Mt Tor in Tasmania’s Central North had been on my mind for some time. I had visited many of the peaks in this area and Tor was the one that still eluded me. I had first attempted it in 2019 but a swollen Leven River had not allowed us to pass on that occasion. On several occasions since, we had made plans to return but rain often prevented us making the trip. That was all about to change and in early October 2023, hiking buddy Crawf put out the call. I was an instant YES!

We set out from Launceston on a Friday afternoon late, grabbing dinner on the way in Devonport before heading south and towards Loongana. We arrived late and found a spot beside the road to camp before retiring for the evening. It drizzled with rain overnight and we awoke early the next morning and we quickly packed up and headed to the spot on the Leven River where the rough trail starts. Fully waterproofed up, we made the initial short walk to the river, first over a flowing creek then after a few minutes the river itself. To me it looked to be at a similar level to my last trip. On that occasion we had tried for over an hour to find a crossing but to no avail. This time I was not going to be deterred. We made our way up stream for about 10 minutes at which point we believed we had a long but fairly shallow diagonal line of crossing the river. With boots off and sandals on, I grabbed my hiking poles for stability and we waded in. The water was calf deep most of the way however as we arrived at the last section, only about 5 meters from our goal of the opposite bank, we had to cross a fast flowing section that was thigh deep. Crawf went first and after some careful and slow wading, made it across. I followed and just like that the first obstacle was out of the way.

We took some time to put our boots back on and then followed the old fire trail towards the peak. The old road was in reasonable condition and we made good progress, initially beside the river before crossing another small creek and then heading up hill. The old road continued and it made going up easy. We were setting a good pace as we had heard that after this road the going became much harder and scrubbier. Light drizzle continued but in the comfort of our rain gear this didn’t bother us. In the back of my mind I just hoped the river didn’t rise any more!

An hour after crossing the river, we arrived a prominent can and spotted a tape heading up a hill away from the road. This was the end of the road  for us (so to speak). After a quick snack and drink and we headed up hill into some light scrub. As we climbed we found a solid pad and regular tapes, enabling us to progress rapidly up through the scrub - we were finding this to be extremely enjoyable walking! An hour after departing the road, we arrived at an open button grass field and continued up following the now occasional tape and reasonably obvious pad. It was quiet misty and visibility was not great but we plodded on. Making good progress, in my mind I thought it must still be a decent distance to the peak but 3 hours after leaving the car we arrived at the top of Mt Tor! I was so surprised I had to check our co-ordinates and GPS to be sure! But there was no doubt, we were on the summit! Given the mist and rain, we didn’t hang around too long.

We returned the same way and made very quick time arriving back at the old road in about an hour and from there we jogged most of the way back to the river. Gladly the river had not risen and we swiftly waded back across via the same path. From there it was just a short 10 minutes to the car and we completed the entire walk in 5hrs and 15 minutes, with it only taking two hours to return from the summit. As we finished the skies parted and the sun poked it’s head out. It had been a great day and Mt Tor is definately a peak I would return to!

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