Mt Baldy ~ Mt Yabi Circuit, Herberton Range State Forest - April 2022

The climb to Mt Baldy was fairly steep in parts.

With the weather being a little average today I wasn't keen to head up into any of the higher mountains around Atherton, however I was hoping that Mt Baldy and Mt Yabi on the outskirts of town might be low enough to allow me a few views through the cloud and rain. Parking the ute in the carpark on the side of Rifle Range Road things weren't looking overly promising though as the rain was hosing down. Not being easily deterred though I grabbed my pack (and trekking umbrella) and set off for my first objective - the summit of Mt Baldy.

Setting off from Rifle Range Road - look's like I'll be getting a bit damp on this one!

The start of the walk was a little ordinary I thought.

Initially I climbed an old 4wd track through the open savannah forest until I met the Mt Baldy Walking Track, which headed off on my right (west). After picking up the walking track my day out got a lot harder as the track climbed steeply, sometimes very steeply, towards the cloud ceiling. After climbing for around 20 minutes I stopped to get a shot back down in the general direction of Atherton before I headed into the clouds. From here to the summit of Mt Baldy the only clue that a big town was at the base of the mountain was the sound of frequent gunfire from the nearby rifle range!

 

Once I picked up the steep walking track up Mt Baldy the walking got a lot better - I was even getting a few views through the cloud down to Atherton at this stage.

The Mt Baldy climb.

And that was my last view down to Atherton before I was engulfed by the cloud.

Still climbing on the Mt Baldy Track.

The climb up Mt Baldy took me around 50 minutes I guess, and nobody would be surprised to find that the only view that I got from the summit was of the swirling cloud. After taking the obligatory summit photo I set off on a long ridge walk across to Mt Yabi. The ridge walk across to My Yabi was a little rougher than the walk up to Mt Baldy had been, however it was also a lot flatter so the going was pretty easy. It was only a few minutes after leaving Mt Baldy when I started passing through a section of rainforest which made a nice change from the open savannah type of country that I'd mostly been walking through.

This was the first time I've come across snake bite kits on a walk.

Mt Baldy Summit has a nice bench...

... although the view today was a little underwhelming!

I'm not sure if that's a grimace or a smile?

Leaving Mt Baldy I quickly dropped into a nice rainforest section.

The rainforest section was a little rougher than the rest of the walk.

Arriving at the turn off for Mt Yabi I once again started climbing steeply as I headed up to the summit. I wasn't really expecting any views from the summit and I wasn't disappointed this afternoon! Arriving on the summit I dropped my pack to take the summit shot, although the only thing I was gazing out at were clouds. With the summit formalities completed I grabbed my pack and started the fairly long descent through the dripping forest back down to the ute - it was getting fairly late in the day now and with the heavy cloud cover I was starting to lose a bit of light.

 

Nice walking between Mt Baldy and Mt Yabi.

Out of the rainforest and into the Casuarinas - I'm almost at the Mt Yabi side trip.

The Mt Yabi climb wasn't as steep as the one up Mt Baldy had been - the weather was no better though!

Mt Yabi.

The descent was a nice one, nowhere near as steep as the climb up Mt Baldy had been earlier in the day. Once off the summit track I swung right (east) onto the signposted circuit track. The descent swung east a little and passed by an informal rock lookout, before swinging around and dropping down to cross Thomson Creek just after avoiding a 4wd track heading off on the right. After crossing the creek I had one last climb and I met up with my outward route, although with the rain hammering down there was no lingering now. Once back on my outward route I dropped back down the 4wd track, arriving at the ute about 10 minutes later, fairly happy to climb in a peel off some of my soaking wet gear.

The descent off Mt Yabi back down to the ute was a good one.

On reaching the informal rock lookout I finally dropped out of the clouds and I got a look at Atherton again.

Looking back up towards Mt Baldy.

The Dirt.

According to my GPS I walked around 9.1 kilometres and climbed about 564 metres on what I'd call a medium grade stroll. Obviously this walk would be better on a nice day, however it wasn't the worst walk to do in the rain as the tracks were fairly clear so I didn't pick up too many leeches. The locals obviously think the same thing as I passed a few joggers going up Mt Yabi as I was descending. The link track along the ridge between the two mountains is probably a slightly rougher track than the rest of the walk, however the rainforest up there was probably the most interesting as the same time. I didn't scope out the carpark properly due to the rain however it looked like there were no facilities there apart from an information board (I could well be wrong on that though). I used the notes and map out of the Woodslane book Best Walks around Cairns & the Tablelands as well as an Alltrails map and my GPS topos this afternoon.

Relevant Posts.

Vision Falls Walk, 2022.

Thomson Creek.

I arrived back at the ute under the heaviest rain of the day - thank god I was staying in an apartment and not camping tonight.