Woolza and I found a quick window of opportunity to sneak out for one last summer mid-week overnighter. Thursday afternoon at about 4pm, we departed Launceston and headed to the North East via Targa through the forestry roads to start of the Mt Victoria track. We arrived at 5.45pm. I hadn’t really spent much time in this area before and I already loved it. The mountain looked fantastic and we were off towards it a few minutes after parking the car. We crossed a small open plain before entering rainforest which we climbed through for the next few minutes. We were then out in the open, high scrub following a well trodden route to the peak which we could clearly see. As we rose, the ground became more rocky and we climbed the boulder field to the plateau. It was then a short final and slightly airy climb to the summit. We arrived at the top at about 7pm and got some great views with the east and north east coast clearly visible as well as the Fingal Valley, Ben Lomond and Mt Barrow westwards. The green pastures towards Pyengana could also be seen. After about 15 minutes on top we followed the same route back down and arrived back at the car 50 minutes after leaving the summit.

That night we spent in the Mt Victoria carpark listening to the sounds of log trucks roll by.

Next morning we woke in the dark early and drove the short distance south to the start of the Mt Albert walk. It was easy to find and we were on the track at 6.45am. It was raining and misty and we thought the walk would be fairly rough but we found that there was a clear, marked route the entire way to the summit. We headed up through the eucalypt forest quickly and arrived on the summit about 36 minutes after departing the car. We had a brief stop on the misty summit and headed straight back down arriving back at the car very quickly. It was then off to work back in Launceston! Another quick overnight down with two more Abels complete. Nice.

STATS (Using a Suunto Spartan Ultra)

Mt Victoria

Time 2hrs 7mins

Distance 4.91km

Ascent 410m

Mt Albert

Time 1hr 6min

Distance 1.77km

Ascent 281m

GALLERY BELOW