The Walls of Jerusalem. By Geoff Murray

The Walls of Jerusalem is one of Tasmania’s finest short walks. It is a very popular walk but since Covid 19 arrived Tasmania Parks has enforced a numbers limit of 32 walkers per day. This is a new thing for me, in the past, it has often been a spur of the moment decision to head to “the Walls”. But in hindsight, it is a good move to limit overuse of the park, and I think it might be worth continuing into the future. It just requires a bit of preplanning.

I walked in last Friday, and unlike my usual process of driving up very early in the morning (it’s a 4-hour drive from home) I left midmorning. Halfway up the hill to Trapper’s Hut, I was cursing myself as I sweated in the midday heat. I do prefer early morning walking :)

Eventually, the climb flattened out, and the magic of the alpine tarns called Solomon’s jewels slid past as I walked towards my destination.

I was setting up camp at my chosen spot as the sun neared the horizon. Horizon is a bit of a misnomer as it was actually nearing the ridge on a significant lump of rock (mountain) to my west, so it was well before real sunset.

The light was truly magical as a cloud over the aforementioned mountain allowed a narrow band of light to shine on the pencil pines on the far side of the tarn where I was camped.

After sunset, I sat down to a tasty dried meal. I am fortunate that my wife enjoys drying meals for me, and these are far superior to anything I can buy in the shops. I was asleep by 10 pm—Fed, warm and content.

My alarm woke me at 3 am. There was a slim chance of an aurora, so I dressed and slipped out of the tent to a gloriously clear night. The stars overhead had a clarity that few places in the world enjoy in these days of light pollution and overpopulation.

It was a fresh -2°C and totally windless so conditions couldn’t have been much nicer. No southern lights but a couple of images of the Dragonfly under the Milky Way and it was back to the warmth of my Helium sleeping bag by 3.30 am……only to be woken by the alarm again at 5am for the pre sunrise.

A few more images, breakfast and back to the tent for a bit more kip. A very relaxed morning :)

Once the sun had dried the night’s frost off the tent, I packed my gear into my Backcountry pack and started the walk back out.

I have been to the Walls more times than I care to count, but it never fails to enrich the soul.

Geoff Murray
Mont Ambassador

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