Today, I adapted to Greg’s schedule and waited until the sun was up and shining on our very condensation soaked tent. It was a chilly night out last night and no doubt temperatures fell well below the dew point. It was probably 8:30 before I got out of bed. Regardless of the sun being out, I find the wet socks I placed last evening on my poles, completely frozen and rigid! We spread the fly and tent footprint out separately from the tent and everything, even my socks, quickly dry in the sun and breeze. It’s the same-same overgrown climb out; but not so bad this time as we know what to expect and how to avoid false trails. Coming back, we walk out on a wooded point on Lake Artemis and find a suitable campsite that we missed yesterday. I think our Lake Eros site was slightly better but it confirms there are small tent sites adjacent to Lake Artemis. We've just cleared the worst of the overgrowth when we meet a solo female hiker. She’s a young Dane living in Australia and clearly an outdoor adventurer. She’s loaded up with nine days food and intends to explore the Acropolis and Mountains of Jupiter peaks above Lake Artemis. Knowing the bush bash that lies just in front of her, we wish her the best! We enter the green open beech forest again as we descend and it’s as lovely and magical today as it was yesterday. Clearly, the main redeeming feature of our Lake Eros side trip adventure! We retrace our steps across the wide stream, up past Junction Hut and then head north from Junction Lake (where I'm surprised to see a black swan regally swimming around) following the Moses Creek Trail that we have not yet walked along. The Moses Creek Track, is quite good leaving Junction Lake - well marked, trimmed back a bit and reasonably easy walking. We follow an open stream valley upwards for quite some time before traversing more open forest and brush land. We take a lunch break along the southern shore of Cloister Lagoon, a long and narrow lake - honestly, I'm not sure what the difference is between a lake and lagoon is anyway?! I thought lagoons were only coastal...? The trail along the lagoon is situated up on the slopes above the lagoon and has many steep ups and downs, presumably to avoid rock outcrops or fallen trees. In thru-hiking lingo, these are PUDs or Pointless Ups and Downs. PUDs don't really take you anywhere but they certainly suck away your energy! Leaving Cloister Lagoon, we walk onwards along the heavily wooded slopes, apparently between two small unnamed lakes but we hardly get a glimpse of them through the heavy vegetation. We're approaching Chapter Lake where our mapped trail has us doubling back southwest to head up to Chalice Lake via Grail Falls. Greg, always the competent navigator, finds a shortcut trail between the two trails saving us a bit of effort. We can hear the adjacent Grail Falls but it's hard to get a glimpse of it through the thick forest. We come out at the stream below and finally get partial glimpses. We start climbing and it becomes clear that our trail to Chalice Lake is also used to climb to the top of the falls. We reach an incredibly steep climb where it feels like we must rock climb 30 metres straight up with our backpacks on! Not for the faint hearted! I'm puffed when we finally crest and level out a bit. We're following inside what seems like a canyon- lots of rock, steep walls, and we can hear the outflow stream from Chalice Lake steadily dropping towards Grail Falls. It's a quite pretty landscape but the day is getting late and once again my energy is flagging. I just want to find a good camp. At the back of my mind is yesterday's disaster at Lake Artemis/ Eros so I can only hope that we find a better campsite at Chalice Lake. My research suggests there are better campsites here but the uncertainty of the unknown is always nags at the back of my mind... It's quite a glaciated landscape and we clamber up and over rock shelves with the trail marked by stone cairns then periodically drop into heavily vegetated regions between the outcrops. I prefer the stone outcrops portions, despite the climbs, over fighting through overgrown vegetation in-between! We finally start getting views of Lake Chalice ahead; it's quite a rocky lake surrounded by rock outcrop platforms. I noted in my research that some people found flat areas on the stone outcrops to camp upon (using "Big Rock / Little Rock" techniques (Google it) to anchor their tents since you can't use stakes on rock!) but we're hoping for a "softer" campsite. We get closer to the lake and Greg's eagle eyes spot a potential campsite a few hundred metres away. I rest while he checks it out. It proves suitable so we make for it after Greg returns. Our campsite is perhaps 150 metres back from the shores of Chalice Lake but located in a clear and level mossy area surrounded by rock outcrops. It's also next to a large tarn (shallow lake) where we can get water to filter and even have an evening swim. The site is slightly boggy but it's a great find in a rocky landscape with few soft campsites. We quickly set up camp and then head to the adjacent tarn for a swim. The tarn has a small rock ledge perhaps a half metre deep and then drops off to a deeper 1.5 to 2 metre depth. There is no slowly wading in for this swim! I stand there a moment on the ledge in knee deep water and then dive off the ledge into the icy water! Breathtaking but refreshing! It turns out I can stand up in the deep section but the bottom is muddy and soft and I try to avoid stirring up all the settled mud and debris. Once dried off and dressed again, I feel happy, refreshed and satisfied. There are a few huge mozzies 🦟 about due to the tarn and nearby bogs but I put on long sleeves and pants and between that, mozzie spray and a bit of a breeze, I'm not bothered. Greg and I find a sheltered spot on the nearby outcrops and enjoy hors d'oeuvres together - crackers, cheese and beef jerky. All we are missing is a glass of wine! Then onto a hearty dinner. The wind drops off as the sun sets with the adjacent lake becoming perfectly flat. Looking out, we start to see a small wake out in the flat lake. It's a platypus! We are some distance away so we can't see him as clear as I would like but it's definitely a platypus. I brought a lightweight monocular / telescope which helps with the viewing a bit but the platypus is too far away for a phone camera. Over the next half hour, there are platypuses everywhere in the large lake which must have quite a healthy population. We see more than five platypuses; in fact, once we saw two platypus swimming maybe 50 metres apart when they made a bee line towards each other! All kinds of splashing occurred when they reached one another - no idea if they were playing or having a territorial flight! Once again, I'm physically beat so it's early to bed for me. We'll be leaving the tent here two nights, as tomorrow we'll take our light summit packs and scale nearby Cathedral Mountain and perhaps some of the other nearby peaks. I'm looking forward to an easier go!? Carl / Pilgrim

