https://www.strava.com/activities/1555007027
https://www.strava.com/activities/1555006926
Despite it being the May day long weekend I only had 2 days available to get away hiking. Jane was pretty keen for a camping weekend so it was a pretty easy nudge to make it an overnight hike. Jane wasn't new to bush walking and has even done some amazing multiday hikes packing her gear in places like the Amazon in Bolivia. That said she didn't really own much in the way of hiking gear herself but luckily I had plenty of spares from changes/lessons over my many hikes.
I'm not sure why, but talking gear is sometimes almost as exciting as using it. It feels nice to be able to help guide and make suggestions about pack size and weights, what tents are good and features to look for. The differences in trade off for materials (down/synthetic) or weigh vs warmth.
Wet got out packs together and they were both fairly light, despite having most of my slightly heavier gear there were a few pieces of my favourite gear. Tent and warmest sleeping bag amongst them.
The drive out was smooth sailing. Middle of the long weekend so most people are already well established at their camps. The last 30min is along a 4wd access road up to cleared ridge which is a fun, albeit easy, 4wd trail. Once up the top there were a few other people gearing up for a day hike to the Upper Portals, we planned to hit there early morning day 2.
We set off down the fire trail and we eventually broke away from the Portals trail and soon turned up hill. Well we should have turned a little later because despite turning at the 'Old fence remains' we undershot the actual trail by about 50m. Still it was a nice little off peak trail and Janes' leggings were worth it.
After a short break for smoko... and to try remove some coblers pegs and seeds we set off again. It wasn't the most scenic trail, with decent bush blocking most views, but every now and then was a good glimpse of Barney, Maroon or other mountains.
An hour or so later we reached the Montserrat (pronounced, if you ask me, as Monster Rat) lookout site which was bare rock forcing a gap in he trees. Great views of Mt Barney off to the east. Camp for the night was only 50m beyond which we reached just past 12. After a good lunch and a brief chat to another pair of hikers (pushing on to another camp) we set off for a little exploration.
The next peak nearby, roughly as high as Montserrat, is unnamed but was covered in more subtropical rainforest. Getting to the peak involved pushing past many spikey plants and vines, but the only thing that gave me pause was a big gympie gympie bush. My hand came within a hundred or so millimeters from striking it. For those that haven't done much hiking in Australian bush, it is covered in small hairs that deliver a pretty powerful neurotoxin. Hydrochloric acid, to burn away the plant residue, is the recommended 'cure.'
Despite the not so amazing Flora it was a pretty beautiful little patch on the hill. On the way back we went on a slight, and unplanned, scenic tour. Following the ridge line it started to get a little too steep and we had already gone as far as I thought the saddle was so I checked the Compass and GPS and we had to veer off to the left back to camp.
Wind was pretty strong and very cold. I had lent my tent to Jane for the night and I had my hiking tarp to pitch. Wind couldn't quite decide which way it wanted to blow but I set a simple A-frame which at least cut out the bulk of it. We also managed to narrowly escape a quick (and light) shower by throwing our packs under the 1/2 setup tarp. While standing around camp (and the lookout) I may, or may not, have strategically placed myself (hid) behind Jane so she could block the wind. If this happend, not admitting anything, it would have only been because she had the much fancier wind jacket...
After watching the last light hit Mt Barney and the sun quickly disappear behind the mountains on the horizon we retreated back to camp. Made dinner pretty early (around 5:40) as neither of us had a big lunch and then went back to the lookout to check out the stars. Stars were really beautiful and you could also make out the lights of Boonah and random campers/houses spotted around. We didn't last too long out there exposed though as the wind was cutting and temperature was dropping fast.
Safely in the warmth of my sleeping bag (9°c comfort) it was bed time around 8pm. I slept pretty well, possibly even a little warm. Anytime my head managed to pop out from inside the sleeping bag though I was greeted by a blast of arctic winds waking me up pretty quickly and forcing me to retreat back into the bag. It wasn't too bad and I got a pretty good sleep but it didn't seem like ling before the alarms were going off too warn us of the impending sunrise.
You have to be in the dead of Summer (at a dry camp no less) to get the Sun rising over Mt Barney. I imagine it would be a hot trek up that hill and you'd need a pretty decent water carry for safety. As it was I would have been fine with just under 3lt from Cleared Ridge. So for us the sun was a bit further to the north, but with some good cloud placement the sun did give us some great colours. Lighting up the sky bright orange and red.
After breakfast and a casual packup (waiting for tent to dry) we started off downhill towards upper portals. It was nice grass covering the mountain side but a relatively easy to follow trail cutting through it so you could avoid most coblers pegs but still picked up a few hitchhiker seeds. Nice granite stone outcrops and fallen trees provided good features on the way down as well.
We hit the creek and bumped into the hikers that passed us yesterday afternoon. They made it here last night and were just setting off to explore a little up stream. We headed off to see the Upper Portals, rock hopping for a little before leaving our packs to continue on.
I live the river carved rock formations and pools created, maybe even a little more than the waterfalls themselves. Despite it still being a little on the cool side, and the water feeling as if it had come straight from the fridge itself, we both went for a quick dip. With the promise of a free lunch Jane even repeatedly dunked her head under a small waterfall. At least I knew my hair would dry pretty quickly when I went under in the swimming hole...
The planned route out was over another ridge line however looking at the overgrown ridge, full of dense ferns and even more dense coblers pegs, we took the more travelled path and followed the main Upper Portals trail back to the car. Making pretty good time we didn't eat our packed lunches instead choosing to stop off at the Rathdowney pub for a counter meal, beer for me and a 'Fancy' wine (which came from a box) for Jane. That's about as fancy as you can get for a Shiraz in a country pub.
After a great (and very filling meal) we were off home. I expected some bad traffic, with everyone heading home from the long weekend, but beside a slight delay at Jimboomba it was pretty smooth sailing and we were home with enough time to sort out camping gear and start thinking about the next adventure!
