Panorama of Mt Barney viewed from Mt Montserrat

I had been hearing about today’s walk for some time. I was told to expect impressive views so I was once again scanning the weather reports all week for today’s conditions. From early in the week, the weather was going to be fine all week except for today where we had the possibility of early rain. That would be right I thought. But as the week progressed, the weather reports eased their view of rain and today I woke to sunny skies. Perfect!

Today we did the Mt Montserrat Circuit with Teresa of Horizon Guides showing us the way once again. This is what we were expecting from Teresa’s description:

Walk 8: Cleared Ridge – Mt Montserrat Lookout – Upper Portals Circuit. (Mt Barney NP) 6 – 7 hrs Moderate – ChallengingDate: Sunday 17th JuneDescription: Today’s walk begins on Cleared Ridge overlooking the Burnett Valley. From Yamahra Creek we gain the west ridge of Montserrat, continuing until the rocky summit is gained. The views of Mt Barney are superb. Descent is via a steep ridge that brings us to the junction of Yamahra Creek and Mt Barney Creek. After lunch at the Upper Portals we climb steeply up through open forest with more views of Barney’s peaks before joining the fire trail that returns us to Cleared Ridge. Montserrat has a remote feel and with most of the walking on indistinct trails, you’ll feel like you’ve been on a real ‘bushwalk”.

We all met in Boonah at 7:30am before travelling to Maroon. The end of the drive was only accessible by four wheel drive so we all piled into two 4WDs and drove to the trail head. This is an extract from Google Maps showing our route for the day.

We started off at a fairly high elevation (approx 720m) so we had very nice views of the surrounding mountains and Lake Maroon from the start of the walk.

Mt May and Mt Maroon

Lake Maroon

Mt Montserrat in the middle

We started by walking down to Yamahra Creek, crossing it before heading up the ridge towards the summit of Mt Montserrat. There were quite a few sights along the way with several types of birds and impressive bloodwood, tallowwood and stringy bark trees. We dropped about 175m down to Yamahra Creek before climbimg approximately 430m to the summit. The summit had an altitude of approx 1015m.

Crossing Yamahra Creek

Grace’s Hut

This is the start of the climb up the ridge to Mt Montserrat

Teresa sharing the love with a termite mound.

We all fitted inside this burnt out base of a tallowwood.

The top of the above tallowwood

When we reached the summit, there was this ‘Wow!’ factor. People were right, the views were magnificent. We stopped here for morning tea whilst soaking in the views. We could have stayed there for hours. But there was much more to see so we headed down the opposite side of the mountain towards Barney Creek and the Upper Portals. On the way down, one eagle eyed member of the group spotted a koala up in the trees. It was approx a 500m descent down to the creek.

Here we are on the summit of Mt Montserrat having morning tea

Mt Barney as viewed from Mt Montserrat

One last look before leaving the summit. That ridge on the right of the photo is Cleared Ridge and our way home.

Heading down…

There were some massive trees here. This would have been a monster in its day.

We could hear the water rushing down the creek long before we saw it. When we arrived at Barney Creek, we discovered that the creek had a very good flow, so much so that the normal method of crossing – rock hopping – was out of the question. So it was off with our boots and rolled up our pants and into the water. It was freezing! By the time I got across, my feet were aching from the cold.

But what a gorgeous creek! We stopped at the Upper Portals for lunch. I sat there just watching the water rush past and watching the eddies splash over the rocks. Magic!

Made it! Barney Creek.

The water flowing down Barney Creek was amazing.

Looking down Barney Creek at the Upper Portals

After lunch, it was time to start heading back. We went back via Cleared Ridge to make a circuit. We had to climb about 250m to reach the top of the ridge and was steep going in places. This was another breathtaking ridge to walk along with the rocky outcrops along the way and the views on either side of the ridge.

Climbing Cleared Ridge

That’s where we were. Mt Montserrat summit viewed from Cleared Ridge

Another view of Mt Barney viewed from Cleared Ridge

We walked along the ridge until we came to the end of a fire trail. This was a four wheel drive track and while the going was much easier now, it still contained some steep pinches which tested our tired legs. We followed this fire trail for about 3km before we made it back to the cars. All up, we walked for about 12.4km today.

A graph of the elevation through the walk.

Tired but happy, we drove back to Boonah before going our respective ways. While I didn’t struggle as much on this walk as some of the previous ones, my legs were much more sore at the end of it. There was a lot of up and down on this walk. But I wouldn’t have missed it for quids…