Hiking/Backpacking

Tasmania, Walls Of Jerusalem

Tasmania, Australia

time : Mar 25, 2025 10:12 AM

duration : 6h 35m 27s

distance : 11.5 km

total_ascent : 349 m

highest_point : 1148 m

avg_speed : 2.2 km/h

user_id : gstreet

user_firstname : Carl

user_lastname : Greenstreet

Today, I adapted to Greg’s schedule and waited until the sun was up and shining on our very condensation soaked tent. It was a chilly night out last night and no doubt temperatures fell well below the dew point. It was probably 8:30 before I got out of bed. Regardless of the sun being out, I find the wet socks I placed last evening on my poles, completely frozen and rigid! We spread the fly and tent footprint out separately from the tent and everything, even my socks, quickly dry in the sun and breeze. It’s the same-same overgrown climb out; but not so bad this time as we know what to expect and how to avoid false trails. Coming back, we walk out on a wooded point on Lake Artemis and find a suitable campsite that we missed yesterday. I think our Lake Eros site was slightly better but it confirms there are small tent sites adjacent to Lake Artemis. We've just cleared the worst of the overgrowth when we meet a solo female hiker. She’s a young Dane living in Australia and clearly an outdoor adventurer. She’s loaded up with nine days food and intends to explore the Acropolis and Mountains of Jupiter peaks above Lake Artemis. Knowing the bush bash that lies just in front of her, we wish her the best! We enter the green open beech forest again as we descend and it’s as lovely and magical today as it was yesterday. Clearly, the main redeeming feature of our Lake Eros side trip adventure! We retrace our steps across the wide stream, up past Junction Hut and then head north from Junction Lake (where I'm surprised to see a black swan regally swimming around) following the Moses Creek Trail that we have not yet walked along. The Moses Creek Track, is quite good leaving Junction Lake - well marked, trimmed back a bit and reasonably easy walking. We follow an open stream valley upwards for quite some time before traversing more open forest and brush land. We take a lunch break along the southern shore of Cloister Lagoon, a long and narrow lake - honestly, I'm not sure what the difference is between a lake and lagoon is anyway?! I thought lagoons were only coastal...? The trail along the lagoon is situated up on the slopes above the lagoon and has many steep ups and downs, presumably to avoid rock outcrops or fallen trees. In thru-hiking lingo, these are PUDs or Pointless Ups and Downs. PUDs don't really take you anywhere but they certainly suck away your energy! Leaving Cloister Lagoon, we walk onwards along the heavily wooded slopes, apparently between two small unnamed lakes but we hardly get a glimpse of them through the heavy vegetation. We're approaching Chapter Lake where our mapped trail has us doubling back southwest to head up to Chalice Lake via Grail Falls. Greg, always the competent navigator, finds a shortcut trail between the two trails saving us a bit of effort. We can hear the adjacent Grail Falls but it's hard to get a glimpse of it through the thick forest. We come out at the stream below and finally get partial glimpses. We start climbing and it becomes clear that our trail to Chalice Lake is also used to climb to the top of the falls. We reach an incredibly steep climb where it feels like we must rock climb 30 metres straight up with our backpacks on! Not for the faint hearted! I'm puffed when we finally crest and level out a bit. We're following inside what seems like a canyon- lots of rock, steep walls, and we can hear the