2021 Tasmanian Trail
Lobster Rivulet in flood, it’s deeper and stronger than it looks in the photo and forced a rethink on my route
Yesterday was an alternate route day to avoid having to cross the Mersey River. All good in that sense. As usual I had a couple of periods of rain and today I went off track a couple of times due to my interpretation of the guide book but quickly came back on track again.
Where I had an issue was at the end of the day where I was planning to camp. I knew I had to cross the Lobster Rivulet for a second time and like the first crossing I had assumed there would be a small bridge. My mistake. In this case I needed to cross the fast moving waterway.While it wouldn’t have been my first choice, I was prepared for it if it was safe.
The photo in this post doesn’t do this crossing justice – it looked fierce. I tested the water close to shore and it was 1 metre deep and appeared deeper further across. In addition, I threw a 25 kg sapling in to test the water speed and I have never seen something move so quickly. I decided to camp and wait until the morning of day six to see what had developed overnight. Unfortunately the marker I had placed on the shore was now under water and the depth risen by another 30 cm.
This is one of those times where being a solo hiker is a disadvantage! Solo hiking is all about risk management and there was no option to cross this rivulet without ending up getting soaked and likely, washed downstream even if only a short way. Not something you want to experience particularly in winter.
Short story is I have decided to backtrack. Given I only have 1.5 days of food left I’m heading to the town of Deloraine today to resupply and assess my options.
Yesterday was an alternate route day to avoid having to cross the Mersey River. All good in that sense. As usual I had a couple of periods of rain and today I went off track a couple of times due to my interpretation of the guide book but quickly came back on track again. Where […]