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Walls of Jerusalem

Christmas time in the wild

By Northern Adventures

Introduction

(sat Dec 22nd - Tue Dec 25th, 2018)

Part of the Tasmanian World Heritage Area, the Walls of Jerusalem National Park is one of the finest wilderness areas of the island. The mountains of the Walls of Jerusalem are spectacular enough it once took biblical names to describe them: Solomon's Throne, King David's Peak, Mt. Jerusalem, or the Temple.

With the neighbouring Cradle Mountain area the national park shares many of its characteristics – a series of craggy dolerite peaks that enclose a central basin with alpine tarns, pencil pine forests and open moorland. What sets the Walls of Jerusalem apart from Cradle Mountain is the lack of visitors - the only way in is on foot, with walking tracks approaching the Walls from several directions.

Having returned from South Coast Track to Hobart, we drove to northern Tasmania during a period of changeable weather, and seeing a promising sunny weather forecast over Christmas break we took our chances and set out on a 4-days long hiking trip across the national park. I've been aware of this area since my Overland track crossing couple of years ago, and also because the Walls were particularly recommended by my well-travelled cousin.

Walls of Jerusalem

How we went

(First part of the video is dedicated to South Coast Track.)

Day 1: From the car park to Solomons Jewels

As the Walls of Jerusalem is the only national park in Tasmania you can’t drive into, the walk in begins outside the park boundaries. We used the standard approach from Mole Creek following the Mersey River via an unsealed road east of Lake Rowallan to a small car park; a few days before Christmas the parking lot was almost full - about twenty cars were parked here under eucalyptus trees.

A good track started to climb directly from the car park past a registration booth, and continued quite steeply gaining 500 vertical meters or so to reach the Trappers Hut, a restored 1940s fur trapper’s hut.

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

The right-hand fork of the trail then led to Lake Adelaide, our planned return route, so we continued gently ascending for 20 to 30 minutes beyond Trappers Hut using the left fork.

The trees became thinner and stunted and the track then undulated across a wonderful landscape of rocky outcrops and small lakes, known as Solomon's Jewels.

The tarns were surrounded by stunted snow gum, pencil pine trees and colourful scoparia, a flowering prickly shrub of different colours which is endemic to Tasmania and which sublime beauty contributed significantly to the picturesque character of this remote place.

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

We hiked slowly across the beautiful Solomon's Jewels, finally coming to the sight of King Davids Peak, with its precipitous eastern face dropping abruptly to Herod's Gate.

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Preferring solitude to an official campsite, we found a small convenient camping spot just after crossing a small creek before the track drops to a marshy valley of Wild Dog Creek.

Here, we enjoyed a lovely peaceful evening, observing how the golden sunset light illuminated the tranquil surrounding landscape, contributing to its fairy-tale atmosphere.

Shortly after sunset, the temperature dropped significantly; no wonder given the altitude around 1200m. The night was peaceful and we felt privileged to have a chance to explore such a beautiful and unspoiled Tasmanian landscape.

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Day 2: From Solomon's Jewels to Dixon's Kingdom

It became overcast throughout the night and the morning was quite chilly. Hoping for better weather that was forecast, we set out on the trail soon, crossing the Wild Dog Creek valley towards Herod's Gate, the entrance to the Walls of Jerusalem.

Continuing southeast past a small lake, the track then contoured along slopes to the southwest of the beautiful Lake Salome.

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

On our right, high cliffs and boulder slopes came down from the summit of King David's Peak. The track then rose across a low ridge from where we first saw the mighty cliffs of the West Wall and King David's Peak.

We made a short detour to the beautiful tarn of Pool of Bethesda, and ascended for a while towards the prominent pass known as Damascus Gate.

Having left our backpacks in the pass, we used a constructed rock track to ascend the Temple (1446m), a viewpoint offering excellent views all over the Walls area.

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

It was quite windy at the top of the Temple, and we quickly retreated back to the mountain pass and descended through a wonderful grove of pencil pines that extended all the way down to the old Dixon’s Kingdom hut.

Then, having pitched a tent on a wooden platform located on a meadow near the trail to Mt. Jerusalem, we returned back to Damascus Gate to climb Solomon's Throne, another viewpoint providing commanding views over the central plateau.

(The order of the viewpoints was chosen considering the sunlight direction.)

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

On the top of Solomon's Throne, we took our ways temporarily apart. Lenka returned to Dixon's Kingdom to relax whereas I opted for a more adventurous rambling to King David's peak, following a sparsely-marked trail overgrown in places and with some decent bouldering.

It took me an hour or so to reach the viewpoint to get yet another marvellous view of the Walls area, with Lake Salomon located a few hundreds meters just below the peak's cliffs.

