I have a bushwalking friend, Lou, who always refers to Dick Smith as Tricky Dicky, and when he talks about Frenchman’s Cap, he gives credit where credit is due and acknowledges that Dick paid big bucks to National Parks to put in a track so that the Sodden Loddens were no longer the curse of bushwalkers around the world.
I’d long wanted to do this walk, particularly as it was The Walk according to Lou who wants his ashes spread on Frenchman’s Cap when he dies. So, here we were, Wendy A, Len S, and Theo N at the start of the walk. For our Tasmanian walks this year we took a pic in front of the National Parks sign, sort of to prove we were there. 
I wont give you details of the walk (which is all on track), it’s all over the Net and everyone’s been there, but here are a few of the highlights from my perspective.
The first thing we noticed when we walked the short distance down to the Swing Bridge over the Franklin River was that the bloody River had heaps of water in it, looked fine to us, why had they cancelled our Rafting Trip? After the swing bridge, there is a bit of a section that Dick could put some money into, old logs that are starting to break up and a few muddy spots. We eventually started descending into the valley and got a view of Frenchman’s Cap, and it was impressive.
Soon we were at the Lodden River and another swing bridge, there are campsites there if you want to break the trip up but we were on a mission and continued on.
We finally came to a spot where Len said “we went that way before across the Sodden Loddens”, but now the track swung to the right and up into some hills and avoided that whole muddy stretch. Whilst it was good to miss the mud, this has had a bit of a negative effect IMO. Before, visitation to Frenchman’s wasn’t all that much because you had to cross the Sodden Loddens and who wants to walk through mud. BUT now that the track by-passes it, everyone and their mother wants to do the walk. Consequently, the huts are getting smashed, heaps and heaps of people. Tricky Dicky probably wouldn’t have seen that coming!
Back on the track, the new, graded section was fantastic, we actually saw some National Parks workers putting in the infrastructure and it was impressive, they’ve used some of the techniques for the tracks in NZ so I expect this track will be in place for many years to come.
Eventually you arrive at the plain before Vera Hut, here again there are some muddy
spots due to the wood that used to be there breaking up (am sure this will be rectified in due course). By now you’re over walking and this section is a little tedious but then you start going down and losing elevation on the way to Lake Vera Hut. The first indication that you’re almost there is passing the toilet on the right!
We were all happy to get to the hut, it had been a long walk, it should only take 6 hours but I’m sure it took us 7 because it was a really hot day. Len, who had done the walk before swore blind that the new track had added kilometres onto the trip and that it was longer than before. I’m not sure, but I was ambivalent about not having to wade through the Sodden Loddens, I sort of feel that I’ve missed out on this Classic Trip, now that anyone can do it!
The hut was nice, there was a spot to take a bath down on the stream from Lake Vera, we were in bed early in preparation for tomorrow’s walk up to the next hut. There were a couple of backpackers who mentioned “bed bugs” and said that there were some both here and at Lake Tahune. Now, I’ve heard of some experiences of bed bugs, my grand-daughter had to move house because she couldn’t get rid of them after a trip to Europe. So, the first thing I did was get out my head torch and sweep up underneath the mattresses (lot of good that would have done!) However I did sleep easier.
Next morning we were up bright and early and set off, it was all up hill to Baron Pass, and the track wasn’t great. A lot of roots to step over and endless up hill sections. There were a lot of steps to get us up particularly high bits. These steps were made out of a log which had had steps cut into them, Len called them Totem Poles and they were a bit like that. We stopped at Baron Pass to regroup and take in the scenery and then it was on to Lake Tahune (and the hut). Again, this took longer than expected, maybe we were tired, but eventually we arrived at the hut and set ourselves up.
Len had had enough, and after all he’d been up to the top of Frenchman’s before and didn’t feel he had to do it again. We all decided that, as the weather was good, that we’d summit the Cap straight away, so we put together some stuff in day packs and set off. The track is fairly straight forward up to the saddle and then you have to look for markers for the track (usually cairns), to make 
your way up. It zig zags back and forth, there are views galore and a few tricky little climbs but eventually when you least expect it you are on the top.
I remember Brenda (who we met up with in Tassie on a couple of walks) telling me that the walk up to Frenchman’s Cap was the best day’s bushwalking that she’d ever had, and I tend to agree. I’d go back to the Cap in a heartbeat. The views are amazing.
We had carried up to the top some treats to celebrate, not much but something to acknowledge that fact that we’d made it. We stayed up there for as long as we could and 
then made out way back down, it sure was a lot easier going down than up. It was surprising how quickly that we made it to the top and then back down to the bottom to the hut.
Wendy and I took a shower out on the helipad after our big day of walking. We both agreed that the bathroom with a view was the best in Australia, we could see for hundreds of ks as we were there stark naked having our shower! Life doesn’t get much better than that.
And so, all that remained was for us to walk back down to Lake Tahune (and for me to do my cleaning up for potential bed bug de-infestation). Next day we walked back down to Lake Vera (in mist and drizzle), more bed bud de-infestation and then walk out on day four. For anyone going in the future, whilst some young guns were walking from the highway right through to Lake Tahune in one day, that’s madness! I’d set aside five days for the trip to really enjoy it and to have one day up your sleeve in case you got to Tahune and the weather was shit. Then, you’d just stay there until it cleared the next day (God willing). One of those trips that you really need to keep an eye on the weather!