| Cradle Mountain | |
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Cradle Mountain as seen from the north, across Dove Lake |
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| Elevation | 1,545 m (5,069 ft) AHD [1] |
| Location | |
| Location | Tasmania |
Cradle Mountain is a mountain in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, Tasmania, Australia. Rising to 1,545 metres above sea level, it is one of the principal tourist sites in Tasmania, owing to its natural beauty. The mountain is composed of dolerite columns, similar to many of the other mountains in the area.
Here is one end of the Overland Track, a world famous multi-day walks starts here.[2]. The Track winds through a variety of landscapes to its opposite end 80 km to the south at Lake St Clair, Australia’s deepest lake.[3]
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The area around the mountain has a large number of day walks, as well as being one terminus of the Overland Track.[4] The mountain is frequently climbed by tourists, virtually year round. It is a strenuous return hike from the Dove Lake car park with a recommended allotted time of 6.5 hours. The climb up the rocky part of the mountain involves scrambling over large boulders for several hundred metres. The entire climb is exposed to any bad weather that may arrive quickly and at any time. From the summit, there are spectacular 360° views, encompassing Dove Lake, Barn Bluff and Mount Ossa.
The mountain rises above the glacially formed Dove Lake (934m), Lake Wilks, and Crater Lake.
The mountain has four named summits. In order of height they are Cradle Mountain (1,545 m (5,069 ft)),[1] Smithies Peak (1,527 m (5,010 ft)),[5] Weindorfers Tower (1,459 metres (4,787 ft)),[5] and Little Horn (1,355 m (4,446 ft)).[5]
The mountain itself is named after its resemblance to a gold mining cradle.
The area is covered in a wide variety of alpine and sub-alpine vegetation, most notably including the colourful deciduous Nothofagus gunnii (Deciduous Beech), itself an anomaly given that most Australian native flora is evergreen, and the Gymnoschoenus sphaerocephalus (Button Grass) which dominates the alpine wet sedgelands. Some plants that grow on the mountain include the mountain buzzy, the heart berry, the alpine strawberry, the waratah, the King Billy pine and the pencil pine.
There is a parking area at Ronny Creek, the outlet of Lake Dove, which is approximately 8 km from the national park visitors’ centre. A shuttle bus runs between the two.
In addition to getting here by private transport or by hiking on the Overland Track, there are also public bus services from Launceston and Devonport to the Cradle Mountain Visitors Centre. Many tour companies also stop here.