In a change from the past 2 weeks the forecast was for mainly blue skies with a maximum of 21 degrees - perfect weather for hiking.
We commenced walking along Fire Tower Road at about 10:50am - the late start due to the time taken to travel to the area (1.5 hrs from Kingston).
About 10 minutes later we reached the start of the Clark Cliffs circuit. We of course decided to do the loop which was labelled as hard!! At this point it was unanimously agreed that this would be a good spot for morning tea.
After morning tea we set of in an anti clockwise direction in order to leave the steeper sections till last. The fire trail had a gentle uphill grade which was easy going with fairly dense Dogwood (Pomaderris Apetala) bush on either side of the trail.
The shapes visible on this distinctive tree root are only limited by your imagination - for example in the middle is that a shrimp or squid?, on the right there is a fish about to catch its prey, on the extreme right is the Lleyton Hewitt victory salute, a leg (thigh to ankle) is also visible.
Shortly after we reach the Norfolk Bay lookout which provides nice views of the hills descending onto Norfolk Bay and Kooyna.
Back on the track, shortly afterwards we turned left off the fire trail and headed west into dense forests. This section of the track was overgrown with beautiful myrtles and eucalypts. We found that quite a lot of small and large trees had fallen over the trail and it took some effort to climb over or under them.
The ground was fairly moist considering the dry conditions we have been experiencing lately. It was a great time for spotting fungi.
We continued and at 1:00pm we walked out onto a fabulous dolerite clifftop above the Musk Forest. This forest of Musk Daisybush (Olearia Argophylla), Blanketbush (Bedfordia Salicina) and Blackwood (Acacia Melanoxylon), nestled under the sheer cliffs, is one of the highlights of the walk.
This seemed a good spot to stop and have lunch.
Back on the track and about 10 min later we reached the summit of Mt Clark (480m) and walked out onto Clark Cliffs. The view from here is looking towards Bruny Island.
To complete the Clark Cliffs circuit we continued on the trail back towards the carpark. In this section the trail becomes more challenging descending steeply until it reaches Plummers Creek - it would have been very slippery if there had been more rain recently. For 2.5kms the track zigzagged with numerous creek crossings and up and down its banks. Fortunately the track was well marked with colour ribbons as it is only lightly used and not always intuitive to follow .. without the ribbons it would be very easy to get lost.
Finally the walk flattens out and we emerged back onto Fire Tower Road which we followed back to our cars.
9 hikers walked the 7.9kms while climbing 250m around the circuit. As we took our time enjoying the scenery it took almost 4.5 hrs to complete.
Thanks to Chris for acting as 'Official' photographer and supplying the photos for this post.
Click here to download GPX file.
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