Visiting Montezuma Falls in the jungle (03.11.2023)

© Helwig Hauser

Note that this track has been created from memory, i.e., it was not recorded automatically.

© Helwig Hauser

Trip Summary

After our very nice hike up to Cradle Mountain on the day before, we headed further towards the west of Tasmania, driving (mostly) in southwestern direction. After first driving through large Eucalyptus forests, we then arrived in an impressive rain forest / jungle. Our main plan for the day, besides driving towards the west coast of Tasmania, was to do a hike into the jungle at Montezuma Falls. Leaving the main highway A10 near Rosebery, we used a minor road to get to the starting point of the Trail (where we also found a good spot to park). The trail to Montezuma Falls comes with an interesting bit of history, actually. It follows the route of an early-day railway that pioneers had built into the jungle to help with some mining activity in this area. Even though the topography of this area is definitely challenging (up and down everywhere, often also steep), they managed to construct this "kind of level" route into the jungle. Even though this railway (and the related mining activities) only lasted for a few decaeds, altogether, we now, almost one hundred years later, can walk to the Montezuma Falls with almost no height meters to make! Additionally, one can still find interesting remains of this interesting past, including remains of the necessary bridges. While walking through the jungle is interesting, already, arriving at the very high Montezuma Falls is also very worthwhile. Where previously they had built a major bridge for the railway (quite close to the Falls), we now find a suspension bridge (for pedestrians "only"). Not at the least from this bridge, one gets a really good view up to the impressive Montezuma Falls. Right next to the bridge, one also finds a short side-trail, which leads to the bottom end of the Montezuma Falls. Once done with exploring the bridge and Montezuma Falls, we headed back out along the same trail that we had used on our way in. For someone, who's not used to walking through the jungle, this trail clearly offers a nice (and easy!) way to a nice and worthwhile impression! :-)

Photos

Selected photos are available as Google photo album.

Useful Resources

See also the related FB-page Hiking around Bergen, Norway.