Cummings Head

At 1260m in height, Cummings Head comes in at Abel number 81. My good mate Crawf, had suggested a few of try to knock out a few quick overnighters during daylight savings while the kids were on holidays. Great idea! Over a few emails, 3 of us lined up a window of opportunity and at 5pm on Monday 16th January we were on the road to Cummings Head.

Mother Cummings Peak has always been a prominent feature on the road between Launceston and Devonport and I'd been meaning to head to this section of the Central Plateau for some time after viewing the peak on my numerous journeys to Cradle Country.

After an hours drive, passing through Deloraine and the hamlet of Meander, we headed up a fairly rough forestry road passing the Meander Valley lookout before arriving at the trailhead at around 6pm. We had chosen a quick, direct route and avoided a few hundred meters in elevation by not taking the traditional Smoko Road route. By 6.15pm we were on the track and after a pleasant hours walking through forest and a brief stint on the plateau we had arrived on the summit. The views were much better than I had been expecting and we got a good look across to Ironstone Mountain which it was suggested we try and walk next week. We also had panoramas of Mt. Roland, the central plateau and Cradle Mountain.

After a brief discussion, we decided against following the ridge line to climb Mother Cummings, leaving it for another day. By 7.15pm, camp was set up (a stone's throw from the summit) and we were cooking a gourmet dinner watching the sun set while capturing some awesome photos.

Early to bed, we were up by 5.30am and descended to the car with some spectacular views of clouds in the valleys below. Truly magical walk and even if it was only short, one of the more memorable overnighters i've done. Was back at work in Launceston by 9am! Bring more of this type of summer walking on.....

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