Mount Barney circuit, Mount Barney National Park, Queensland - September 2014

School holidays had Sam planning a trip to Queensland to visit her parents so I figured I could use the opportunity to do a walk that had been on my radar for a lot of years. I'd wanted to climb Mount Barney for as long as I'd known about the mountain, the tales of navigational hardships and dodgy exposed scrambling only got me more interested. There was one thing holding me back though, the mountain was around 1800 kilometres from home, but with Sam flying up to visit her folks that was the flimsy excuse I needed. I would drive up after work on Wednesday, visiting a mate in Warwick, before heading over Cunningham's Gap to climb the mountain. After a day and a half on the mountain I'd jump back in the ute, pick Sam up in Beaudesert, and then we'd cruise home over a couple of days and I'd be back at work at 5:30am on Monday morning. A road trip of almost 4000 kilometres, scrambling up a mountain, and catching up with a mate, and only burning eight hours of leave! I couldn't see a down side.

That's the objective.

I'm not going to write up a blow by blow account as I've done a crazy guy journal, I'll put the link in at the end of the post in 'The Dirt' . Needless to say it was an eventful trip, the weather was particularly shitful on the drive up, but sitting in the ute listening to music it didn't really bother me that much. I figure it was much better to be coping the rain whilst I was driving rather than stuck in my bivy bag on top of a mountain.

At the start at Yellow Pinch picnic ground.

The track junction where the South-East ridge route heads off, marked by SE scratched into the tree.

Day 1.
After visiting my mate Paul I was at the start of the track early Friday morning, the plan was to climb up South East Ridge and descend South (Peasant's) Ridge. The South East Ridge is a little more challenging and is not maintained by parks, the South Ridge is easier (comparatively) and parks do a little work on the track and that's how it panned out. Climbing South East Ridge was a fairly tough slog for an old and broken bloke like me but it wasn't too bad, after a bit of scrambling and a few deep breaths when I gazed to my right a noticed a thousand feet of air below me. I was on top just after lunch. Time for an extended break while I soaked in the view. After sending a couple of photos to my mates and ringing Sam to tell her all was well I set of down to Rum Jungle. This involved sections of granite slabs interspersed with belts of prickly scrub, with no reliable track only an intermittent pad and the occasional marking tape or cairn. Once down at the old hut site near Rum Jungle I topped up my water and headed off towards South Ridge, I'd decided to bivy on the ridge rather than at the Rum Jungle camp site as I was thinking the views would be better. It was now late in the afternoon and I was happy to find a small flat spot beside a rib of granite to bivy on. For the next hour I hopped around my elevated perch trying to get some good shots of the sunset whilst eating dinner, with the sun finally disappearing the squadrons of mosquitoes came out so it was time to get into the bivy bag.

The scrambling starts on South-East Ridge.

It doesn't look that steep....

There were plenty of wildflowers out.

Mount Lindsay on the climb up Mount Barney.

Mount Barney's West Peak from East Peak.

On top of the East Peak of Mount Barney.

Day 2.
After a fairly good nights sleep I awoke to mist in the valleys below me, packing up the bivy and eating breakfast I was on the track before 7am. I was keen to get down to meet Sam early as her parents were dropping her off at Macca's in Beaudesert at 10 am. The walk down South Ridge was fairly easy with only two dodgy sections that required a bit of concentration, the first was a rock chute that had some negative steps cut into the rock, the second a rock slab that had a crack running down it which was the only protection. Clearing the rock slab the gradient eased off and I was walking through some tall eucalypt trees, a few minutes later and I was in a section of rain forest. I met the track to South East Ridge at 8:30am and I'd now completed the circuit, all that was left of the walk was the fire track bash back to the ute. With a long days driving ahead of me to Coonabarabran in New South Wales I figured that it would be a good idea to have a bit of a wash, luckily I'd heard of an unmarked track from the car park at the start of the walk to a beautiful swimming hole in the Logan River. So after chucking my pack in the ute I set of with a towel to check it out, now I have another spot I need to come back to! The Logan River cascades through a small gorge before the river flows into a big deep pool, perfect for a hot bushwalker. With a pressing need to get moving I didn't swim for long but I can definitely see me re visiting.

Late lunch at the old hut site.

Sunset.

I picked Sam up from the Beaudesert Macca's at 10:05am and just missed catching up with the inlaws. We then settled back and enjoyed our two day drive home, getting home at 5:30pm on Sunday night after spending the Saturday night in Coonabarabran.

Sunrise from my bivy on South Ridge.

My bivy on South Ridge.

The rock chute on South Ridge.

And then the slab, after this its easy all the way down.

The Dirt.
All up I drove around 3600 kilometres, walked 19.1 kilometres and climbed 1336 metres over five and a bit days. It was almost relaxing to jump on the mountain bike and head off to work at 5am on the Monday morning. I used the notes out of the Daly's book Take a Walk in South-East Queensland, I also used my GPS and the Mount Lindsay map. The navigation was fairly straight forward in the good weather but if the weather turned nasty you would have to very careful. The same goes for the scrambling, I took a five metre section of rope to pack haul but didn't need it, but if the weather turned nasty and the rock was wet it would make the trip very dodgy indeed. If anyone wants to check out my crazy guy journal its here, there around fifty photos and a lot more detail of the walk on there.
If you enjoy a bit of scrambling and a bit of a challenge this is a good walk, although I'd rate it as hard its by no means out of the reach of ordinary walkers who are confident on rock. To get up to date information on Mount Barney and its different routes you could try the Bushwalking Australia forum.

Near the Logan River crossing on the way to the ute.

The beautiful swimming hole in the Logan River near the Yellow Pinch picnic area.

One very relaxed bushwalker ready to pick up Sam and head of on the 1800 kilometre drive home.