outflow stream from Chalice Lake steadily dropping towards Grail Falls. It's a quite pretty landscape but the day is getting late and once again my energy is flagging. I just want to find a good camp. At the back of my mind is yesterday's disaster at Lake Artemis/ Eros so I can only hope that we find a better campsite at Chalice Lake. My research suggests there are better campsites here but the uncertainty of the unknown is always nags at the back of my mind... It's quite a glaciated landscape and we clamber up and over rock shelves with the trail marked by stone cairns then periodically drop into heavily vegetated regions between the outcrops. I prefer the stone outcrops portions, despite the climbs, over fighting through overgrown vegetation in-between! We finally start getting views of Lake Chalice ahead; it's quite a rocky lake surrounded by rock outcrop platforms. I noted in my research that some people found flat areas on the stone outcrops to camp upon (using "Big Rock / Little Rock" techniques (Google it) to anchor their tents since you can't use stakes on rock!) but we're hoping for a "softer" campsite. We get closer to the lake and Greg's eagle eyes spot a potential campsite a few hundred metres away. I rest while he checks it out. It proves suitable so we make for it after Greg returns. Our campsite is perhaps 150 metres back from the shores of Chalice Lake but located in a clear and level mossy area surrounded by rock outcrops. It's also next to a large tarn (shallow lake) where we can get water to filter and even have an evening swim. The site is slightly boggy but it's a great find in a rocky landscape with few soft campsites. We quickly set up camp and then head to the adjacent tarn for a swim. The tarn has a small rock ledge perhaps a half metre deep and then drops off to a deeper 1.5 to 2 metre depth. There is no slowly wading in for this swim! I stand there a moment on the ledge in knee deep water and then dive off the ledge into the icy water! Breathtaking but refreshing! It turns out I can stand up in the deep section but the bottom is muddy and soft and I try to avoid stirring up all the settled mud and debris. Once dried off and dressed again, I feel happy, refreshed and satisfied. There are a few huge mozzies 🦟 about due to the tarn and nearby bogs but I put on long sleeves and pants and between that, mozzie spray and a bit of a breeze, I'm not bothered. Greg and I find a sheltered spot on the nearby outcrops and enjoy hors d'oeuvres together - crackers, cheese and beef jerky. All we are missing is a glass of wine! Then onto a hearty dinner. The wind drops off as the sun sets with the adjacent lake becoming perfectly flat. Looking out, we start to see a small wake out in the flat lake. It's a platypus! We are some distance away so we can't see him as clear as I would like but it's definitely a platypus. I brought a lightweight monocular / telescope which helps with the viewing a bit but the platypus is too far away for a phone camera. Over the next half hour, there are platypuses everywhere in the large lake which must have quite a healthy population. We see more than five platypuses; in fact, once we saw two platypus swimming maybe 50 metres apart when they made a bee line towards each other! All kinds of splashing occurred when they reached one another - no idea if they were playing or having a territorial flight! Once again, I'm physically beat so it's early to bed for me. We'll be leaving the tent here two nights, as tomorrow we'll take our light summit packs and scale nearby Cathedral Mountain and perhaps some of the other nearby peaks. I'm looking forward to an easier go!? Carl / Pilgrim