Devils Throne Reroute

Tuesday 21 February 2017

By the time we had walked along the Thark track and over the saddle of the ridge, followed by the wet crossing of the plain leading to Devils Throne, the best part of 2 hours had gone by.

Initially we walked for 430 metres and marked the route to be cut and by the time we got back to the packs an early lunch was called. After which we managed to cut a 240 metre section of the reroute. The aim is to continue this at the escarpment edge for a distance of 840 metres to avoid the wet area of the existing track.  

During the walk to the site we noted that 38 yellow direction arrows were needed along the track beside Thark Ridge.  About half of these are because someone broke them, which is most annoying and will cause us to spend several hours work to replace. The track could now do with a bit of trimming and a few spots would benefit from  hardening with rock. A day for all this will be scheduled this year.

Cleared new track

Site Prior to work

Site after work

 

 

The clearing of a new route over the wet area on the track to Devils Throne will create a track that is both good for walkers and has less impact on the environment.

 

It is rather unpleasant to walk over the wet plain and braiding has developed as people attempt to avoid the water and clearly it gets reasonable volumes of use.

 

The reroute is on hard ground at the edge of the plain and has the added bonus of being more scenic; providing extensive views into the valley between there and Collins Bonnet and Mount Connection and of course those and other mountains.

 

Part of the route traverses a eucalypt woodland and is virtually over a rock surface all the way. A couple of locations cross narrow soakage lines but there is ample rock on site to harden these if need be.