Mt Elliot North Queensland

[samwisefnq]

Hey all,

I'm planning to climb this and know its well off the beaten track and likely has some pretty thick rain forest and steep rocky sections up the top.

Anyone got experience with this?

[nq111]

Yeah, I have been up there. Not so bad for steep rocky sections (At least the way I go) but definitely some very thick scrub - made all the worse from Cyclone Yasi. Thankfully, if you approach the main peak from the north-east ridge there is no lawyer vine (though plenty on Saddle Mountain). I made it to about 100m of the true summit before being totally stopped by the scrub.

I can share my GPS route if you like and piece together some rough track notes. I hope to shoot from Mt Elliott Sharp sometime in the future too.

Some images below - not a lot of great views on this part of the mountain. There are potentially lots of routes and lots of individual peaks to climb in this complex. Take lots of water!

MT Elliott 1.jpg (149.23 KiB) Viewed 27063 times

MT Elliott 2.jpg (176.6 KiB) Viewed 27063 times

MT Elliott 3.jpg (134.13 KiB) Viewed 27063 times

MT Elliott 4.jpg (170.78 KiB) Viewed 27063 times

MT Elliott 5.jpg (81.64 KiB) Viewed 27063 times

MT Elliott 6.jpg (130.69 KiB) Viewed 27063 times

[bauplenut]

Went up there 2 or 3 years ago. Up from north-west side alongside Sandy (aka North)Creek, into saddle below summit. Scrub bashing lot of the way. Camped in saddle (theV). No water re supply, creek dry here. Summit not clearly defined due to rainforest and scrub. Interestingly, on what we determined to be summit, found a tree with old photo of bearded bloke holding baby. Route we used had no steep rocky sections on way up. Next day came down Alligator Creek - which was fine until a cliff blockage, had to go bush and spent two hrs in wait-a-while. After that back into creek and easy rock hop walking rest of day to the falls, and onto NP track.

Know an old timer who used to regularly go up Palm Creek on Eastern side to the summit. He would camp above the Terraces on Palm Creek, then do walk to summit next day with day pack and back to his camp.

[samwisefnq]

Good info guys..

From the mapping and your descriptions is seems like some of the thickest scrub is at and around the true peak, is there a view back towards Townsville and Maggie Is at the peak or whilst approaching.. I can't quite tell from the photo because I can't blow it up larger but it looks like Mt. Stuart and Maggie in the distance there, from the sun's position also

Seems there are plenty of potential routes also with three branches of Alligator Crk including the falls coming in N to S, Sandy Crk and some others coming in from NW/W or even coming in along Majors Crk from the South. Then there is Palm Creek coming in from the East there, which looks like the short but steep way to get in

I'd appreciate and GPS and track notes nq111.

Bauplenut, is Sandy (aka North)Creek one of those coming in from the Oak Valley direction or is it a branch of Alligator?

[bauplenut]

Sandy (North) creek - flows into Alligator. Saddle below the summit, the V, basically is the watershed for both Sandy creek on north-western side and Alligator on north-eastern side.

The V, is just my description- if you are at Alligator Roadhouse on the highway, you can the V shape saddle below summit on Mt Elliot.

I would say thickest scrub is not at the top but on the way up. When you do get into true rainforest nearing the top the undergrowth is fairly clear and easier going than in the drier scrub type crap lower down.

[samwisefnq]

Would this be a descent way to approach the climb?

That is Sandy Creek correct?

MtEll.jpg (24.94 KiB) Viewed 26917 times

Thanks,

[nq111]

The ridge to the left of the gully you have marked is my route. I'll pm you a route (one day - sorry on the tardiness!). One benefit is that there is water half way up.

I have thought about the route you propose but not attempted it.