Finding Evercreech Rivulet Falls

By Craig Doumoruas

Published on 22 Jul 2020

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Having experienced an incredibly busy few months with work, as well as being in lockdown for a few months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, getting a day off work always meant I would travel into the wilderness somewhere. For me personally, the inability to travel around Tasmania during lockdowns affected my mental health adversely. Anti-depressants only go so far. They take the edge off, but the underlying reasons that causes depression still linger. It's been a difficult time for me, along with many others around the world.

I cannot describe how hiking restores my mental health

So, having been encouraged by my managers to have a day off work, there was no doubt I was going to take myself hiking.

So, I woke up at my usual time of about 7am, and slowly got my day going. I went to my favourite café and had breakfast there. Then I headed to Beaurepairs to get them to check the new tyres they put on my car. The new tyres are too big for my car, and the tread was rubbing against something that made the car squeal like a banshee at high speeds. It turned out, the wheel was only just touching some plastic on the car - literally 1/2 mm causing the issue! So, after some driving, the wearing away of both that tiny section of the tyre and the plastic grinded away until no noise existed!

I drove off still having no destination in mind. In my head I thought I would visit Parsons Falls, or perhaps Phillips Falls near Mt. Roland. But I drove in a completely different direction and headed to Mathinna instead. I change my mind often, usually on the spur of the moment. It adds to the adventure!

It was a cold morning, and fog was about. I drove to St. Leonards in Launceston and then headed towards Ben Lomond National Park. I particularly like driving towards Mathinna on the northern side of Ben Lomond. Though the roads are unsealed for a fair distance from Lower Blessington to Mathinna, the scenery is gorgeous. Add to the mix a beautiful sunshine finding it's way through gaps within the fog, the scene was surreal. A beautiful winter's morning to enjoy.

Mathinna, a sleepy town

About 11:30 I arrived into the small village of Mathinna. My plan was to get myself lunch before doing my hike, but there was nothing open. The pub doesn't open until 3pm, and there's really no other shops. I quickly asked a local if anything was around to buy lunch, and she explained I would have to drive to Fingal, about 30 kilometres away. My heart was saying 'skip lunch and do the hike'. However, hiking has to be taken seriously. Never leave yourself vulnerable in any way when in the wilderness, especially when you're alone. Anything can go wrong. So, with that in mind, I drove to Fingal and had a very decent lunch.

I drove back towards Mathinna, and diverted to Evercreech Forest Reserve. There is a waterfall out there that Caedence Kuepper discovered some time back. He believes it might be the 'real' Evercreech Falls, but somehow the name of the waterfall was attributed to another waterfall nearby. I parked my car, and got myself prepared for the hike. Gaiters, and waterproof hiking boots were on. GPS was on and ready to track my walk. Gloves were put on, and everything else I needed placed into my small day pack.

And the hike begins

For some reason I thought the waterfall I was trying to discover was upstream from Evercreech Falls. I walked to Evercreech Falls and then scrambled up to the top of the waterfall. The forest was dense up there, and I started to push upstream along the side of creek that really didn't look like it has a lot of flow in it. About 5 minutes of trying to penetrate through the hideously thick forest, I realised something was off. I looked at my GPS, which was recording my hike, and it showed me I was walking along the wrong creek altogether. I was walking in the wrong direction as well! So, I thought I would bush bash in the correct direction and work my way to Evercreech Rivulet.

I really don't mind bush bashing. I actually enjoy it for the most part. But the forest that sits above Evercreech Falls is horrible. It's dense, and awkward to move in. And The closer I seemed to get to Evercreech Rivulet, the worse the terrain got! There were lots of fallen trees too. Big trees covered in slime that made getting over them a real challenge. But, 20 minutes later I reached the rivulet. Though it was 20 minutes, it felt like an hour!

It was at this point I realised that I should have walked northwards from the carpark, walking part of the Evercreech Falls track. When you reach the rivulet, use the wire to cross over. Once on the other side, walk alongside the rivulet as far as you can.

In Caedence's notes, he said that you will need to walk through the water to reach the waterfall, which was only 800 metres away. I wasn't in much of a mood to get my feet wet, and deep within me I kept thinking that I will prove there is a way to get to the waterfall without having to get into the creek. But it's not possible - no way at all. With the forest being so dense, and at times the large boulders preventing you from accessing the land, I was forced to continue upstream through the middle of the rivulet. I pushed slowly and carefully upstream, ensuring every step I took was sound. The rivulet forces you to walk on slime covered rocks and pebbles. The rivulet itself is quite deep in places, even close to the bank, and it wasn't long I had no choice to walk through the rivulet with water well above my knees. The entire time, I kept looking at both sides of the rivulet looking for opportunities I could walk on land, even if I had to do more bush bashing. Fortunately, there are sections where you can walk 50 or 100 metres forward before having to jump into the rivulet again. I would say, if I walked the entire trip in the water, it would have taken me hours. As it turned out, I finally got my first view of the waterfall in a little over 1 hour of hiking. Considering the distance is only 800 metres, even when you deduct the time wasted hiking in the wrong direction, the progress to the waterfall is very slow.

Just before you reach the waterfall, there are massive moss covered boulders, and very large fallen logs, covered in slime, that you have to climb over. This section of the hike is, in my opinion, the most dangerous. One slip, and you can be in a world of trouble. Memories of an injury that occured to one of our members in the Waterfalls of Tasmania Facebook group recently echoed through my mind. He broke his ankle badly at another waterfall in Northern Tasmania and had to be air lifted out. The large boulders and slimy logs on Evercreech Rivulet are a similar hazard.

Once I got through the final hurdle, the first view of the waterfall was amazing. This is a large waterfall, about 3 or 4 times larger than Evercreech Falls. It also has multiple tiers and is a lot wider. It's a hidden gem that offered a lot of reward for the challenges it brought. In many respects (and some would disagree with me on this), it's an absolute shame that a track wasn't forged to this gorgeous waterfall. Combine this waterfall with the Tall White gums near by, as well as Evercreech Falls, it could be a wonderful tourism destination for many to see. It really is a beautiful waterfall.

For now though, only experienced hikers should visit this waterfall. It's a challenging Grade 5 Walk with a lot of dangers to overcome.

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