Mount Rufus Circuit

Hard

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A 19km, 7-hour circuit climbing Mount Rufus for panoramic views over Lake St Clair, graded 4 by Tasmania PWS.

☰ Trail details

Hide panel — map only✕

Distance

11.55 km

Est. time

3 hr 45 min

Elevation gain

486 m

Route type

Loop

Steepest stretch: +41m over ~300m (around the 3.8km mark)

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In an emergency

Call 000 for police, fire or ambulance — Australia's emergency number works even with a weak signal, and without a SIM if any carrier has coverage.

You're in Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, Derwent Bridge, TAS. Mobile reception in this area is not guaranteed — this is exactly why the offline map and GPS position on this page work without signal.

Tell someone your plan and expected return time before you set off. A PLB is the most reliable backup where there's no reception at all.

Tracks & plans

+ Add to tracks / plans

Species to look for on this trail

Ancient trees and rare flora confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Deciduous Beech (Fagus)

Nothofagus gunnii

Tasmanian endemic — Australia's only cold-climate deciduous tree▾

Tasmanian endemic — Australia's only cold-climate deciduous tree

Tasmania's only native deciduous tree and the only cold-climate winter-deciduous tree species in Australia. Known locally as 'fagus', it turns from green to gold and sometimes brilliant red each autumn above about 800m elevation.

How to spot it

A small, gnarled woody shrub or tree to about 8m with small, rounded, alternate leaves that have a distinctive folded, 'concertina' texture. Easiest to identify in April-May when its foliage turns yellow to red against the surrounding evergreen alpine vegetation.

Family Nothofagaceae · Source: Wikipedia — Nothofagus gunnii

Photo: Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Pencil Pine

Athrotaxis cupressoides

Vulnerable (IUCN) — ancient, fire-sensitive conifer▾

Vulnerable (IUCN) — ancient, fire-sensitive conifer

A slow-growing Tasmanian endemic conifer that can live over 1,000 years, growing roughly 12mm in diameter per year. Highly fire-sensitive, with mature stands representing centuries of undisturbed growth.

How to spot it

A conical evergreen tree to about 20m with small, overlapping, scale-like leaves 2-3mm long pressed tightly against the stem, and light brown, fibrous bark that furrows with age. Look for stands fringing alpine tarns, as at the Tarn Shelf circuit.

Family Cupressaceae · Source: Wikipedia — Athrotaxis cupressoides

Photo: Scruffy Bay Morton (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Tasmanian Waratah

Telopea truncata

Tasmanian endemic▾

Tasmanian endemic

Tasmania's endemic waratah, a multi-stemmed shrub to about 3m (occasionally a small tree to 10m) found in wet sclerophyll forest and subalpine scrub between 600-1,200m elevation.

How to spot it

Bright red (occasionally yellow) globular flower heads held above spathulate to obovate leaves 3-14cm long. Flowers in early-to-mid summer. Look for it in heathy understorey on higher-altitude tracks such as those around Cradle Mountain and Hartz Mountains.

Family Proteaceae · Source: Wikipedia — Telopea truncata; Wikipedia — Hartz Mountains National Park

Photo: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Viola cunninghamii

Near Threatened — TAS: Near Threatened▾

Near Threatened — TAS: Near Threatened

Viola cunninghamii, also known as the white mountain viola, is a species of flowering plant within the genus Viola and family Violaceae. It is endemic to New Zealand.

How to spot it

Viola cunninghamii is a perennial herb known for its slender and branching rhizome. The plant forms a cluster of leaves in a tufted rosette pattern. The leaf blades are generally triangular-ovate to sub-orbicular, measuring between 10 and 20 mm in diameter. The edges of the leaves have slightly indistinct, crenate margins, and their stalks are longer than the blade itself. The flowers of Viola cunninghamii emerge singularly on elongated stalks that surpass the length of the leaves. These delicat

Family Violaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Viola cunninghamii

Wildlife you might see on this trail

Animals confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Platypus

Ornithorhynchus anatinus

IUCN Near Threatened▾

IUCN Near Threatened

The platypus is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal endemic to eastern Australia and the sole living member of its family, combining a duck-like bill, dense waterproof fur, and (in males) a venomous ankle spur. It hunts underwater using electroreception, detecting the tiny electrical fields of prey rather than relying on sight.

