Cradle Mountain is located in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, yes it would appear they were not terribly imaginative when naming this one 🙂
The biggest drawcard for the Cradle Mountain end of the park is the diversity of walks, not necessarily the variation in length and difficulty factor, which most parks in Tassie seem to have anyway (which is awesome for attracting a large range of tourists) but the diversity in the environment in such a relatively small space. Take for example the Ronny’s Creek to Summit walk, you walk through button grass fields and small creeks followed by a section of rainforest and cascading waterfalls, this breaks out to the crater lake and its associated vegetation, more ground hugging and wind swept (that included us:) ). The walk from crater lake to Marions lookout and agin completely different, racky outcrops and small bushes, continuing on to Kitchen hut is bare rock and mossy ground. The finally ascent is a boulder filled funpark with patchs of brush, snow and rock moss stuff (very technical term).
If there was only one place you could go in Tassie and on a time limit, Cradle mountain would be it. It has walks for all types of people, including disabled people (light years ahead of the plebs in NSW). Whether it be a 20 minute stroll through the ENchanted forest of a boulder hopping trip up to the summit, there is a walk catered to you and the weather!
The Cradle Mountain – Lake St Clair National Park shares a “Twin Parks” agreement with the World Heritage listed Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve in the People’s Republic of China.
Check out Parks and Wildlife Tasmania for more.
