(Mt Barney National Park)
Mt Maroon is provides some of the best views in South-East Queensland, with 360 degree views ranging from Lamington NP through Mt Barney, the length of Main Range and the Moogerah Peaks.
Distance:
6km
Duration:
5 hours
Difficulty:
Medium
Getting there
The track leaves from the end of Cotswold Rd which turns South of Boonah-Rathdowney Rd 2.7km East of Maroon township. The track ends at a small dam about 3.5km from the turnoff.
Maps
The Maroon 1:25000 covers the area.
Route/Trail notes
Follow the open hill just south-west of the dam. A reasonably clear track leads up the hill reasonably quickly (I wouldn't say it's steep, but if you've been doing graded tracks it'll get the heart pumping).
This track leads into a gully with some spectacular cliffs off to the right. If you're into rock climbing this cliff offers some good options. Just search for Ruby of India to get started.
Climb up the gully, taking care not to dislodge rocks down on your fellow hikers. At the top of the gully a track leads through a small area of vegetation before emerging at the base of the main, bald peak. Simply wind your way up this peak to the large cairn at the top and enjoy the views.
Comments
18 Jul, 2010
Left home at 3.30am. Got there at 5.15am. Watched the glorious sunrise from the summit and descended. It was rather chilly at the top but a hot cup of coffee and the sun rise was worth the effort.
9 Jan, 2010
Due to a recent fire some of the green markers on the trees are not visible. Most of the markers are visible on the downward route but hard to find when making your way to the top. Two orange triangle markers are easily visible on the rocks. some trees have markings on them.
9 Jan, 2010
Very steep rocky walk. Navigational skills required.
31 Oct, 2009
Over the winter months the trail has been remarked. Just follow the green dots!
7 Jun, 2009
Still a great view. A recent rockfall (last year or so?) has made the track a little harder to follow, but still basically same approach.
Still worth the walk!
25 Apr, 2009
It's pretty steep going for the first few kilometres and not to mention poorly marked. We spent most of the walk trying to find the track, but instead found other walkers who were equally as lost.
If you keep following the ridge from the dam straight up, you'll eventually get to a nice cliff wall. Go back about about 200 metres and on the left (facing back to the carpark) there'll be a track down the valley.
Once you descend the valley and pass the rock climbing walls, you'll head up again with a bit of a scramble in points until you reach a camp site. Once again, we couldn't find any markers, so a bit of an explore lead to us following the creek bed, onto some rocks and then off to the summit!
Excellent views and an excellent walk. But once again, I only saw about 4 markers the entire time, and all but one was a green spot on a rock or tree (making it a bit difficult to spot). We completed it in under 5 hours, including a large time spent contemplating the view from the top with a nice cold drink.
1998
climbed in my younger, fitter days. a real challenge, but memorable