Day 6 of our Overland Track winter crossing

Hiking, Overland Track, Tasmania, Trail Journal

Frosty mornings, rushing streams, mossy forests, wombats, and waterfalls marked our final Overland Track day before reaching Echo Point Hut.

Windy Ridge (Bert Nichols Hut) to Echo Point Hut (5 hrs, 16km)

We woke at 5.30am to a frosty room at Bert Nichols Hut, but had slept warm with our new sleeping bags cinched right up, hoods over our heads.

I wandered down to the dining area where clothes draped over three lines of rope hung damp in the air.

The thermometre read zero degrees, and I quickly turned the heater on to give the clothes another blast of warm air.

After our usual morning routine of quick oats and a sachet coffee, we hit the trail not long after 7.30am.

It was a still morning. No new snow had fallen overnight and, like clockwork, much of the ice we were wading through yesterday had melted.

The track had become a series of rushing streams and pools of water.

We hopped across rocks, branches and ventured off the trail as we maneuvered our way past these obstacles, the Du Cane Range peaking through the trees to our right.

Bird-life was abundant, with a chorus of chirps greeting our first sighting of blue skies in days.

The trail meandered through more typically Australian-bush, home to our much-loved banksia trees.

The trail felt easy today, compared with yesterday’s snowy battle, and we relished the conditions.

After three hours, we arrived at Narcissus Hut on the Narcissus River, where many hikers opt for a ferry journey to Cynthia Bay instead of walking the last 18km.

After chatting briefly with some hikers, who warned us about metre deep water in the next section, we journeyed on.

Grey clouds had settled over us, promising rain, but kindly holding off.

The boardwalk was 20cm below water in some sections, and we trudged through, shoes sinking deep into the mud at times.

We spotted a mumma and baby wombat in this section of low lying shrub.

Before too long, we found ourselves in a lush and damp rainforest, with Gondwana era trees about six or eight metres in circumference reminding us just how small we are.

Massive fallen branches and trees sent the track winding sharply and required us to keep a watchful eye on the ground and up ahead to discern the trail. Only skeletons of a boardwalk remained.

Rushing waterfalls fell to our right, while glimpses of Lake Saint Claire appeared through the trees to our left.

It was a picturesque walk beneath a canopy of towering trees and through a damp, moss-laden forest.

Not long after the appearance of a new looking boardwalk, the small one-bedroom Echo Point Hut came into view.

Perched on the very edge of the lake, beside a jetty and small clearing, the little wooden hut offered a cosiness and character distinctly different to the newer Overland Track huts.

Life at its simplistic best – two large wooden slatted bunks, a wooden bench seat, a cooking shelf and coal-fired heater.

We spent the next hour tinkering with the coal heater, and with the help of hand sanitiser (to aid damp kindling) we got the heater roaring.

Over the course of the next few hours, we were joined by a lovely solo weekend hiker from Hobart, who opened a lovely bottle of red wine with us before the fire – a superb way to mark our final night on trail.

We were also joined by Cassie, a solo female hiker, who we’d been hut hopping with all trail, and a very friendly bush rat, which multiple log-book entries warned of.

We carefully strung up our belongings and packed away our food and packs into rat proof boxes.