Bushwalk Australia

Hello everyone,
I was hoping for some information...
We are looking at doing an overnight hike from Mt. May, including summitting Mt. May) to Mt. Barney, and summit Mt. Barney possibly camping overnight between peaks.
Has anyone done this before or have any information on it?
Is there a bush track from Mt. May to Mt. Barney?
Which route up and down Barney would be the best to take?
Where would be the best place to camp overnight? Is it possible to stay in the gully between peaks overnight or would we descend to the rum jungle campsite?

Thanks very much,
Cam

I can get you to the northern base of Barney...
Mt May to Cleared Ridge via Waterfall Creek Rd. About 2km of dirt road.

Alternative access ? Mt May to Paddy's Peak ridge to Drynans hut, then rock hop upstream
past the Catholic bushwalking club hut to the lower portals ?

Camping options around the northern base of Barney...
1.Yamahra Creek campsite (upper portals). If its a hot day, have a dip as you go through the upper portals to access the other ridges.
2.There's also a campsite east of Cleared ridge in a saddle...on the track that also takes you to Barney gorge & Lower portal campsites.
3.Barney gorge junction campsite.
4.Lower portals campsite.

There's a couple of camps on the ridges themselves depending on which one you choose.

There's quite a few ridges to choose from, so I'll leave the choice of route up to others with more 'Barney' experience.

Have a great adventure, CameronD...

Dated but useful info here...
http://www.southee.com/Bushwalking/Ch13 ... allow.html

Agree with ofuros Cleared Ridge route and would pick Midget Ridge to get from Upper Portals to West Peak.
From Upper Portals go down Barney Creek about ?2-3km, Midget Ridge starts at a large bend
no track

Brilliant. Thank you very much ofuros and tom for the replies and excellent information.
Thank you.

There is a SEQ bushwalking book still available that includes useful descriptions of Barney and its ridges:
Secrets of the Scenic Rim by Rob Rankin
'Covers Tamborine, Springbrook, Lamington, Border Ranges, Mount Barney, Main Range, Flinders Peak, the Great Walk and the full Scenic Rim Traverse.'
http://www.rankin.com.au/wildernessbooks

Hello everyone,

I've been planning our overnight hike from Mt. May, up Mt. Barney, camp overnight in the saddle, and head down the following day.

We are looking at doing the following on day 1:
1. Start at Waterfall Creek Reserve,
2. Head over Mt. May (summit)
3. Head down Waterfall Creek Road until we hit the Upper Portals track
4. Follow the Upper Portals track until we hit Midget Ridge
5. Head up Midge Ridge to the West Peak
6. Head down the West Peak to the Old Hut campsite and camp here overnight.

I've attached a .gpx of I have made of the proposed route for day 1.

I was wondering if I could please get everyone's opinion on whether they believe this would be achievable in one day? We are pretty experienced hikers and are pretty fit, however would there simply be enough time in the day to get it done?

I haven't yet planned our route back to Mt. May on day 2 however we will go around it rather than summiting it. I'm not sure of what route we should take to get off Barney, the South Ridge or South East Ridge would be ideal being easier, however they would bring us out on the opposite side we need to be to get back to Mt. May.... so we may end up just heading back the way we came other than going around Mt. May not over it.

I'd really appreciate everyone's thoughts, suggestions, concerns.

Cheers,
Cam

Too much road walking for me...I would start at Cleared Ridge car park(hire a AWD if you have to, cuts out 7kms of road walking (2km there & 5km return)...U.Portals - Midget Ridge - West Peak - Barrabool Ridge (Long) camp - U.Portals & back out to car park.

...on the drive out, park at Mt Mays SW Ridge track..it's a alternative shorter route up.
There's a little circuit on top or you can drop down into the saddle if you want to take in both of Mt Mays peaks.

