The weather was much better for our second day at Cradle Mountain, so we decided to do a longer hike, stitching together pieces of a few different trails to make our route a little more exciting.

As we set off, there was still a bit of snow on the ground from the day before.

All that rain and now-melting snow supercharged the waterfalls we passed as the trail started to climb.

The trail wound around an alpine lake and then began to rise quickly. In getting up the mountain, Julie and I both appreciated the chain strung between poles in the picture below.

After climbing for a bit, we took break to enjoy the views, with Crater Lake on the left, Wombat Pool on the right, and Dove Lake on the far right.

After a bit more climbing, we reached Marion’s Lookout, where clouds came and went in the strong winds.

As the trail continued upward, there was more snow on the ground. During brief breaks in the clouds, we started getting glimpses of Cradle Mountain — the mountain for which the park is named.

The trail leveled out on a high, treeless plateau, where we passed through snow (fun!) and slush (not fun). We were glad we brought our walking poles with us to help us with the icy footing.

Fortunately, there were also boardwalks in some stretches to protect both the fragile alpine vegetation and the fragile American hikers.

The trail took us right to the base of the Cradle Mountain summit.

With a little reluctance, we opted against the 2.5 hour spur trail leading up to the summit. We’d already had a great hike and still had quite a bit of trail left to get back to our car. Instead, we decided to follow the Face Trail, which skirts the base of the knife-like ridge.

It was an incredible trail, and we made good time on the narrow boardwalks.

The views of the soaring rock face were magnificent, thankfully distracting us from our tired legs.

The boardwalk soon ended, and the trail became rocky and technical.

Following the trail was relatively easy, as there were marking poles with bright orange tops. But actually figuring out where the trail was between poles was tricky, particularly as we climbed up and down small cliffs.

For instance, in this shot, the “trail” is behind Julie.

As we headed back towards Dove Lake, the trail started to drop even more steeply, and we soon reached a rocky outcropping that gave us a good view of some of what we’ve traversed.

From here, another set of chains helped us descend toward the lake.

After descending for a bit longer, the vegetation started to change, with thick mosses and lush ferns thriving in wet valleys.

The trail then took us through dense lakeside rainforests with huge trees.

The sun was shining bright as neared the end of our hike, and the views back towards Cradle Mountain were spectacular.

It was an amazing day of shifting weather and dramatic terrain. The trail was as challenging and beautiful as any we’d seen in the past six months. Julie and I both agreed it was one of the best hikes we’ve ever done. To top it off, we got a brief glimpse of a platypus on the way back to our car.

To make sure that we were stiff and sore, we ended our day by driving to Launceston, a couple of hours away.

It was another great day in another remarkable place. Julie and I went to bed once again stunned by our good fortune to be having this adventure.

-Will