Monserrat Lookout-Mowburra Circuit
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 9.12 mi
- Elevation gain
- 3,346 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 3,346 ft
- Max elevation
- 3,850 ft
- TrailRank
-
50
3
- Min elevation
- 3,850 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Time
- 8 hours 37 minutes
- Coordinates
- 1405
- Uploaded
- May 7, 2012
- Recorded
- May 2012
near Maroon, Queensland (Australia)
Viewed 2513 times, downloaded 63 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
Armed with a GPS file from an 'online friend', a mate and I headed off towards Mt Barney National Park. We parked above the Upper Portals (accessed by 4WD's only via Waterfall Ck Rd, South of Mt May camping area) and set off a bit after sunrise. We descended to Yamahra Ck via a well-worn track followed the creek to reached the junction with Mt Barney Ck around 7am. The track to Monserrat lookout is on the North side of Mt Barney Ck & on the West side of Yamahra Ck.
The track to Monserrat is easy to follow & a good opportunity to warm your leg muscles as you ascend from 550m to ~1000m on this 1.8km leg of the trek.
From Monserrat, we said goodbye to an easily followed track. We said goodbye to the open eucalyptus forest. We said hello to push-your-way-thru dark rainforest & headed SW across a hidden saddle to a nearby (600m leg) un-named peak. Note: there may be a discernible track from Monserrat to Mowburra..........but we didn't find/follow it. Much of the time you could walk under the spectacular overhead vegetation but at times that same spectacular vegetation, was in your face & making the going difficult. The 360 degree views from Mowburra Peak are wonderful. I have done Mt Greville a few times and the 'scars' that are Palm Gorge & Waterfall Gorge are very obvious from Mowburra.
Heading easterly along the ridge from Mowburra takes you to a 1.8km slope off the mountains back to Yamahra Ck. At this point, have a quick motivational pep talk to your leg muscles. It takes an hour & a half to make the way down a steep slope (descent of 400m) thru knee high grass hiding rocks/holes/branches/logs. My advice is "Keep Calm & Carry On". At the bottom of the slope, head towards Grace's Hut [Note, Warning, Achtung: I am unsure if this is private property :? There was a group of people (maybe two families) at the buildings, we waved as we passed and they friendly waved back.]
From the GoogleEarth view, you can (hopefully) see we followed saddles, slopes & ridges to make the circuit. It took us ~7.5 hours. We were able to complete the walk with the directions from the GPS file (thanks Bluefreddo) although we completed the circuit in a clockwise direction (original files anticlockwise).
The track to Monserrat is easy to follow & a good opportunity to warm your leg muscles as you ascend from 550m to ~1000m on this 1.8km leg of the trek.
From Monserrat, we said goodbye to an easily followed track. We said goodbye to the open eucalyptus forest. We said hello to push-your-way-thru dark rainforest & headed SW across a hidden saddle to a nearby (600m leg) un-named peak. Note: there may be a discernible track from Monserrat to Mowburra..........but we didn't find/follow it. Much of the time you could walk under the spectacular overhead vegetation but at times that same spectacular vegetation, was in your face & making the going difficult. The 360 degree views from Mowburra Peak are wonderful. I have done Mt Greville a few times and the 'scars' that are Palm Gorge & Waterfall Gorge are very obvious from Mowburra.
Heading easterly along the ridge from Mowburra takes you to a 1.8km slope off the mountains back to Yamahra Ck. At this point, have a quick motivational pep talk to your leg muscles. It takes an hour & a half to make the way down a steep slope (descent of 400m) thru knee high grass hiding rocks/holes/branches/logs. My advice is "Keep Calm & Carry On". At the bottom of the slope, head towards Grace's Hut [Note, Warning, Achtung: I am unsure if this is private property :? There was a group of people (maybe two families) at the buildings, we waved as we passed and they friendly waved back.]
From the GoogleEarth view, you can (hopefully) see we followed saddles, slopes & ridges to make the circuit. It took us ~7.5 hours. We were able to complete the walk with the directions from the GPS file (thanks Bluefreddo) although we completed the circuit in a clockwise direction (original files anticlockwise).
Waypoints
Waypoint
3,316 ft
Monserrat Lookout
Comments (3)
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Awesome :)
It looks like you just missed Focal Peak!
Not much to see anyway, it looks much more spectacular
on Google Earth, than what you see when you're actually there,
as you'd know.
I'll never go that far west again. Too much vegetation cutting me up, and I'm surprised your GPS even worked there.
A couple of mates & I are heading back into this area in Mid-April to do all the Ballows, Nothofargus & the Big Lonely....drop me a ;line if u are interested in joining us
Shawn
I have followed this trail View more
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Easy to follow
Scenery
Difficult
We did not find that track last weekend not to hard to explain as could not see much at all with the rain and wind. Maybe it will be better next time.