.
I set off on 26th November 2021 first light camped that night at Tahune. Maybe I said hi to you
Awesome video, may I ask what the navigation is like is there plenty of markers on the trail?
There's not a heap of markers or signage per se, but honestly they're not really needed. There's no real track junctions (unlike the Overland Track) where you could accidentally head off in the wrong direction. The track is very obvious and easy to follow throughout, save maybe the last few hundred metres of scrambling up to the summit where you do need to look out for the cairns.
Love the trips and commentary as well as the footage.
We are reasonably new to hiking but done 5-6 multi days in the last 6 months.
Was disappointing that you booked a site but couldn’t stay on it presumably because others just turned up without booking. Interested to know what the etiquette is here?
Thanks Scott, glad you enjoyed it :-) The Overnight Walks Booking System was introduced in mid-2020 ostensibly as a way of managing social distancing on popular trails when Tasmania came out of full lockdown. It’s use was and still is though voluntary, free and - except in rare exceptions - not policed, as most of the walks included don’t have permanent rangers. As such it’s basically an honour system and relies on walkers doing the right thing, which doesn’t always happen. Sometimes it’s a lack of knowledge or people not doing researching the walk on the Parks website first, but more often it seems (based on our experiences) to be people not bothering with it at all because they see it’s voluntary and/or doesn’t suit their travel plans. Unfortunately another issue that has cropped up since is that people who do use the booking system end up booking multiple dates in case of weather or travel issues, then don’t cancel the other dates, creating the impression of walks being ‘booked out’ when they’re not. There’s been lots of complaints of camps being near empty when the booking system said it was at capacity. News of this of course has spread to the point where otherwise honest bushwalkers are now just shrugging their shoulders and wondering what’s the point? Either way many of our walks do have serious capacity concerns, both in terms of physical tent space and the actual track’s ability to handle increased walker numbers. I’ve been talking to Parks about the issue, as I’m sure many people have, and know they’ll be reviewing the system soon. I suspect the only real answer is to start charging for access a la the Overland Track and Three Capes. Hopefully this can be done in a way that stays affordable - a token fee would at least discourage people from booking out multiple slots months in advance ‘just in case’ - but without active rangers on track actually checking people’s bookings it still relies on honestly. Alas, not everyone is honest.
@@benderandxing Thanks for the response, good insight into both sides some factors which I hadnt considered. I guess if I had booked I would be arriving with an expectation that I have a site and if that wasnt the case after 20kms + I would be pretty annoyed. That said and as you point out the system relies heavily on people doing the right thing including honoring bookings (or cancelling with reasonable time) and not overbooking to cover contingencies. I guess its a reflection on life, if everyone was to be considerate of others and do the right thing we probably wouldnt be having this discussion. All the best with your talks with Parks.
I’m planning on doing this and I have a question, is the track all very clearly marked? I’m doing it solo and I’m nervous of detours. Great video 👍
Also, what month did you hike this trail? Beautiful sunset 😮
Thanks Charlie :) The track is obvious enough and there aren’t any detours or intersections with other track networks (not official ones you’ll see anyway). The only section where a bit of care is needed is the final ascent onto Frenchmans Cap itself as the route can be a little vague in places on the rock and does zig-zag and then shoot straight up in places. Can be a little hard to follow in bad/fogged in weather, and there is always a risk I guess of accidentally getting on the Irenabyss Track. Obviously make sure you take a map/compass and a GPS with the track could prove helpful too.
This trip was in early November, much nicer than the weekend before (typical spring weather). It was a *fantastic* sunset.
Did you ever experience the ‘Sodden Loddens’ in person?
Luckily no! That was well before we both started hiking.
How heavy were your backpacks? Would this walk be a grade 4? Do you think the walk is dangerous? Thanks
Our packs for the three days would have been around 12-14kg total, incl. food and water and (in my case) camera gear.
Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania say it is Grade 4 and that "Bushwalking experience recommended". We'd suggest that it should be more "Bushwalking experience is essential". Despite a fair bit of the track having been much improved in the last decade, much of the route between Lake Vera, Lake Tahune and the summit itself is quite rough, rooted and very steep, and can be quite challenging when wet, which it usually is. If you've never bushwalked in Tasmania before, I'd recommend doing something else first (Walls of Jerusalem, some of Cradle Mountain/Overland Track, etc.).
Is the walk dangerous? Well, sadly a young bushwalker passed away there just this past weekend, so the answer is very much "yes" in the sense that all bushwalking in alpine areas has a degree of risk involved. Not many details have been made public, apparently the man died as a result of a fall and was walking solo. The summit track to the top of Frenchmans Cap, though steep and rocky, doesn't really have a lot in the way of exposure or fall zones, so whether he got lost and ventured off the route into a dangerous spot, or simply slipped, fell and suffered a head injury, isn't known.
Generally speaking, the far greater risk bushwalking in Tasmanian alpine areas is the weather. It is extremely changeable any time of year and Frenchmans Cap, being the highest of the southwest peaks, cops the worst of the weather fronts from the Southern and Indian oceans. The summit area itself is almost completely exposed and definitely not an ideal place to be in poor conditions. Waiting out in the Tahune Hut for a clear weather window has long been recommended.
Hope that helps! - Bender
Thanks for the reply. I did the Overland Track in Nov' '23 and I will do it again this year late Nov' properly this time, no skipping huts. I was in Tassie last week when this person died, unfortunate. If I was to do this walk it would be in the Summer and not alone. Thanks again.