Mount Barney, North Ridge/South Ridge

Having spent most of the last few months nurturing a dream of scaling Mount Barney's North Ridge, I was hardly deterred by today's forecast of light rain and bush burning (proudly announced by the weather bureau and the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services, respectively - God bless their persistent diligence).

The Mount Barney region is well known for spectacular wildflower displays in Spring, with most of the attention centred on nearby Mount Maroon. As I discovered on this trip, the eastern slopes of Mount Barney are just as impressive and diverse as any display I've seen elsewhere on the Rim.

Even while traversing the lower slopes before reaching the mountain proper there was plenty to see.

View to Logan's Ridge from the eastern foothills

Podolobium ilicifolium ?

Hardenbergia violacia crawling over an Acacia plant

The turnoff from Logan's Ridge was quite obvious with a large cairn in the middle of the trail. There may not be much of a track branching northwards at this point, but with only one major gully and ridge to traverse before dropping into Rocky Creek, the adjacent North Ridge is pretty easy to locate.

North Ridge immediately opened up, trading scrubby eucalyptus bush for glorious sloping rock slabs. The views were impressive and the variety of flowers exploding out of every crevice was incredible. Both continued to improve the higher I climbed.

Acacia brunioides

Mount Maroon from North Ridge

East Peak and North Peak, still partly hidden by residual morning cloud

One of the numerous 'false summits' en route to North Peak

Leptospermum species

Leucopogon melaleucoides

Bossiaea rupicola (red bush pea)

Hibbertia monticola

Hibbertia patens. Note the difference in leaf structure to previous picture

Patersonia species

Pushing on ahead, I began checking off the surrounding peaks as they disappeared into the mist and haze below: Isolated Peak, Tom's Tum, Mount May, Mount Maroon. It started to rain a little, and I got to wondering how tricky the rock work would become under a wetter scenario. After negotiating yet another false summit, North Peak finally came into view.

Smooth open slabs on the approach to North peak

Hazy views to Isolated Peak, Tom's Tum and Mount Maroon

The final stretch involved a steep climb over slimy rocks and through thick scrub made wet by the notch adjacent to North Peak, which apparently acts as a funnel when it rains.

On a clear day, I'm sure that a commanding view at the summit would be fair reward for the intrepid traveller's hard morning climb. Today I settled for crawling into a relatively sheltered nook to avoid the worst of the smoke as it came blasting from the west, squinting to try and make sense of the strange, alienesque landscape before me.

Is that Midget and Leaning Peaks I can see?

West Peak through the smoke

Not feeling particularly comfortable being buffeted about, rained on and smoked at, I quickly sought the safest approach down to the headwaters of Rocky Creek. The major obstacle is a steep gully, which must be negotiated without the aid of any discernible path. After making some dubious drops down slippery slopes, I was soon climbing again. Next target: East Peak.

North Peak seems to tower over Leaning Peak from the North-East Saddle

The scramble to the top of East Peak felt hot and exposed, despite intermittent cloud and smoke. There was no obvious route, but keeping to the rock slabs and avoiding scrubby heath seemed to be the easiest way up. On the summit I met several small groups enjoying a break, most of them having climbed South or South-East Ridges.

Almost there - a familiar view materialising from behind

The smoke's source: Mount Ballow burns beyond West Peak

With the imminent arrival of inclement weather, a planned descent via South-East Ridge was abandoned in favour of the easier South Ridge. This decision turned out to be a winner, as the heavens proceeded to drench Barney for a good half hour during the downward climb. I image this would have made SE Ridge far more challenging.

A particularly tame bird at the old hut site joined me for a drink

I have heard that walkers often mistakenly begin descending Egan Creek from the Rum Jungle, but I was still surprised to see a small group actually doing this while I was taking a break in the saddle. The trick is to crest a small knoll initially before gaining the South Ridge. Fortunately the walkers avoided a lengthy descent, which would have been quite difficult in the wet.

After the brief downpour, I ran into a mother-daughter pair on their way to camp at the summit. The girl seemed remarkably familiar, and later I wondered if she was the same nice person I spoke to on Mount Roberts a few weeks ago. Her mother was having a hard time climbing with the heavy pack, but it was great to see families getting together to hike and camp out in the bush together.

Sloping slab on South Ridge, slimy from rain

Acacia species