Why not climb a mountain?

Last updated 9 June 2020

Hiking Mt Maroon

Good Friday might be a day of rest for some, but for me, it was a day to hike a mountain. I’d responded to a media call out to join the epic Moonrise on Mount Maroon on Friday, April 19.

The requirements:

• A writer/journalist who is fit enough to hike the seven-hour return night hike
• Available to depart at 2 pm on Good Friday.

“The Moonrise on Maroon is such a top experience, and there is nothing really like it anywhere in our region,” says Tracey Larkin, co-owner of Scenic Rim bush retreat, Mt Barney Lodge.

Tracey is talking about a hike in the Scenic Rim a stunning expanse of wilderness in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range, about a 90-minute drive from my home in Brisbane. As part of my backyard, I thought why not give it a go.

Being in my mid-50’s, a regular gym-goer who swims at least once a week (twice when I can) I considered myself ‘reasonably’ fit and thought why not get off the Friday night couch and do something different.

The hike involves ascending late afternoon (in daylight) and descending early evening (in the dark.) The intention is to reach the summit of Mt Maroon at sunset to observe the sun setting in the west and a few minutes later watching the full moon rise in the east.  A pretty cool phenomenon that only occurs a few times a year.

I had to consider, could I hike for seven hours?

Yes, I thought so.

Had I hiked seven hours lately?

Not since the Isle of Skye Wilderness Scotland tour in May 2018 had I done any serious hiking.  The 20-minute walk up the highest point on Fiji’s Castaway Island in November probably doesn’t count!

Should I have taken into consideration my lack of strenuous hiking?

In hindsight, yes, I should have.

Where is Mt Maroon

The Scenic Rim area borders Queensland and New South Wales and harbours six National Parks.  In 1994 the Main Range, Lamington, Springbrook and Mt Barney National Parks were given World Heritage status. And for good reason. The region was once a volcanic hotspot. The rugged peaks we see today jutting above the green bushy landscapes were formed after an ancient shield volcano erupted around 26 million years ago.

The Mt Barney National Park covers 17, 659 hectares of rugged terrain and protects seven peaks all around the 1,000-metre mark in height. Apart from the rare and endangered plants and animals, the Mount Barney National Park is one of the largest areas of undisturbed natural vegetation found in south-east Queensland.

Mt Barney (1351 metres) is the fourth highest peak in Queensland and the highest in the McPherson Range of mountains region.

Mount Lindesay (1175 metres) with its distinctive-looking tiered summit is another peak popular with photographers but is only for very experienced rock and mountain climbers.

Mt Maroon (967 metres) is Mt Barney’s neighbour and is climbable but steep in parts. With minimal signage and the steep drop off edges, it is recommended Mt Maroon be climbed with a guide (at least for the first time.)

The closest town is Rathdowney and some local tour operators conduct walking tours of the national park and mountain. Innes Larkin knows this mountain like the back of his hand and is upbeat about the journey ahead of us.

Ready to hike up Mt Maroon

Our hiking group of eight assembles at the Mt Barney lodge office.

A mix of ages – we have couples, friends, a mum and daughter – six women and two men.  Apart from the 15-year-old daughter, the ages range from the 30s to the late 50s.

Just before we jump in the mini-bus an intermittent light shower of rainfalls. Is this an ominous sign?

I recall National Parks warning: Avoid exploring the park during wet weather, tracks and rock surfaces can be slippery, especially after rain!

And I was wondering how much of the moonrise and sunset we’re likely to experience given the cloud cover?

Innes Larkin, 47, our guide for the walk was confident we’d be ok. As co-owner of Mt Barney Lodge with wife Tracey, Innes has been hiking the area since he was 13.

“I’ve been guiding hikes up Mt Barney with friends and family since age 15,” says Innes confidently. Innes is a certified guide and takes no chances. I note the large pack he’s carrying and ask him what’s in there. “Dinner and necessities for any medical emergencies,” he replies.

When he takes the pack off his back, I attempt to lift it.  I’m guessing its around 23kg. “Oh, that’s nothing,” he says with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. “I feel awkward when I go without a heavy pack.”

It appears we’re in good (sturdy) hands.

We set off in the mini-bus to the car park at Mt Maroon which gives us a starting height of 360 metres – only 607 metres to go I tell myself.

The climb

Just before 3 pm

A short trek from the car park track of around 200 meters is our quick warm-up before we start the climbing. There are no signs or defined track to follow, so we’re happy to follow Innes.

We clamber over boulders and misshapen tree roots. (known as rock scrambling.) The terrain is rough and unpredictable, not wanting to lose my footing I keep an eye on the ground. My heart rate goes up a notch as the ascent climbing kicks in and after about 30 minutes, I stop to sip water. My hair under my bucket hat is sweat-drenched from the exertion.

We continue in this upward goat scrambling fashion for around 90 minutes to the first lookout – a rocky outcrop. Innes suggests we sit for a few minutes and enjoy the majestic view of the surrounding valley while he explains the geology of the area.

He points to the vertical cliffs opposite (Viewpoint Buttress.)

“They’re a good place for serious rock climbers,” he says.

And Innes has climbed them a few times in case you’re wondering!

Viewpoint Buttress

 4.30 pm just over halfway

Onwards we push and it is becoming obvious there’s two in our party, 59-year-old Lenora and myself who are struggling to maintain the pace of the rest of the group. Innes doesn’t want the rest of the group to miss the sunset at 5.25 pm. He suggests we break into two groups, with Tracey leading myself and Lorna at the rear.

In fairness to Lorna, she recently had the flu and it wasn’t helping her breathing, and me, well my dicky knee with its ski incident two years earlier doesn’t allow me to move as fast as I’d like. And I’ll admit to not feeling as fit as I should be for this type of climbing.

