Mt Rufus

Climbs up from Lake St Clair to Mt Rufus, which provides sweeping views over Lake St Clair, Mt Olympus, Frenchmans Cap and the headwaters of the Franklin River. You can return the same way, or do a circuit which takes you back past Shadow Lake (a large alpine tarn). Incredible displays of flowering heath (scoparia) in summer. A well marked track with boardwalks in sections.

Lookouts

Bird Watching

Picnic Facilities

Toilets

Rainforest

Swamp or Wetland

1416m

Maximum Elevation

700m

Total Climb

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Getting there

Starts/finishes at Lake St Clair Lodge (Cynthia Bay). Approx 2:15hrs from Launceston and 2:30hrs from Hobart.

Maps

4233 Rufus 1:25K (south end of lake)
TASMAP Lake St Clair Day Walk Map (print & digital options)

Route/Trail notes

From the Lake St Clair Visitor Centre take the Watersmeet Nature Walk through the peppermint gum forest (Eucalyptus amygdalina) until you come to the Mt Rufus summit track junction. From here it is about 7.5 km to the summit. Return the same way, or continue down the ridge line that tracks north towards Mt Hugel, and then through the valley below the saddle between Mt Rufus and Mt Hugel (known as the Richea Valley for for the pandani andscoparia plants that grow here). Descend through rainforest, buttongrass moorlands and snow gum forest to Shadow Lake and follow the track back down to Cynthia Bay

Permits/Costs

National Park entry fee payable.

Other References

https://hikingtheworld.blog/2019/01/06/mt-rufus-and-little-hugel/

Official webpage has good detail for the above: https://www.parks.tas.gov.au/?base=1558

GPS Tracks

No GPS available for this walk yet.

Comments

It was a drizzly day and we end up walking into the cloud. We missed the spectacular views from the top but when we descend a bit lower we had the most beautiful landscape in front of us. Very worth doing the entire loop around the shadow and forgotten lake too.
Asha on 29 Dec, 2020