Harder multinight walks in Queensland

[Arnold]

Hi, a few friends and I are planning to spend two weeks hiking in Queensland next year. For some of this time we will do Hinchinbrook Island. Can anyone please suggest some harder 5-7 day hikes near Cairns, or elsewhere in Queensland? Appreciate your help. Cheers

[ofuros]

Possibilties...best during the winter months. Cool & clear.

Next door to hinchinbrook...
https://www.npsr.qld.gov.au/parks/great ... t-tropics/

Probably not so hard...but you could always explore northwards along the coastline.
https://www.npsr.qld.gov.au/parks/mangkalba/about.html

[Aardvark]

This creates a dilemma. There are good walks that would meet your demands. Nearly anything written up by authorities or in guidebooks is generally not very hard.
Anything else doesn't necessarily have sufficient description recorded for a visitor to take on without further research or assistance.
Other factors include the distances involved. It's a long way between Nth Qld and SE Qld. It's just as far to the Central highlands and there is plenty in between.
I'm sure lots of people know of walks in their area but there may be private land access involved, maybe transport options are limited.
The absence of infrastructure and transport to trail heads is a problem for many.
It easily gives the impression that there is likely very little to offer. Guidebooks written by southerners reflect this too. It is possibly a blessing for those of us here who don't want to be over run by population.

[Aardvark]

It sort of depends too on what you refer to as HARD. If you don't find what you want in North Queensland, consider doing something along the Scenic Rim in SEQ.
I can make a number of suggestions that would have you out for that long.

[ofuros]

Mmm, limited time frame...too much travel time will impact walking time. Hence a couple of close by suggestions.

...google earth, digital maps, plenty of overlooked/unknown national parks close to Cairns to cast an curious eye over, spurs, ridges, gorges, creeks & rivers...visualize, dream, plan, explore & endure.
That's all i do.

[digbyg]

Three possibles could be done as one.
Thornton's peak on normal route,then exit north to turpentine Rd.
Cape trib, Mt sorrow, peta botte ,roaring Meg falls,Bloomfield.
Rossville , Home rule, cedar Bay, weary Bay Bloomfield.

[Arnold]

Thanks for your replies peeps, there's some good info for me to check out.

'Harder', for us, equates to 4 and 5 on the national standard. We're very accustomed to big hills (Vic High Country), big overall distances, and big packs

[trekker76]

Arnold, about an hour south of Cairns, Innisfail/Palmerston Misty Mountain tracks. Tropical Rainforest, old bullock routes connecting coastal farms to the Atherton Tablelands, elevation change is 3000ft or so, mixture of mountain bike and cut tracks up to grade 5 difficulty. Not sure how many good days walking is in there, but some of the trails are couple days worth...

https://www.npsr.qld.gov.au/parks/misty ... ing_around
https://www.npsr.qld.gov.au/parks/misty ... al-map.pdf

I don't know anything about the dedicated guided tour buses or connections, but an option to get onto the trail is

1.Regular greyhound buses from Cairns to Innisfail, about a 90min-2hr ride( or an hour by car)
2. A 35km taxi ride from Innisfail to the end of Mena Creek Road, the start of the Gorrel Trailhead.

Of course if you want real hard, visit any town on the coast there, pick a direction and just walk straight into the forest. 5 days crawling through that puts you in a select group of ability.

Just couple things I tell visitors which will sound like sucking eggs but anyway. Humidity saps water faster than dry air. Your body can't cool from evaporative cooling( sweat leaving the skin) because the air is too moisture laden. It loses more sweat to try and compensate. Also elevation will still get cool. People get caught out with minimal gear on the local mountain ranges ( 4000-5000ft) thinking the night temps will be the same as the coast.

Also probably worthwhile learning to identify the Stinging tree. Most the trails are cleared of it by national parks but if they have been slack it will appear near trails, creeks or any break in the canopy/sunlight. its probably most painful flora in the world, hairs inject a nerve toxin, harmless but the pain is 'very distracting'. You will be in the hurt locker for quite a few hours, residual effects up to 4 months( hurts whenever you touch it, get the sting area wet or cold). I don't go into trying to frighten Hikers with creepy crawly stories... after all we are all Australians and used to stuff like snakes etc. I just mention this in particular as National parks are getting really slack clearing it and brushing up against one will put a downer on a nice trip.

[lseries92]

I don't know anything about the dedicated guided tour buses or connections, but an option to get onto the trail is

1.Regular greyhound buses from Cairns to Innisfail, about a 90min-2hr ride( or an hour by car)
2. A 35km taxi ride from Innisfail to the end of Mena Creek Road, the start of the Gorrel Trailhead.

One option would be to take a tour bus from Cairns to Paronella Park at Mena Creek which is well worth the visit on its own. The full entry price includes the night tour (awesome) and camping - while many of the sites are basically on the lawn outside, if ring ahead and tell them what you are doing they may reserve one of the more private sites down the back of the property. It is a short walk to the pub for a meal if that tickles your fancy.

It is still 10km to the trail head from here but you can at least make an early start the next morning - while there will not be much passing traffic, there are a lots of farms in the vicinity you can potentially score a lift with a local.

[trekker76]

Good suggestion Iseries92, the 10km road from Mena creek to the trailhead is not bad scenery too. Rolling green hills and bits of forest.