There are still some big old trees that survived the old loggers here.
It was a wet start to the day again.
The CRGW.
First up this morning I dropped down to check out Peters Falls, passing an old logging arch slowly rusting away in the forest along the way. The falls were a short side trip off the Conondale Range Great Walk track and I'd been imagining myself having anther swim here although arriving down at Peters Falls this morning the persistent light rain quickly put an end to those thoughts. With the rock slabs around the falls a slick as ice this morning I had to be very careful as I moved around trying (with only limited success) to get a good look at the falls.
Leaving Peters Falls I retraced my steps for five minutes as I climbed back up to re-join the CRGW before contouring around the steep hillsides for a while as the track followed Peters Creek further upstream. Eventually I dropped down and crossed Peters Creek three times in quick succession before starting a steep climb out of what is almost a gorge like valley. I now started a meandering course in a generally northerly direction as I set off towards the Summer Falls Walkers Camp, the good news being that the rain had more or less stopped by now. For the last 3 or 4 kilometres the track more or less contoured around the hills beside Summer Creek crossing numerous tributaries along the way. Summer Creek is a fairly substantial creek with plenty of deep pools and while none of them were right beside the track there was quite a few that were within easy reach of the track - well after a short scrub bash/scramble, anyway.
By the time I arrived at the Summer Falls Walkers Camp I was pretty well cooked again today, it was only mid afternoon so I wasn't planning on staying here, however the camp was a good spot to stop and recharge for awhile. Of all the camps on the CRGW the Summer Falls Walkers Camp looked the least appealing to me as it's situated in a steep gully, although once again the tank, toilet and camp table came in handy though. Summer Falls are only a very short walk from there camp here, although the falls themselves are in some very precipitous country so accessing them for a swim or even a photo presented a few issues - I'm thinking that if I was camping here and wanted a swim I'd scrub bash up stream of the falls and drop down to one of the pools on Summer Creek before it flows off into the abyss.
It was around 3 pm by the time I climbed away from Summer Falls this afternoon and whilst I was pretty tired I only had around 11 kilometres to get back to the ute. With the ute parked around 250 metres in elevation below me I was thinking that I'd knock this walk off pretty easily, although it turned out a little harder than I'd imagined. After leaving Summer Falls the track climbed a bit before I eventually started a long walk along a fairly broad an open ridge line through some dryer, open forest. By the time I reached the turn off to the Mt Allen fire tower I'd gained another 100 metres and was now faced with a fairly solid descent. With the fire tower lookout closed (and the overhead conditions less than optimal) I gave the Mt Allen side trip a miss and set off on my knee crunching descent down to Booloumba Creek. To be honest the descent wasn't really too bad, although it did require a few extra stops to let my knees and quads recover a bit, it's a credit to the QLD great walks track builders that they have managed to cut some nice tracks through some tricky terrain while at the same time making them fairly accessible to most walkers. It was 6:30pm by the time arrived back down at the ute tonight and I was totally shattered - pulling off my boots I threw my smelly gear in the back of the ute and headed off on the 3.5 hour drive back up to Bundaberg, exhausted but at the same time euphoric after completing another beautiful walk.
The Dirt.
I passed by an old logging arch rusting away in the bush early this morning.
Peters Falls.
Peters Falls.
The fungi was almost growing in front of my eyes.
I was using my old water proof camera this morning.
After leaving Peters Falls the CRGW stayed fairly close to Peters Creek for awhile.
Peters Creek.
Peters Creek from the CRGW.
After 3 days and 2 nights of fairly consistent wet and humid conditions everything was starting to get a bit damp.
The CRGW.
The CRGW is well signposted at junctions.
Conondale National Park.
The CRGW.
By the time I arrived at the Summer Falls Walkers Camp I was pretty well cooked again today, it was only mid afternoon so I wasn't planning on staying here, however the camp was a good spot to stop and recharge for awhile. Of all the camps on the CRGW the Summer Falls Walkers Camp looked the least appealing to me as it's situated in a steep gully, although once again the tank, toilet and camp table came in handy though. Summer Falls are only a very short walk from there camp here, although the falls themselves are in some very precipitous country so accessing them for a swim or even a photo presented a few issues - I'm thinking that if I was camping here and wanted a swim I'd scrub bash up stream of the falls and drop down to one of the pools on Summer Creek before it flows off into the abyss.
It was a steep climb over into the Summer Creek catchment.
I was now following the headwaters of Summer Creek downstream.
The CRGW crossing Summer Creek - there are some swimming options near here.
Approaching the Summer Falls Walkers Camp the CRGW contoured fairly high above the creek.
Summer Falls is a little tricky to photograph - and access.
The country around Summer Falls is... steep!
Leaving Summer Falls the CRGW climbed a little...
... before picking up this old 4wd track along a ridge top.
The old 4wd track walking continued for awhile...
... until I branched off onto a walking track that would eventually take me all the way down to the ute at the Booloumba Day Use Area.
The CRGW drops through some steep country down here.
I was dropping into that valley.
The CRGW.
That's it, game over for this walk - I was particularly shattered tonight. Maybe it was the heat, the humidity, the leeches, the climbing, the mud, two years of lockdowns, or the fact that I'm in the geriatric age category now - actually, it's probably a little of all those factors I think!
The Dirt.
According to my GPS I walked around 30.2 kilometres today and climbed about 754 metres on what was a hard days walking for me. To be honest (with myself) I should of turned this into a 4 day walk and stayed a night at the Summer Falls Walkers Camp. I'm not sure if it is an age or fitness thing, or maybe I'm not yet acclimatised to walking in the Queensland summer humidity, however whatever the case walking the double sections today really took it out of me. There were quite a few opportunities for a swim today although they all need a little work to access. Once again the CRGW utilised a mixture of walking and 4wd tracks today. I used the QLD Government Conondale Range Great Walk 1:25,000 topo along with my Alltrails App and my GPS topos today. The camp needs to be pre booked with the QLD Parks people.
Over the three days that I was walking the Conondale Ranges Great Walk I walked around 65 kilometres and climbed 2134 metres on what I'd call a medium-hard grade walk (if spending four days on the walk then I'd call it a medium grade walk). All the campsites on this walk need to be pre-booked with the Queensland Parks people. To access the start of this walk requires 3 fords of Booloumba Creek and these crossings can be deep, when I went through they were definitely high clearance 4wd jobs with the water at about top of wheel height. If the crossings are too deep to ford then you'll need to park before the first crossing and wade the creek crossings - this will add around three kilometres to the walk.
Relevant Posts.
There are three fairly deep (in a wet summer) water crossings that need to be forded to drive to the start of this walk.
If these crossings of Booloumba Creek are too deep then you can park before them and walk to the start of the CRGW.
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