Mt Barney East Peak Summit - Up Peasant, Down SE

YouTube video of this hike: https://youtu.be/mJMgtTx4RYU

Enjoy!

Mt Barney East Peak is always a great mountain at 1354m height to climb giving you a good cardio sesh! Did this one as an overnight hike.

On this walk, vehicle was parked at Yellow Pinch carpark, we went up the South route (Peasants' Ridge), camped at Rum Jungle, and then the next day hiked up to the East Peak summit, down the South East route, and then for something different we exited via a different line which brings you to the main 4x4 fire trail but much closer to Yellow Pinch carpark than the usual start point of SE route.

Be aware, even though Peasant's Ridge route is the easiest of the Mt Barney trails - it is long. With a 16kg backpack, it took me just over 3hrs to get to Rum Jungle (it may have just felt really long too because it was very, very humid and lots of debri over the trails to navigate over, under, around and through).

Rum Jungle is a great sheltered place to camp too. Be sure to take all your rubbish with you!

In the morning, we headed down to the creek (north from the campsite) - only about 3 minutes walk to the absolutely freshest running water you will find. It is the best tasting water in my opinion! There is a flat rocky slab here overlooking the western saddle known as "Old Hut Site".... this is the easiest start point to go up to the East Peak summit, the start of the trail up is visible here. Every other way up to the East Peak from Rum Jungle is mostly bush bashing and rugged, but if you start at the Old Hut Site, it will be easier to navigate up, trust me. Took us 40 minutes to go up this way to the Summit (a few false peaks going up so don't get too excited, and don't lose hope either - you're almost there!).

Going down from the East Peak summit, took us just over 2.5hrs to get back to the cars via the South East route with the "shortcut" alternate exit point. The SE route offers some of my favourite views from Mt Barney - enjoy them - but there are a couple of sections that are tricky if you do this one alone.

Keep in mind, our times for this hike are more rapid than most as there were only two of us. Hiking with any more people ALWAYS slows the group down - and obviously depends a lot on your physical capabilities. If you're doing this trail as a day trip, I would recommend going up SE Route to the East Peak summit, then down to Rum Jungle, and then down Peasant's Ridge Route. It's easier going up SE than down, and you get to chill on your long hike back to the car via Peasant's.

DON'T ATTEMPT TO SUMMIT MT BARNEY IF YOU'RE UNPREPARED FOR WHAT IS USUALLY A 6-8 HOUR TOUGH HIKE. PRACTICE ON IT'S BABY BROTHER FIRST IF UNSURE - MT. MAROON.

TIP: I always use the MAPS.ME app on my phone for most of my hikes. It is the best, and most reliable, and free map app I have found and works on all the SE QLD hikes I have done. If in doubt, always go with someone competent who's done the trail before.