In 1827 and 1828, the first Europeans to explore and summit Cradle Mountain were Joseph Fossey and Henry Hellyer, who were surveying for the Van Diemen's Land Company.

They established huts, including Du Cane and Pine Valley, and burned the land to encourage fresh growth and game.

Smith's son continued logging the area on private (but National Park adjacent) land from 1943 to the 1972, ending after significant public protest.

They began campaigning for the area from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair to be a national park, and set up a popular chalet the next year.

During this transition former trappers began building huts and guiding bushwalkers, including Paddy Hartnett, Weindorfer and Bob Quaile.

In 1931 fur trapper Bert Nichols blazed the Overland Track starting from Cradle Mountain and heading south to Lake St Clair.

It is a strenuous return hike from the Dove Lake car park with a recommended allotted time of six-and-a-half hours.

The area is covered in a variety of alpine and sub-alpine vegetation, including the colourful deciduous beech, itself an anomaly given that most Australian native flora is evergreen.

Bird species in the area include green rosellas, black currawongs, pink robins and Tasmanian scrubwrens, while peregrine falcons and wedge-tailed eagles nest on the mountains cliffs.

Although rarely acknowledged, the great majority of plants in Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park (and, indeed, in the world) form mutually beneficial mycorrhizal[19] relationships with fungi.

[citation needed] Several hundred species have already been recorded by field naturalists and interested individuals and can be found in the Atlas of Living Australia.

The Australian citizen-science organisation, Fungimap is documenting and mapping the distribution of fungi including those that occur in national parks.