Mount Montgomery (5km)

Rising above the farmland and townships of Tasmania 's central north-west coast, Mount Montgomery State Reserve sits on the northern edge of the Dial Range, a compact chain of peaks just south of Penguin. This is a small reserve, about 308 hectares, but it belongs to a much broader block of public land that gives the Dial Range its character: steep ridges above Bass Strait, bush-clad gullies and a surprisingly rugged skyline so close to the coast.

The wider Dial Range extends about 14 kilometres south towards the Leven River at Gunns Plains and covers roughly 5,200 hectares across several reserves and other public land. That larger setting matters because Mount Montgomery is not an isolated hill. It is part of a connected upland landscape bordered by cleared rural country, where native forest still follows the folds of the range. From around Penguin, Ulverstone and the coastal plain, the Dial Range reads as a distinct backdrop, and Mount Montgomery forms one of the most accessible northern high points in that system.

Geology is a big part of what makes this area feel different from many other short coastal-range walks in Tasmania. Across the Dial Range there is an unusual mix of volcanic rock, dolerite, conglomerate and sandstone, with old prospecting and mining relics still scattered through some parts of the range. Those rock types help shape the vegetation from slope to slope and gully to gully. Around Mount Montgomery, the forest is drier in character, with eucalypt woodland along Myrtle Creek, while elsewhere in the range the plant communities shift into stringybark and black peppermint forest on drier ground, and swamp gum, blackwood and wet sclerophyll forest in the damper gullies.

The reserve also sits within a broader landscape valued for both conservation and recreation. Because so much of the surrounding country has been cleared or developed, these forested hills act as an important refuge and corridor for native plants and animals on the north-west coast. At the same time, the Dial Range has long been used for bushwalking and other outdoor recreation, giving it a local importance that goes beyond its size. Mount Montgomery captures that combination neatly: a modest reserve with a strong sense of relief, geology and coastal context.