Thursday 15 December 2016

Girraween

In this article I am going to relate to my experiences in the Girraween area -- both on the most recent trip and on one I did, a year back, with Scouts.

The Girraween is by any measure an amazing place. While its largest granite outcrop -- Bald Rock -- is a fraction of the size of Uluru, the Girraween area gives you a sense of beauty that Uluru and the nearby Kata Tjuta lacks. Furthermore it is much closer to Australia's cities, being a mere three hours drive from Brisbane in Queensland's Granite Belt.

What does the place look like? The Girraween is located on top of a high plateau. A visitor to the valley below would never suspect it was there, if the signs were taken away. The top of the plateau is a large, undulating landscape, unremarkable except in one way: the rocks. They puncture through vast ribbons of eucalypt forest like needles, standing high above everything else but each other.

My first summit of such an outcrop was the climbing of South Bald Rock, a dome of granite that looks vaguely like a bald man's head. It happened on a Scout hike a year back. South Bald Rock is no moderate peak, approaching a height of 150 metres relative to surrounding plains. From the top we could see all the other peaks from a 360 degree view. To the immediate West lay the West and Centre bald rocks, then the rocky rise of Mount Norman that all but obscured Turtle and Castle Rocks, the Sphinx, and the Pyramids. To the East the view was more breathtaking: we could see Bald Rock, but behind it was a continuous ribbon of undisturbed forest that culminated in the gray spire of Mount Barney -- which was 90 kilometres away and should have been out of sight. Due to the curvature of the Earth, Mount Barney looked lower than us.

After that initial trip to the Girraween I vowed to return, and I finally did in October of this year. Not with Scouts this time, but in a family trip with friends. In Scouts, we completed the Eastern Peaks Circut: a lengthy hike involving climbs on the eastern (New South Wales border) side of Girraween National park. This time, we would visit the more built-up, western side of Plateau. Here was a visitor's centre and even a campground.

We were fairly ambitious on the first day, making a visit to the First Pyramid. The name of the Pyramid was inspired by its shape: a three or four cornered dome, tapering slightly at the top. To get to the summit we ascended a granite surface sloped at fifty degrees and smooth as glass. When we got to the top of this slope, we turned the corner and found the trail following a natural catwalk. Although the surface of rock was only tilted at thirty degrees or so, it tilted sharply toward a void I did not want to end up slipping into. My hands became shaky as I began the traverse, and I collapsed when I got to the other side.

The base is smaller than it seems.
We continued to the summit. The true summit was inaccessible as it was on top of a boulder, so we continued to a natural rock platform, from which we could see the climb route. Rather than sweeping 360 views we were promised by faraway views of the mountain, the view was dull and obscured by boulders. Still a good view, though. Then we scrambled to a viewpoint on the other side of the summit, which looked down upon another mountain: the Second Pyramid. It was weird, like a gigantic pudding dropped in the middle of the forest, and was completely devoid of trees or even subsidiary boulders. On the way back, we passed a boulder three times the size of a house yet balanced on a base the size of a dinner plate.

It was getting dark so we returned to the campsite.

The second day was much better. After some decision, we decided to walk to Turtle Rock.

Turtle Rock is a low dome of granite we saw from the Pyramid. It looks just like a sleeping turtle. Next to it is the Sphinx, a needle-like finger of rock poking out of a boulder field. The walk was supposed to take four hours, but we took five because we were exploring so much.

The walk began by climbing up through open eucalypt forest and scattered boulders. At long last, we got to the top of a ridge and followed it to the Sphinx. The Sphinx itself was not very impressive, but we spent an hour exploring the massive boulder field on all sides of it. A short walk brought us to the base of Turtle Rock. To get to the top, we scrambled up through a narrow gully. Then, just above a ledge with good views of The Sphinx, we were blocked from going further by a 5m cliff.
The turtle

The Sphinx and Turtle Rock from Castle Rock
I thought it was impossible to go further, but after some searching I found a slot crammed with boulders. If I scrambled along the boulders and chimney climbed through the slot, I could just make it. I did so. The going was hard though, and I almost got stuck twice. But I got to the top of Turtle Rock and was rewarded by 360 degree views.

On the return trip we climbed Castle Rock. It was much less exposed than The Pyramid and had much better views. After having climbed the mountain, we called it a day and retreated back into our tents.

Note: None of these pictures are ours.
Our final objective was Underground Creek. A short walk from the car park, Underground Creek was a creek that carved an overhang, which promptly buried the creek when it collapsed. Brave souls still venture into the cave below the overhang, to find the creek and more.

After thoroughly exploring Underground Creek, we set off for an offtrack adventure to find the fabled Aztec Temple (it's actually a jumble of boulders). We tried, and got as far as the ridge it sits on before turning back due to casualties.

The failed Aztec Temple expedition reminded us of how much we had not seen in the park. We will need to go back here sometime. As we drove home through the Main Range, I was reminded of how much there is to see in the world, and how we can only hope to see a fraction of it in our lifetimes.

The fabled Aztec Temple.

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