Mt Mitchell

Seen from the Cunningham Highway, the deep saddle in the above photo, Cunningham's Gap, separates Mt Cordeaux on the right (North) from the dual-peaked Mt Mitchell on the left (south). Today I did the 10.5km (return) graded track walk from Cunningham's Gap to the east peak of Mt Mitchell.

Getting there was a lovely 1.5 hour drive on a sunny winter morning, but when leaving the carpark at 7.45am, I was surprised at how cold it was. The carpark and first ten minutes of the track were hidden from the sun by Mt Cordeaux, so despite being rugged up in fibre-pile and rain-shell , I felt cold and my breath created visible water vapour. Soon enough I reached the sunny side of the mountain and was stripping off layers to avoid sweating. The sun and frigid wind tag-teamed through the morning to keep me alternating between hot and cold.

The views on this walk are spectacular, and start almost immediately - within about 15 minutes there are views of Mt Cordeaux, Mt Castle, and the valley stretching to the north-east. It was such a clear day today that I could make out the Brisbane CBD skyline.

The breeze in the trees had been such a constant aural companion on the north side of the mountain, that it was quite unnerving to turn a corner in the trail and suddenly be surrounded by silence. At about the same point the trail entered heavier, darker forest - quite spooky. Despite the forest being quite dry, there was water dripping from a crack in the roof of a small cave beside the trail (just a shallow depression in the rock really), and making a clearly audible splashing sound. Soon after entering this darker, quieter section of forest a bird was making a call that I've never heard before. I recorded it with my phone, and if I can find somewhere to host the sound file I'll put a link to it here.
[17 July: The bird has been identified by someone much smarter than me as Albert's Lyrebird]

Reaching the saddle between the west and east peaks at 9am, I was met with a sign warning of sheer cliffs ahead. That was no joke - the cliffs are hundreds of metres high. In Bushpeople's Guide to Bushwalking in South East Queensland (excellent book - if you find a copy, buy it!) it states that the cliffs have previously been responsible for a fatal accident. Fifteen minutes later I was enjoying the awesome views from the razorback on the east peak. North was Mt Cordeaux, Mt Castle, and the escarpment, south were numerous dramatic features including Spicer's Peak, Lizard Point, Mt Steamer and the Steamers. I only had the location map in Bushwalking in SEQ so wasn't certain which peak was which. My morning tea of coffee and chockies was interrupted by what I thought was thunder, until the sun reflected off a very fast moving military aircraft which had passed the peak heading south. The morning sun was beautiful but the wind on the summit was freezing, and when I left the peak at 10am there was still frost on sections of the track.

This was an easy walk with fantastic views and interesting, varied forest. I met no one on the walk up the mountain and only one walker on the way down - weekday walking has definite benefits.

Here's a map:



And here's some photos: