“There’s no doubt my heart rate jumped a little as I realised the exposure was getting to a point slightly outside my comfort zone. One wrong step at this point could see me tumbling down the cliff-face as I eyeballed Lake Geeves six hundred metres below.”
Federation Peak | Rugged and Remote
I remember vividly the awe I felt when I first witnessed the shark-tooth shaped behemoth that is Federation Peak while standing on another incredible peak in the Southwest region of Tasmania, Mt Anne. The whole Western and Eastern Arthurs Ranges are visible from Mt Anne in clear weather, with Federation Peak an exclamation point as it rises up showing off the sheer size of its quartzite cliffs.
I knew then I wanted to summit, and the wheels began turning on a plan to do so during a short weather window in December of 2024. The story of my two-day mission to Federation Peak is told below, as a near miss almost forced me to turn around only a few hundred metres below the summit.
Day 1 – Farmhouse Creek to Cutting Camp
Day 1 Strava GPX File (total elapsed time: 8 hours 20 minutes)
Up the creek and over the saddle
I set off from Hobart on a cool early summer morning with a sense of anticipation of what was to come. I’d researched thoroughly on what to expect on a mission to Federation Peak, and the descriptions I’d read of Moss Ridge and the final push to the summit left me with a certain feeling of trepidation about the challenges I might face. There’s no doubt these potential challenges add a level of excitement to any adventure however, with my mood matching the glorious sunny day outside as I rolled down the highway.
Knowing of the road closure 8km from the actual trailhead at Farmhouse Creek, I decided to bring my bike along so I could knock-off that section a bit faster and save my legs. Unfortunately, my bike (and its 23mm tyres) isn’t exactly designed for the rocky fire road that I was greeted with, and around 4km and two flat tyres later I had to give up on the idea and continued on foot.
About 40 minutes after setting off from my car I crossed Farmhouse Creek to reach the Eastern Arthurs Traverse trailhead… well I didn’t actually come across the trailhead until over an hour after leaving my car as after crossing the creek I walked in the wrong direction up an old fire track for 15 minutes before realising my mistake 😂 (see the GPX file for confirmation!).
Eventually I was back on track and enjoying the gorgeous trail that meanders along the southern side of Farmhouse Creek. A friendly echidna appeared, and I took this as a good omen for completing the two-day mission. The track here is easy to follow and wasn’t too muddy (relatively speaking!) as it slowly climbs towards Scotts Saddle.
After around 4.5kms the trail crosses Farmhouse Creek and the Southwest region’s notorious knee-deep swampy sections start to become much more prevalent. As I climbed to the saddle, I was constantly playing a game of ‘how deep is that mud?’ and by the time I topped out at 520m (with my legs, gaiters and shoes now completely covered in mud) I had concluded that the deepest mud-pits were always the ones that looked the least intimidating.
Gorgeous temperate rainforest starts to take over as you ascend onto Scotts Saddle, with the sheer amount of fallen trees and tree root systems covering the track, combining with the mud pits, to make the walking very technical and rather slow. The trail became slightly harder to follow in sections on top of the saddle, with the guiding pink tape fairly well spaced out and the terrain really opening up.
I was starting to gain an appreciation of how few people head out into this area of the Southwest National Park as there really wasn’t a well-defined boot track to follow. A few quick glances at the map to get my bearings, and I was back on-track and heading down off the saddle.
It had taken me around three hours to get to this point, which I was slightly concerned about as I hadn’t been dawdling and knew that I had limited daylight hours to make Cutting Camp. I knew the hardest climbing of the day was behind me so I felt good that the rest of the day’s hike would be smooth sailing and relatively easy (and had my fingers crossed the trail would open up and become less muddy and technical!).
Safe to say it wasn’t anywhere near as easy as I had predicted. Off the saddle and out of the forest, I was greeted by my first view of the stunning Federation Peak as I entered the button grass plains which dominate this section of the track. Towering over the valley, ‘Fedders’ really does radiate a special kind of energy (even from a distance), and my stoke levels definitely spiked due to its presence.
Unfortunately, while the track did somewhat open up (after a particularly heinous section of deep and unforgiving swamp interspersed with bush-bashing through sections of sharp pandani trees and bush grass), it was still very muddy and now I was exposed to the sun, so the temperature had risen substantially.
The plains aren’t pancake flat either, with gentle undulations continuing as the trail finds its way across spurs and in and out of gullies. There is one section where you drop into a gully that features a mystical lush rainforest and a small stream – a real contrast from the barren terrain either side and a nice break from the hot sun. The diversity of the scenery on this hike is truly second-to-none and the reward to effort ratio is certainly very high.
Into Cutting Camp
I was pretty keen to make camp before nightfall so charged on across the plains and around 5km from the bottom of Scotts Saddle reached the Cracroft River with its serene tannin-stained water. From here, the trail follows the river west for a couple of kilometres, before turning south up Cherry Creek for 500m to get to Cutting Camp (there are quite a few nice flat clearings next to the Cracroft River in this section which would be great for campsites as well).
After 21kms of unrelenting mud, tree hopping and hot sun I was very happy to be able to throw my pack off and have a quick dip in the freezing cold creek before setting up camp just as the light faded. It had been a big day with hardly any breaks, so I was pretty shattered, but so incredibly keen to begin the next phase of the adventure.
The first challenge of the next day (the infamous Moss Ridge) was front of mind as I tucked into my sleeping bag and went to sleep, sore but satisfied and ready for another big day (at the time I didn’t realise that big was an understatement! As you’ll find out as the journey continues below).
Day 2 – Cutting Camp to Federation Peak, then out to Farmhouse Creek
Day 2 Strava GPX File (total elapsed time: 14 hours 53 minutes)
The infamous Moss Ridge
I knew as soon as I got up at first light that the day was going to be another stunner. The Cutting Campsite is really beautiful with several flat camping areas tucked next to the creek, and it’s really well protected from the wind so I had a very peaceful night with the only sound being the water bubbling down the creek.
My plan was to pack down camp and just take a day pack with enough supplies for the Moss Ridge and Federation Peak summit push, leaving my hiking pack and the rest of my gear at Cutting Camp to collect on the way back through. I managed to hit the trail just before 6am, which, thanks to hindsight, ended up being slightly later than I should have (but more on that shortly).
The first challenge for the day was getting up Moss Ridge, which I knew had a reputation for being extremely arduous due to the steep, slippery and overgrown nature of the trail. It definitely lived up to its reputation as I worked up a sweat navigating the jungle of trees, both fallen and simply growing over the track. I’m not gonna lie it was hard work, but a lot of the time it felt like I was a kid again playing in the playground at school – climbing, swinging, jumping, crawling – whatever it took to keep moving upwards.
There were some sections where the track seemed to reach an impasse at a bank or small cliff, and I would immediately second guess if was on the right trail. However, a quick look upwards would generally reveal some handholds in the form of exposed tree roots or rocky ledges which I could use to pull myself up and onto the next section.
I found one of the most challenging parts of Moss Ridge was the fact that once you reach the first high point at 725m, there’s actually several down hike/climb sections where you drop 10-20m before ascending again. It’s all very technical hiking and absolutely slow going (I was charging, and it still took me around an hour to complete the 3km from Cutting Camp to Bechervaise Plateau Camp). Overall, I really enjoyed the change up from the previous day’s somewhat repetitive slog across the plains, but I’ve got no doubt doing Moss Ridge with a full hiking pack would be a whole different story and kudos to anybody who has done it!
Once you top out on Moss Ridge, the hiking (thankfully) opens up quite a bit and I was stoked to reach the Bechervaise Plateau Camp which has a bunch of tent platforms and one of the most spectacularly positioned open air drop toilets I have ever seen – nothing quite like a poo with a view! I would highly recommend a night or two at this campsite as the views are incredible and there’s something special about its location right in the shadow of Federation Peak.
The Southern Traverse
After a quick chat with a group who was completing the Eastern Arthurs Traverse and had stayed at the campsite overnight, I pushed on knowing the summit was in reach. The route from Bechervaise Plateau to the start of the Federation Peak Direct Ascent route follows what’s known as the Southern Traverse which connects the Bechervaise and Thwaites Plateaus. It begins with a gnarly little zigzag scramble up a 50m high cliff where the only point of contact for feet and hands are little ledges covered in mud or roots.
It was at this point I once again thanked the weather gods as the day had turned out to be clear with very little wind, making this slightly peaky section a lot more palatable. This section is only a taster of what’s to come as the track reaches a high-point before basically disappearing down a near-vertical gully which starts as a slot in between two large cliffs.
After (carefully) descending this gully the track veers to the right and up another steep gully – known as Chockstone Gully due to the massive boulder that sits precariously wedged between the two sides of the gully about halfway up. Before I knew it, I was directly under the southwest cliffs of Federation Peak with the views down to Lake Geeves hundreds of metres below absolutely incredible.
The Final Ascent: Part 1
Knowing that the views were only going to get better as a climbed, I began to scramble up what I thought was the Direct Ascent route (the lowest grade line to the summit and generally doable without ropes). I had several descriptions of the route available, as well as an image of the route, so I felt relatively good about following the rock cairns and not going off course. There seemed to be an obvious series of rock ledges and corners heading back towards the east which looked like a path of least resistance, so I pushed on in this direction.
Everything was going fine until the ledges started to get smaller and the rock face in front of me started to get steeper to the point where I was unable to find a safe way up. As with any rock scrambling, often you can find an easier line by traversing around which is what I decided to do, continuing to the east. Within metres I found myself on a tiny ledge with only the front half of each foot able to stand on the rock, with the cliff-face dropping away below.
There’s no doubt my heart rate jumped a little at this point as I realised the exposure was getting to a point slightly outside my comfort zone. One wrong step at this point could see me tumbling down the cliff-face as I eyeballed Lake Geeves six hundred metres below. I could see a potential line up the cliff about 3 metres further out to my right, but accessing it meant an extremely precarious and balancey tip-toe out along a very narrow ledge.
I thought this may have been the famous ledge referred to in descriptions of the Direct Ascent – it actually fit the bill quite well. However, some of the descriptions said that if you ever feel uncomfortable and like you’re entering the realms of low-grade rock climbing, you’re definitely off course, so I decided to head back to the west and try an alternative route.
By this stage I had spent around 30 minutes going back and forth along the cliff looking for where the Direct Ascent route continued up. I knew I still had a 10 hour plus long hike back to my car, so time was starting to become an issue if I didn’t want to still be out after dark. I decided to concede defeat and head back down, which was a bit of a bummer after coming so far, but I knew the consequences of taking risks in that environment could be severe and there would always be another opportunity to reach the summit in the future.
The Final Ascent: Part 2
As I returned to where the Southern Traverse meets the Direct Ascent, I noticed a large pile of rocks around 20m above the junction, which I assumed was there to mark the route towards the east that I couldn’t figure out. It was then that I noticed a small cairn out to the west leading around an arete and into what looked like a corner with a reasonable line up the rock. I had to straddle a piece of the rock and shimmy my way onto the ledge which gave access to the cairn, but once I reached it, I noticed a couple more cairns further up the corner – I had found the Direct Ascent route!
It turns out the big pile of rocks was there as a barrier to stop people from continuing to the east. The route takes a sharp turn left (to the west) at this point and with the slightly tricky move needed to gain the next ledge, as well as the seemingly nice line to the east, it’s easy to miss this turn.
Safe to say I was pretty stoked to be back on track, and it honestly felt like I flew up the last part of the climb. I found ‘the ledge’ section to be extremely cool as the view down to Lake Geeves is awesome. It would certainly be an interesting experience if there were any wind or moisture around, that’s for sure!
Once over the ledge, the final section is super cruisy scrambling and actually flattens out for a while before reaching the final 20m or so of climbing up the summit ridgeline.
Federation Peak Summit
Three hours and twenty minutes after setting off from Cutting Camp I was standing on the summit of Federation Peak. I was pretty elated to have conquered the mountain, especially after essentially calling it quits and turning back when I lost the Direct Ascent route.