Fingers crossed for a cool couple of days for your trip..Barney's ridges can be hot & dry.

my rough estimates:
W'fall ck to Mt May - 2 hours
Mt May to Cleared ridge - 1.5 hrs
Cleared ridge to start Midget Ridge - 2 hrs
Midget ridge - 5 hrs
West pk to campsite - 0.5 hrs
Total 11 hours
Next day - For a quicker and northern descent to the lower portals track use Rocky Creek (between East and North pks) - but not in wet weather.
Returning to W'fall creek from lower portals via Paddys Plain would be an interesting navigational exercise.
Whichever route you end up with, be there to start at first light and note the days are getting shorter...

edit - a route from lower portals car park to Mt. may via Drynans Hut, Paddys Plain and Paddys pk is shown as part of
https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/lower-portals-to-mt-may-via-double-peak-5094855

Thank you very much once again for the information ofuros and tomh.

I'm stuck working out the best route to take to get back to Cleared Ridge on Day 2.

A few more questions if I may:
Ofuros: I can't seem to find much information on Barrabool Ridge. How would you rate the decent of it? Is it pretty tough going or not too bad? Would it require a rope and is there any steep scrambling?
Is this the path down Barrabool Ridge you would recommend:
https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/m ... ge-4970727

Tomh: How long would you anticipate it would take to get from the East Peak through Rocky Creek back to the Lower Portals track? Does any part of Rocky Creek have track running beside it or is it a rock hop/scramble through the creek the whole way? Is the creek pretty easy going or is it tough to get through?
I found this track which runs parallel to the creek. I am assuming you would recommend we follow along the creek itself?
https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/l ... k-10049647

Cheers, Cam

Your really going to have to go by feel on the day, how your & your patners hairy legs are coping, hot weather, thicker scrub than anticipated,
cloud covered peaks, 2 days of rain, wet slippery rocks, swollen creeks etc etc....be flexible.

Up & down via Midget Ridge, Up & down Barrabool Ridge, or up one & down the other, are all fine routes.
If I'm walking a ridge for the first time I like to ascent it first, much easier pick & choose my lines from the bottom looking up.

Midget Ridge had a fire through there when I last climbed it over 2yrs ago, so maybe some regrowth there now.
Montserrat is another side trip.

I'll add a few picks of the terrain your going encounter...to help you decide.

Midget Ridge front & centre...



Bippoh to West Peak...Barrabool @ right.



Short & Long Barrabool with Gwyala in the background...



Barrabool short & long...



...and lastly a overall view from Montserrat, where the ridge you can see at your feet takes you to Yamahra Ck camp & Upper Portals.

Brilliant. Thank you very much ofuros.

May I please check with you, is the track in this trek short or long Barrabool Ridge:
https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/m ... ge-4970727

Cheers.

First creek junction, so Short Barrabool.
Have a great trip, Cam.

East Peak to UP track 3-4 hrs.
The usual Rocky ck trib. used is not the wikiloc one quoted but the one directly down from East pk as shown in
https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/rocky-creek-descent-14353811
except you leave the creek when you reach the lower areas and head towards the UP track, not yellowpinch.
When you first enter the Rocky ck gully the creek is steep with a small waterfall but there is a bypass track a few meters on the right at the base of the gully cliff. Other than that first section just stay in the creek (nothing difficult) until it starts to level out around the Wikiloc 1.6 mi point (using your cursor in the altitude graph) where you can leave the ck on the left and follow open, easy walking ridges to the UP track.

Thank you once again for the information.
May I be a pain and check with you both that I have this right.

Tomh, is the yellow line marked on the image the rough direction you are referring to in order to get back to the UP? Or would we swing around a little more as we go as marked with the pink lines?

Ofuros, may I please check I have the short and long Barrabool Ridges correct? Is the pink line I have marked the rough route for Barrabool long?





Cheers.

Correcto mondo, your pink line equals Barrabool Long...2nd creek junction & up the spur.

First my error: correction/typo - its the Lower Portals track (LP) not 'Upper Portals' (UP)

Route shown in blue - looks like the long way round but its the easiest quickest way mostly following the low open ridges between rocky ck tribs. As you near the LP track you might come across a track coming off the mountain and heading north - you can follow this as it meets the LP track.
If you are using the route to Mt May via Drynans Hut as previously mentioned, turn right (east) after reaching LP track and head to the car park where the wikiloc route starts.