Jacobs Ladder

Word of mouth found us in Scottsdale, Chinese whispers about a free camp WITH facilities including hot showers. And lo, it was so. Northeast Park, not a large free camp, but the turnover was daily. We knew the drill -go hard, go early and we secured a pigeon pair of sites, set up by lunchtime.

The north-east part of Tassie is pretty remote, so our stay here marked a return to some creature comforts like supermarkets, bakeries and internet. With the temperatures tumbling, the humble meat pie made a triumphant return to the menu. Our plans were vague for the next three days. I think maybe we thought that the adventure was over already. But a quick look at the map revealed Jacobs Ladder and the Ben Lomond plateau was just over an hour away. We’d both seen pictures of Jacobs Ladder but had no idea what to expect. ‘Ladder’ is a metaphor for a tight windy ascent up to the Ben Lomond plateau, that, depending on the weather, can be benign or treacherous.

Ken insisted on driving (try not to read too much into that), and we set out early the next morning. Now, for what is touted as a major tourist drawcard, Jacobs Ladder is somewhat remote. After a steady climb out of the valley, we hit the dirt some 15klms shy of the ascent. Remnants of an overnight snowfall buoyed our spirits. Ben Lomond was well hidden by forest, but then the skyline opened up for our first look

The columns of rock reared out of the forest, arching towards the sky. Our first look definitely had the ‘wow’ factor. Even more impactful were the rivers of boulders that had eroded and tumbled down the steep slopes over the eons.

A few minutes later and we arrived at a very unassuming pull-over and looked up. There it was, snaking it’s way up the steep cliff to who knows where. Single lane and passing opportunities on the hairpin bends. Ok, suck in the big ones. Let’s do this!!

I had to physically prise Ken’s fingers off the steering wheel when we finally pulled over, but well done. It was only three degrees at the top and it was snow country. I hadn’t seen snow since my trip to the Andes back in 2015. Sure it wasn’t much, but still a thrill.

As we stood admiring the view, the wind chill factor was slowly penetrating our layers of protection. We had heard there was a cafe a bit further on. We could see some rooftops in the distance. The odds seemed to be in our favour. We had in fact stumbled onto the Ben Lomond Alpine Resort, one of the best ski fields in Tasmania. Sadly, not enough snow and no coffee at this time of year.

There’s a few walks to take, but we had come unprepared. We jumped back into the warm and headed back down Jacobs Ladder. Back at the turnoff, there WAS a cafe/ski-hire place where a local couple pointed us to a secret short cut back to Scottsdale. The directions were kinda vague, but I remembered enough of them.

We stopped next to a pine forest as Ken had hopes for mushroom picking. I’d spotted a photo op on the other side of the road. No fungus, but a photo. That was almost a full day exploring another part of this island landscape. We now had two days left before heading back to Devonport. Just time for one more look around.