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

The return journey to Dixon's Kingdom followed, and I was quite happy to reach the tranquil area late in the afternoon, looking forward to another beautiful evening given the cloudless skies.

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Indeed, the evening at Dixon's Kingdom was truly beautiful, especially during the golden hour light with the flowering scoparia scrub.

Dinner, tea, coffee, ... and then quickly into our sleeping bags as the temperature dropped swiftly again right after the sunset.

During the night, I had to get up several times to protect our garbage bag against "attacks" of a courageous possum who was not afraid to steal it from below our tent. Even a more interesting encounter accompanied by strange sounds happened when a quoll tried what possum did despite the fact that I tightly secured the garbage bag on a washing line tied high between tree branches. A funny night indeed! :-)

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Day 3: Mt. Jerusalem, and from Dixon's Kingdom to Lake Adelaide

Walls of Jerusalem

We woke into blue-skies morning and having eaten our breakfast we quickly set out on the trail towards Mt. Jerusalem, leaving our backpacks in the campsite.

The route headed north from Dixon’s Kingdom, rising beside grassy pencil pine forest to Jaffa Gate.

The trail then swung east and climbed onto the southern shoulder of Mt. Jerusalem, from where we ascended using a rocky track northeast to the summit (1459m). The vast extent and character of the Central Plateau can be seen from here - tens of kilometres of bushland formed by extensive bush fires that wiped out original pine forests.

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Having returned to the campsite, we packed our tent and left Dixon's Kingdom in the southwest direction towards Lake Ball.

There was no formed track between Dixon’s Kingdom and the eastern end of Lake Ball, though a visible footpath worn out by previous wanderers followed the edge of the forest down to the lake (this is apparently going to be changed, with a walking track being suggested to connect both the places - remark valid as of December 2019).

Navigating the course down through Jaffa Vale was quite easy, maybe with the exception of the forest crossing in the lower part of the journey where it made sense to keep the straight direction and avoid entering dense woods (and gaining unnecessary altitude).

Crossing the occasionally swampy flat ground at the east end of Lake Ball was the last mile of the unmarked hike since a pole set on a prominent hummock here indicated the beginning of the marked albeit a bit overgrown trail west around Lake Ball.

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

After a short rest at the beautiful lake, we entered an old myrtle forest and soon reached the wooden Lake Ball hut, another old trappers’ hut.

Towards the western end of the lake, views across the water opened out and the route then crossed low-lying flat ground with some interesting green-moss sections to finally reach a small saddle.

The track then descended steeply through eucalyptus forest to meet the Junction Lake Track on the shore of Lake Adelaide. There we found some good flat camping spots located west from the main track close to the lake's shore.

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

The evening at Lake Adelaide was peaceful and warm, even with a short swim we enjoyed in its clear waters.

Dinner, tea, coffee, golden hour light... there is no need to repeat we were once more lucky with the weather, for the third consecutive day on the trail.

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Day 4: From Lake Adelaide back to the car park

We got up early knowing there is a rather long and a bit boring section of the track to Trapper's Hut ahead of us. We then tried our best to keep a constant pace following the rough track north from Lake Adelaide through a series of broad treeless valleys.

The going was muddy in places and there was one tricky section near the top of the saddle where a side trail was turning to the west, however one needs to keep the straight direction here following a less visible and sometimes overgrown footpath.

After two or three hours of walking we finally reached the track junction just above the Trappers Hut and subsequently descended back to the car park. Being the 25th of December, we met a few hikers going in the opposite direction carrying a Santa hat, funny encounters indeed :-).

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Walls of Jerusalem

Afterword

A rather small and secluded national park, the Walls of Jerusalem is a destination still off the beaten path, suitable for a shorter trip with a few overnight stays. The footpaths in the park are well maintained, however more advanced routing options (e.g. Zion Gate and Zion Vale) require gaiters since some of the less frequented tracks are overgrown by dense scrub.

We took the trip easy; our daily portions were just around 10 kilometres per day. The less we hiked with backpacks on our shoulders, the more we enjoyed the landscape given the sunny weather that was of a constant bliss throughout the trip.

With the altitude above 1000m, the landscape here is naturally different than in coastal areas of Tasmania; plants, trees and flowering scrub are all of a sublime beauty, especially during the blossom period of scoparia.

For those aiming to beat Overland Track crowds and/or possessing less time for exploring Tasmania's interior, the Walls of Jerusalem may be a really nice bet. In any case, though, the weather remains the ruler here as is also true for other Tasmanian wilderness areas.

Footnotes

All images are exclusive property and may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, manipulated or used in any way without permission of the author.

FootNotes

All images are exclusive property and may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, manipulated or used in any way without permission of the author.

© 2026 Northern Adventures

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