But our goal is to reach the summit by sunset, so even though we may be slower, we push on.

From the lookout, we hike through a gorge section where we swap scrambling for more climbing.  The others have pushed on and I can hear their voices in the distance. The summit is close.

A sheer rockface separates me from the peak and I am not sure which direction to take.

Tracey is behind with Lorna. I spy an orange trail marker that takes me to a three-metre section of vertical rock. There is no other choice but to go up.  As I’m using my arms to pull me up, my feet begin slipping down the rock. My grip loosens and I start sliding downwards. I sense this is the moment I am going to potentially hurt myself.

Knowing this is not the time or the place for such an incident, I am reminded of Alex Honnold, the super-human rock climber whose movie Free Solo I had seen on a plane trip to somewhere. In that movie, I watched incredulously as Alex climbed up crevices by gripping the smallest of ridges with a few fingers.

Channeling Alex, I dig my fingers of my right hand into a small crevice in the rock. I find another to my left, dig a boot tip and slowly using only my upper body strength, lever my exhausted body onto the top of the rock.

I let out a long “f#*k” under my breath. And realise, with relief, I’d beaten that rock and overcome the feeling I was going to fail. A quick scramble over a few easier boulders and I join the others at the top.

Sunset on top of Mt Maroon

5.25 pm

Unfortunately, mother nature did not want us to see the spectacular moonrise we’d been hoping for. Heavy clouds were gathering. The last rays of sunshine peeking through the edges.

We were not going to experience a moonrise this evening.

So we gathered our head torches and sat down to enjoy a hot drink and meal Innes’ produced from his backpack.

To understand what a clear night reveals, this is an excerpt from the Mt Barney Lodge blog:

“The view from Mt Maroon summit on a clear full-moon night reveals expansive scenery bathed in silver light. See nearby Lake Maroon glinting, the full Mt Barney profile, other mountains glowing and the lights of Brisbane in the far distance.”

What goes up must come down

It wasn’t long before Innes suggested we pack our gear up and start readying ourselves for the descent.  The weather gods were not being kind. A light rain shower began. We hastily zipped our rain jackets, in preparation for a wet journey down the mountain.

Its an eery feeling clambering down a mountain in the dark, with no other light to guide you than a narrow beam from a head torch.

Of course, there was Innes. Adding encouragement and keeping up the stories to distract us from the slipping and sliding over rocks we’d climbed up a few hours earlier (in daylight.) When we arrived safely to the lookout, we turned our head torches off and sat for a moment in the dark.

“Look at the sky,” one of our group squealed excitedly.

The moon finally made an appearance!  A bit late, but never the less, there it was showing its glowing round face in the cloudy sky.

I’m not going into detail about the descent except to say I found it tough particularly on my knee, (descending always places extra pressure on my knee joint.) Our group rallied, and the comradery of conversation distracted us from the effort (mine mostly involved sliding down the slippery rocks on my bottom.) We were connected by the love of outdoors and adventure.

Noone was annoyed the ‘weaker’ two in the group (yep me again) who were assigned to stick closely to Innes, were slowing everyone down. Innes guided us confidently (and patiently) pointing out footholds in the dark, never once losing enthusiasm for the role he was born to do.

The rain continued to fall but it didn’t dampen our spirits.

“I find this relatively, bizarrely easy,” Innes would sing out in a cheery voice.

When we eventually reached the flat area before the car park, I was relieved we’d made it safely. I was looking forward to a hot cuppa and a shower.

I was grateful for an opportunity, which despite it not having worked out as we’d hoped with the intervention of the weather, was still an incredible experience.

I’ve climbed Mt Maroon, I’m very proud to say.

An experience I’ll never forget.

Jen’s post-climb advice:

Climbing Mt Maroon is a tough but achievable climb by a fit and determined hiker. If you’re carrying an injury or repair to damaged joints, give some thought as to how much your body can manage.

Depending on your group, it should take between five-seven hours return from Mt Barney Lodge.

Note for the moonrise walk: this expedition may take longer, slowing down to negotiate the gully and summit areas in the dark with only headlamps and moonlight (if it’s out) for lighting.

If this is your first climb on Mt Maroon, please consider climbing with a guide or take appropriate navigation equipment, including a fully charged mobile phone to assist you.

Personally, I wouldn’t recommend hiking at night time unless you have prior experience.

ACTIVITY INFORMATION provided by Mt Barney Lodge:

Cost: $150 per person

Includes: guiding and interpretation, first aid equipment, public liability insurance, plant identification reference books, snacks, warm meal plus hot tea/coffee at the summit

Meet: Mt Barney Lodge office. Departure time may be any time after 1pm (to be advised) depending on seasonal moonrise time.

Duration of Activity: approx. 5-7 hours

The requirement for group numbers: 5 – 10 people

Age Recommendation: 15yo +

What to bring: 2-3 litres of water, headtorch (preferable) or torch, hat, sunscreen, any medication, warm clothes/raincoat, small day pack and wear comfortable closed-in shoes. A gear list will be provided upon reservation.

Fitness Requirement: This is a full expedition which requires a solid fitness level and excellent balance (due to night hiking) and the ability to carry a daypack with own personal gear.

How to book: Request booking forms by calling (07) 5544 3233 or emailing info@mtbarneylodge.com.au 

 

Disclaimer: the writer was a guest of Mt Barney Lodge. All opinions expressed are her own.

Thank you to our group: Diana, Michael, Adrian, Charlie, Felicity, Di and Lorna.

Bigger thanks to Tracey and Innes.