Sunday 23 August 2020

Hiking - 2020 08 - Stinson Crash (O'Reilly's to Christmas Creek)

The morning started with a few long drives. First to get a car to the end of the walk, the furthermost point of Christmas Creek Road, Lamington. Second to drive my hiking buddy and I all the way around the mountain and up to the Green Mountain section of Lamington NP. Better known as 'O'Reilly's'.  

We left just after 7am and were up the top at just before 12. We had lunch at the cafe there, options were a bit limited... should have just got a pie... Ham and Cheese Croissant plus a shared bowl of wedges was pretty filling though.  


About 1245 we finally set off on the walk! The first 9 ish km are on a pretty well maintained section of trails. Very well maintained Border Track for 5km then another 4 on the Albert River circuit getting us to Echo Point and a great view of Mt Warning. Really clear day today with views extending past Mt Warning and over the ocean   

After Echo Point it does go onto more remote trails. Fairly well used though so well worn and easy to follow. When I expressed that thought I got an "Uggh, really?" So maybe my expectations for trails is a little too forgiving...  

It was very well marked as well, you couldn't go 5m without seeing another piece of flagging tape. Quite a few pieces fell on the ground, I only grabbed a few. It was also funny to see the ones with 4 different types of flagging, on the same little tree. As if the fluro orange already on the tree needed the help of yellow and pink too...  

Just after 4pm we came across the sign for Rat-a-Tat, a welcome sign as the woods start getting dark around 5... We took the turn off and went the 50m down hill to a nice, big (ish), flat site for camp. A nice flowing stream only meters away made water collection easy as well.  


Setup with more than enough light but then had to bring out the head lamps for dinner. Sadly one was dead on arrival with no spare batteries. Made do with just mine and phone lights as required. Without torch light we could look up through the small gaps in the canopy and see that there was an amazing clear night sky. After dinner, and a few sneaky MnM's for dessert, we brushed our teeth and turned in for the night.

It was a very relaxing morning pack.So much so that when we were still nice and warm in our bags, just past 7am, we heard a group of eager hikers (I had learned were doing the same trail as a 1 day adventure) hike past the Rat-a-tat turn off. After a little more snooze time and a leisurely breakfast we finally broke camp around 915am. Straight into an uphill stretch. The track was still well/not-well defined (depending on your view point) but then amount of flagging has certainly dropped off. 

I started picking up all the old flagging tape that had fallen to the ground. Feels like there's more flag waving here than at a parade... 

Despite the easy to follow trail it was a little over grown for some of it. Quite a bit of Wait-a-while vine to cause snags as we brushed by. The steep uphill slowed our pace, almost as much as the steep down sections did. Uphill sections thick with wait-a-while certainly hindered progress too.  


We stopped off for lunch at Kalinya Lookout, shortly after Mt Thorakban. A really nice little lookout in the sun. The westerly winds have blown up bringing with them dust and hazy views. Still able to make out Mt Warning through it. Most of the walk has been sheltered but the cool breeze was still reaching us at the forest floor making for a mostly chilly day.

Next it was up to Point Lookout for another short break before doing the final 800 ish meters into Stinson remote camp. Not the best sites to select from but we made do and found a flat spot. I set off for water down (then back up!) a pretty steep trail. Beautiful creek though, and good way to warm up.  

Just after 5 we heard a few voices and a pair that had come up from Christmas Ck strolled into camp. Conversation was basically; 
Them: Did you know you have to book here? 
Me: Ahh, yeah.
Them: Oh, we saw that there was only one spot and it was booked out. 
Me: Yep, would have been us...  
Them: Oh... Do you know where the wreck is?  

Showed them the path to the wreck, and the one down to water (they said they had plenty) and talked about where we came from. As I mentioned Point Lookout, not far away, they decided to push on and get the wreck on their way out tomorrow. I said they could stay, an meant it, but also glad they kept going. Hopefully they'll make it before dark. They seemed interested in the sunrise over Mt Warning after I mentioned it would be nice.

Around 6pm it was just starting to get dark so we made our dinners then retreated to the warmth of the tent and sleeping bags soon after.

The next morning saw yet another relaxed pack-up. Everything was squared away by 9am but we left our packs at camp to do the short (but steep, a precursor for the day...) side trail down to the Stinson crash site. A big tree had fallen in the last year and efforts were made to uncover the area. I honestly can't remember there being too much wreckage left when I first did it (20 years ago) though.  


We then started the steep uphill to get back to camp and crossed paths again with the guys from yesterday. They had made it to camp with light but it was dark by the time they finished setting up. The wind, which we felt but barely, was apparently quite strong up there. Only one braved the cold winds for sunrise.

After retrieving our packs we started down towards Christmas Creek. Deceptive at first it seemed like a nice trail but it soon picked up grade into the near vertical grade I remembered. Hey, at least this time it was dry, not muddy.  

We took a careful and cautious approach to get down. Flagging tape had picked up in frequency again making it easy to follow but the sheer steepness made for slow going. Climbing down over roots and rocks we eventually made the scramble. Someone had left a rope for a more direct route which was handy.  

The old route was up to the right and then along a thin ledge before going up. The new (red) was obviously straight up. But not too difficult.

Onward and... downward? The trail descends 500m in under 2km, with the steepest 150m elevation drop in just ~200m horizontal distance. Makes for some pretty cool tree roots though.  

Finally reaching Christmas Ck we took a sigh of relief and were able to ditch our packs and head a little further up stream to Westray's Grave. The end to his ill-fated journey seeking help after the crash.  

From there it was back down the creek line, picking up our packs once again and finishing the final 3 ish km to our car. A few fallen trees, as well as a Strangler with the host tree completely gone, were only a mild inconvenience to the now seasoned hikers. One decent rock hop across a creek later and we were finally finished.  

The only thing left was yet another drive up to O'Reilly's to get the second car and then the long drive back down and home. Probably took a little longer than expected but with a bit of motivation could be condensed into an easy 2 day hike.  

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