The day had turned out to be an absolute belter with clear skies and hardly a breath of wind. I took a moment just to take it all in, eat and drink, and sign the summit logbook which was tucked away underneath the large pile of rocks marking the summit.
After a quick wander around the summit plateau to check out the views from different vantage points and take a few photos, I decided to start the descent as I knew time, and daylight, were getting away from me. It was approximately 9.30am when I started to head down, giving me about eleven hours of daylight to retrace my steps and return to my car.
Back the way I came
I made good time back down to the Bechervaise Plateau, a definite spring in my step as I descended the Direct Ascent route and Chockstone Gully, before climbing back up Geeves gully. My day pack was considerably lighter by this stage, so I was able to maneuver through any technical sections with ease. About halfway down Moss Ridge, I passed the group I had spoken to at the Bechervaise Plateau Campsite who were, unsurprisingly, battling with the challenge of descending with full multi-day hiking packs.
It was midday by the time I got back to Cutting Camp – it had taken over six hours to summit and return over a distance of only 9kms covered (talk about a slog!). I had another quick bite to eat at the camp, before chucking on my hiking pack and starting off back towards the Cracroft River knowing I had 25kms of technical and muddy trail ahead of me.
Without the excitement of the peak on the horizon, the hike across the button grass plains was definitely more laborious in this direction and fatigue was starting to become an issue. Due to time constraints, I hiked essentially non-stop from Cutting Camp to the base of Scotts Saddle. My whole body was starting to complain about the strain, and I was really starting to feel the effects of the constant up-and-down of Moss Ridge and the Southern Traverse through my legs and feet.
If I had enough supplies (and a way to contact my partner who was expecting me back that night – no phone reception along the plains) I probably would have made the decision to camp at the South Cracroft Campsite (around halfway between Cutting Camp and the car park) for the night and walk out the next day. But in this case, I begrudgingly shuffled on and suffered my way up and over Scotts Saddle and down to where the track meets Farmhouse Creek.
By this time I was absolutely exhausted. It was around 6pm and I still had around 12kms of hiking to go. Even though I knew it was much easier hiking from that point, the trail still had countless muddy pits to navigate, and my whole body was aching and screaming out for a rest. The worst part was probably the general fatigue I was feeling due to dehydration and from not eating enough. I tried to get some protein and fats in by eating peanut butter straight from the squeezy tube as I hiked which seemed to help a little bit.
After what seemed like an eternity trudging along next to Farmhouse Creek, I very happily reached the trailhead. However, my joy quickly dissipated as I started the 8km hike along the fire track back to my car, with my sour mood compounded by the fact I had to collect my wounded bike and push it along the final rocky 4kms. At one point I let out a primal roar as I hiked up a small rise, my legs and feet at their absolute limit and close to collapsing from exhaustion.
Words cannot express how happy I was to see my car in the distance as I reached the car park. The sun had set as I trudged through the final few kms so there was hardly any daylight left. It had been almost fifteen hours since I left Cutting Camp that morning and I had covered 34kms and 1,300m of elevation. It was comfortably my toughest ever day of hiking and no doubt an experience that will live with me forever.
Federation Peak – Final thoughts
It took me at least a week to fully recover from my mission up Federation Peak. I was a shell of a human when I got home and had cuts and scratches all over my thighs and arms from bashing through the bush grass and overhanging tree branches. What an amazing adventure though! The hiking is tough and technical in an incredibly remote and wild area where even just making it to the base of Federation Peak is an achievement. I’m incredibly privileged to have had the opportunity to stand on top of such a famous landmark of Tasmania and would encourage any keen multi-day hikers to give it a go – you won’t regret it!
On reflection I think with the extra 16kms of fire track hiking, even a three-day Federation Peak from Farmhouse Creek trip would be very challenging and four days would probably be ideal so you’re not having to push too hard and have time to enjoy the experience. In saying that, I would absolutely have another crack at a two-day adventure and have already started making plans to knock out a single-day summit mission for summer 2025/2026 (hopefully the road is reopened and the weather gods are smiling!).