How to spot it

Best spotted at dawn or dusk on still freshwater streams, rivers, or lakes — look for a low, rippling wake and a dark, streamlined body about 40-50 cm long with a rubbery grey-brown bill and a flattened beaver-like tail. They dive briefly and repeatedly, surfacing to chew food at the surface; genuinely wild sightings require patience and quiet.

Family Ornithorhynchidae · Source: Wikipedia; IUCN Red List

Photo: Charles J. Sharp (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Short-beaked echidna

Tachyglossus aculeatus

IUCN Least Concern — Australia's most widespread native mammal▾

IUCN Least Concern — Australia's most widespread native mammal

The short-beaked echidna is an egg-laying monotreme covered in cream-coloured spines and fur, with a long toothless snout and a fast, sticky tongue for catching ants and termites. It is found across almost every Australian habitat, from alpine areas to arid interior, making it one of the country's most widespread native mammals.

How to spot it

Usually seen ambling slowly across a trail or frozen mid-dig at the base of a log — a spiny, dome-shaped animal 30-45 cm long with a slender snout. If disturbed it will curl or dig straight down into the soil rather than run, leaving just a dome of spines visible. Most active by day in cooler months, more nocturnal in warmer weather.

Family Tachyglossidae · Source: Wikipedia; IUCN Red List

Photo: Charles J. Sharp (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Tasmanian devil

Sarcophilus harrisii

IUCN Endangered; Vulnerable under Tasmania's Threatened Species Protection Act▾

IUCN Endangered; Vulnerable under Tasmania's Threatened Species Protection Act

The Tasmanian devil is a stocky carnivorous marsupial found in the wild only in Tasmania, and became the world's largest living carnivorous marsupial after the thylacine's extinction. Since the late 1990s, devil facial tumour disease has wiped out more than 80% of the wild population.

How to spot it

Black-furred, dog-sized, with a distinctively large head and (in most individuals) an irregular white patch across the chest or rump. Almost entirely nocturnal, so a daytime sighting is unlikely — listen instead for the harsh screeching and growling calls made around a carcass at night, audible well before any animal is seen.

Family Dasyuridae · Source: Wikipedia; IUCN Red List

Photo: JJ Harrison (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Eastern quoll

Dasyurus viverrinus

IUCN Endangered; EPBC-listed Endangered▾

IUCN Endangered; EPBC-listed Endangered

The eastern quoll is a medium-sized carnivorous marsupial that went extinct on the Australian mainland by the early 1960s and now survives naturally only in Tasmania (small reintroduced populations exist in fenced mainland sanctuaries). It comes in two colour morphs, fawn and near-black, both marked with white spots but lacking spots on the tail.

How to spot it

Cat-sized but slighter, with a pointed face, large rounded ears, and a thick coat (fawn or near-black) covered in white spots — check the feet, as eastern quolls have four toes on the hind foot rather than five. Nocturnal and ground-dwelling; most likely seen at night around forest edges bordering open grassland.

Family Dasyuridae · Source: Wikipedia; IUCN Red List

Photo: Charles J. Sharp (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Common wombat

Vombatus ursinus

IUCN Least Concern - common but iconic▾

IUCN Least Concern - common but iconic

A sturdy, ground-dwelling burrowing marsupial found across south-eastern Australia including Tasmania, with an isolated northernmost population in the granite country of the Queensland-NSW border. It digs extensive tunnel systems 2-20 metres long and is mostly active at dusk and night.

How to spot it

Low, heavy-set body up to 1.2m and 35kg on the mainland (smaller in Tasmania), small eyes and ears, large bare nose, and a rolling waddling gait. Look for large rectangular burrow entrances and cubed scat left as territory markers on rocks and logs - a reliable sign even when the animal itself is denned up during the day.

Family Vombatidae · Source: Wikipedia; IUCN Red List

Photo: JJ Harrison (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Wedge-tailed eagle

Aquila audax

IUCN Least Concern — common but iconic▾

IUCN Least Concern — common but iconic

The wedge-tailed eagle is Australia's largest bird of prey, with a wingspan of up to 2.84 metres. Once persecuted as a livestock threat, it is now widespread and secure across virtually every Australian habitat from desert to alpine woodland.

How to spot it

Unmistakable in flight: a huge dark raptor with a long, diamond-shaped tail, often seen soaring high on thermals over open or rocky country. Adults are blackish-brown with tawny-rufous hackles on the neck; juveniles are paler and more rufous. Despite its size, its call is a surprisingly thin, high whistle.

Family Accipitridae · Source: Wikipedia

Photo: JJ Harrison (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons