Tarn Shelf

Moderate

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A grade 3, 12km circuit (5-6 hours) from Lake Dobson past a chain of glacial lakes including Lake Newdegate, Twilight Tarn and Lake Webster, per Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, known for autumn colour from deciduous beech (fagus).

☰ Trail details

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Distance

3.69 km

Est. time

58 min

Elevation gain

42 m

Route type

Loop

✦ Plan route

Steepest stretch: +20m over ~300m (around the 0.4km 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 Mount Field National Park, National Park, Central Highlands, 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

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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.

Pandani

Richea pandanifolia

Tasmanian endemic — world's tallest heath plant▾

Tasmanian endemic — world's tallest heath plant

Endemic to Tasmania and the world's tallest heath-family plant, growing 2-12m tall with a single palm-like trunk. A defining plant of the alpine and subalpine landscape around Lake Dobson.

How to spot it

Strap-like, serrated leaves up to 1m long spiral around a single trunk (occasionally branched); young leaves are green, older leaves turn greyish-brown and persist, giving it a shaggy, grass-tree-like look. White or deep pink flower panicles up to 25cm long. Look for it lining the Lake Dobson / Tarn Shelf tracks.

Family Ericaceae · Source: Wikipedia — Richea pandanifolia

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

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 Snow Gum

Eucalyptus coccifera

Tasmanian endemic▾

Tasmanian endemic

A Tasmanian endemic eucalypt that dominates exposed, dolerite-rich subalpine slopes between about 800-1,300m, becoming a low, wind-shorn shrub near its upper altitude limit.

How to spot it

Smooth, light grey to white bark streaked with tan; glossy green to bluish elliptic to lance-shaped adult leaves 50-100mm long; white flowers from December to February. Grows to 15m (occasionally 40m at lower elevation) but shrubby above 1,300m. Common around Lake Dobson and on the upper slopes of Mount Wellington.

Family Myrtaceae · Source: Wikipedia — Eucalyptus coccifera

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

Wildlife you might see on this trail

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

Plesiothele fentoni

Endangered — TAS: Endangered▾

Endangered — TAS: Endangered

Plesiothele is a monotypic genus of Australian funnel-web spiders containing the single species, Plesiothele fentoni, also known as Lake Fenton trapdoor spider. The genus was first described by Robert John Raven in 1978, and has only been found in Tasmania, Australia. Originally placed with the curtain web spiders, it was moved to the Hexathelidae in 1980.

How to spot it

Real occurrence confirmed near Mount Field National Park (Atlas of Living Australia, 1932) — no separate physical description was available on Wikipedia for this species, see the source link for more.

Family Hexathelidae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Plesiothele fentoni

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