New vistas open up in Killarney Park

HIDDEN gems continue to be unveiled in Killarney National Park.

Local people, as well as tourists, have been making the most of the prolonged fine spell to walk in the great outdoors and they are not being disappointed.

One of the best ‘new’ walks is that from the entrance to Dinis all the way to Torc. This walk is on elevated ground beside a section of the Kenmare road and has opened up superb panoramas of the middle and lower lakes.

Many areas of the National Park are overgrown by rhododendron, but a clearance programme has been going on for about 30 years As the prolific rhododendron is being removed, new vistas are being exposed all the time. For instance, there’s a new path to a largely unknown waterfall below Derrycunnihy. This is all part of a clearance programme in the Tower Wood. The waterfall is about half the size of the more famous one at Torc and is well worth seeing.

Interestingly, salmon and trout are again spawning in the river flowing through the area — all of which has been happening since the rhododendron has been removed.

The new riverside walk leading to the waterfall in this accessible area will include three new footbridges. The walk should take no more than 30 minutes to complete and will be a welcome new feature in the park. There are also plans to restore the old Tower Lodge.

At this time of year, the great oak and yew woods in the National Park — the biggest of six such parks in the country — really come into their own. A walk around Ladies’ View and along a section of the old Kenmare road, the other evening, revealed a greening woodland just putting on its early summer coat.

Killarney has the most extensive remaining areas of natural, or semi-natural, woodland in Ireland, nearly all of which stand within the boundaries of the National Park. While most of the woods are dominated by the majestic oaks, there are also yew, birch and holly trees in abundance.

Extensive wet woodlands, between Lough Lein and Muckross Lake, consist mainly of alder trees. Sections of these woodlands were threatened by gorse fires which raged on the mountains close to the National Park, in recent weeks. Luckily, firefighters managed to get the fires under control before they reached the woodlands. Wildlife habitat, however, was damaged by fires which came at a bad time as the bird nesting season is well underway.

The mountains are, of course, an integral part of the park, with the MacGillycuddy Reeks towering over the landscape. Fine weather and the coming of summer lure many people to the hills. It’s much more pleasant to take to the hills when the days are warmer, longer and, hopefully, drier. The views from the mountains are also better, especially when the air is clearest during April and May. Carrantuohill is the perennial favourite.

A welcome new facility has recently been opened for hill walkers at the base of Carrantuohill. Cronin’s Yard, in Lislibane, is the established starting point for most people going onto the mountain. Ms Eileen Cronin and her late husband, Joe, were always known as warm, hospitable people with plenty of good advice to offer to novice mountaineers.

In times past and well before the advent of mobile phones and other new-fangled technology, their home used to be base camp for the Kerry Mountain Rescue Team.

Now, their son, John Cronin, has opened a much-needed facility in Cronin’s Yard which offers food, refreshments, showers and changing facilities for mountaineers and hill walkers.

Mr Cronin is extremely knowledgeable about the Reeks and people can learn a lot from him. From now on, more people will be making the ascent of the Devil’s Ladder on their way to the peak of Carrantuohill. A rule-of-thumb well worth heeding, according to the mountain rescue team, is to stick to well-worn paths.

Trouble often awaits the inexperienced who wander off and try to take on treacherous steep slopes and narrow ridges.