Shadow Lake Track
This track is located in Lake St Clair National Park which is on the southern edge of the Cradle Mountain - Lake St Clair National Park. This park is the end of the famous overland track starting up from the Cradle Mountains and it is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage area.
Aboriginal people called the lake Leeawuleena, which means “sleeping water” and they have a long history in the area. If you walk through the walks, you can see the signs of thousands of years of Aboriginal burning experience.
St Clair Lake
This walk is a 4.5-5 hour walk (15km) depending on your speed. Again, make sure you take plenty of water with you as you always do when going out for a longer walk in Australia!
Start the walk from the visitors center, the first 600 meter of the walk is the same path as for the Platypus Bay circuit (see above) but then it turns of. Make sure you make this walk anticlockwise! The reason for this is very simple - the first half of the walk is the steep one, more beautiful and if you do it clockwise you gonna get so tired that you might not want to stop taking photos!
The walk is semi-steep and goes through the wild forest
The walk rises slowly from 730 metres of altitude up to 950 metres where the Shadow Lake is located. Goes through moss covered forests and you can see how the vegetation is slowly changing into high alpine one when slowly climbing higher.
Beautiful walk! And i was so lucky with the weather as have not experienced any rain - only a minor one in the morning - which is very unusual in this area as it can change just so rapidly. i would not have wanted to walk back soaking wet with all my camera equipment
Morning Raindrop
The walking track is built with minimal change in the nature - part of the walking path
So this walk is just such a typical one where the walk itself is more spectacular than the destination (Shadow Lake). Dont get me wrong the lake is not bad at all, but after seeing the Lake St Clair in the morning mist…hmm..well..maybe next time i hike up for the sunrise, who knows…
My knees got rather tired by the time I got up to the lake so I was so happy to take the downhill part of the loop back to the visitors center. The last hour of the walk was not that spectacular so I did not take any photos, but the walk is definitely not something to be missed!
Plus it gave me a rather good warmup for my next days walks in Cradle Mountain and the Walls of Jerusalem where I really needed those knees and muscles…
High Alpine Vegetation
Changing vegetation
Shadow Lake
Bushwalking Rules
1. Know your limits - weather can change rapidly in this area, so make sure you know what you are capable of before starting your walk.
2. Be prepared - wear sturdy walking shoes or boots (trainers not recommended as the rocks might be slippery), take plenty of water, have a warm and light rainjacket with you and make sure you are protected from the sun. Suncream and heat are essentials! Even if the temperature not that high, the strong Australian sun can be very dangerous —remember where the ozone hole is right? Yep - above Australia… Most importantly - be prepared to turn back if the weather deteriorates or the walk is more difficult than expected!
3. Try to avoid walking alone - okay this tip come from me, who always walks alone, but if possible have a walking buddy with you.
4. Record your walks - Tasmania is just designed for these walks; anywhere you go for a walk, there will be a log book at the start of the track where you can put your name and plan down. This helps the searchers to locate you in case you are reported missing or overdue.
AND LEAVE NO TRACE - leave what you find (rocks, leaves, animals etc) and take everything you bring back with you - except your footsteps..
How to get to Lake St Clair National Park
The Cradle Mountain–Lake St Clair National Park’s southern entrance at Lake St Clair National Park is 2.5 hr west of Hobart, Tasmania and a similar distance from Launceston via Longford and Poatina.
Hello
My name is Katalin and I have been traveling in China and Australia (on and off) for three years now. I can’t stand travel agencies - totally disagree with their principle of keeping the “secret of how to travel” to themselves and I love traveling on my own.
My favourite way of traveling is by public transport, I do it usually with minimal planning and just let the locals “drive” me to the spots.
This site is my experience of how to travel with no agency in China and the places I think worth for a visit in both Tasmania and Victoria, Australia.
If I am not exploring you can find me hiking somewhere in the mountains / bushes or taking photos. Oops, wait a second that’s exploring too