Your Guide To Hiking Tasmania’s Walls of Jerusalem With Kids
BY KATE BOWN
Bottom of the World contributor Kate Bown shares how her extended family - including eight school-aged children and a baby - explored Walls of Jerusalem National Park. Nestled in the rugged central highlands of Lutruwita/Tasmania, it’s the perfect place to introduce kids to a multi-day hiking adventure.
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Walking in Walls of Jerusalem National Park (image: St John Photography)
Day 1: Carpark to Wild Dog Creek Campground - 6.1 kilometres, 4.5 hours. Have a rest in the historic Trapper’s Hut before climbing onto the plateau. From here, the walking is easier. Continue past the gorgeous alpine lakes for 4 kilometres to the campground.
Day one and we’re off to a good start. “My bag’s not even heavy,” our youngest shouts as she dashes past. It’s a steep 500-metre climb from ‘The Walls’ carpark to the alpine plateau, but our children are too excited to notice the altitude.
I catch up to my husband, who’s eating his way through four ripe bananas. He looks like the saucepan man with a large aluminium wok strapped to his pack, and a green shopping bag in his hand bursting with hard-boiled eggs, biltong, and salami. We’ve learnt the hard way: hungry kids and hiking do not mix.
At the top of the hill, our youngest hands me a pink butterfly handbag, a pair of sparkly blue love heart sunglasses, and a large rock. “You can have this too, Mum,” she says, as she throws her purple broad-brimmed hat at my feet.
I smile. My shoulders ache. Only four kilometres to go to Wild Dog Creek. Our camp for the night.
Walls of Jerusalem National Park (image: Kate Bown)
Day 2: Wild Dog Creek to Dixon’s Kingdom Campground - 3.7 kilometres, 2.5 hours. Take a short side trip to Pool of Bethesda on the way. The beautiful alpine lake is a great spot for lunch. Got energy to burn in the afternoon? Climb King David’s Peak and Solomon’s Throne for breathtaking views. Both peaks are accessed from Damascus Gate, a 20 minute walk from the campground, and take approximately 30 minutes to ascend.
In the morning, frost covers the tents and wooden platforms. We wake to a thick, lonely mist. I burn the porridge. The kids eat Milo and dry Nutri-Grain for breakfast. I unfold the map and ask, “Where are we?”
Little fingers trace contour lines and lakes until someone shouts, “That’s us!”
The mist begins to clear and we pack up. It’s an epic task with eight kids and a baby. We climb through twisted gums towards Herod’s Gate: a natural gap between King David's Peak and Zion Hill that marks the entrance to the centre of ‘The Walls’.
At the pass, the baby refuses to sit in his backpack carrier, and a dragonfly lands ever so briefly on my blue hat. We pause for a photo. “Farting,” the kids call out (their latest joke). We all laugh.
Ahead, the plateau is bursting with wildflowers: yellow daisies, the tiniest blue sky lilies, and creamy-pink scoparia spikes. It’s a spectacular show, a carnival of sumptuous colour. The track winds through a labyrinth of alpine lakes, pencil pines, and towering dolerite cliffs. It feels like we are walking in a secret garden, or inside a wild city.
(image: Kate Bown)
Day 3: Climb Mount Jerusalem - 1.2 kilometres, 2 hours one way. It’s the highest peak in the area. The kids will love spotting distant mountain peaks. Make sure you visit Dixon Kingdom’s Hut, built in the 1950s for droving cattle. A trip to Lake Ball in the afternoon is a perfect way to end the day, 1.5 hours one way.
Atop Mount Jerusalem we eat a second lunch, or is it the third? A black currawong hops across a boulder, eagerly awaiting our departure. We point to the distant peaks. “Is that one Mount Ossa?” our eldest asks.
There is not a house or a road in sight. But there is water: hundreds of lakes and trickling streams. The land almost looks like the sky.
The baby explores the edges of his boulder playpen - much to our distress - and the big kids wander the summit with their pocket knives. March flies bite our legs through woollen thermals. I watch a line of tiny black ants. They scurry, busy with the labour of carrying things. I can relate.
(image: Kate Bown)
In the evening, we sip hot tea and watch a platypus swimming on the lip of a lake. She is bold and unhurried. A joyful body of fur and bill. She disappears below the water, and we wait patiently for her to resurface.
The children play chase, running through the shrubs and wild flowers as if the land were a maze. The water is ablaze with the sunset colours of the sky: pink and orange and purple.
Time expands.
We lounge in the wonder of wild things.
It’s just the kind of wild holiday I love.
Day 4: Return home via Wild Dog Creek and Trapper’s Hut. 9.8 kilometres, 6 hours. Solomon’s Jewels, a series of alpine lakes, are a wonderful place to stop for a dip on a hot day.
Pool of Siloam, Walls of Jerusalem National Park (image: Luke Tscharke)
GETTING THERE
To access ‘The Walls’ trail head, drive towards Lake Rowallan, via Mole Creek, on the Mersey Forest Road. It’s a 4-hour journey from Hobart. Break up the drive with a stop in the picturesque town of Deloraine. We love to wander through the art galleries, and the kids will enjoy playing in the train park by the Meander River.
GOOD TO KNOW
The Walls of Jerusalem is a flexible 23-kilometre circuit. Many of the peaks are climbed via side trips from the main trail. Complete the full circuit, or stay at one campsite and explore from there. The tracks are well signed and maintained.
You’ll need a Parks Pass, and you must register your walk with Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania.
