Inspired by Cindy Bruchmann’s ongoing Five Shots series I’ve decided to post a little about my hiking jaunts. Lacking Cindy’s editorial ruthlessness I’m posting ten photos. Cindy hails from a beautiful part of the world and her photos are quite breathtaking so be sure to check it out.
First up for my series are photos from a day hike I took with my beautiful wife and an old friend last June. I often hike on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland Great Walk track which is 58km from start to finish. We parked at Mapleton Falls, hiked 7.2km approx. to Ubajee Walkers Camp and then came back the same route. You can read more about Great Walk here.
The Mapleton Falls lookout is wonderful but was closed at the time so instead we walked to the Peregrine Lookout just off our track by a few metres. It gives an interesting vantage of the same view as the more often utilised Falls lookout.
After that you pass through neighbouring properties on your way to Delicia Road and heading back into deeper rainforest. On the day we went there had been some rain and we noted we were on a path that was not used as much as other ones. It was exciting though to be finally doing a new part of The Walk we hadn’t done before.
After walking through the rainforest for a while we were happy to get the next part of the walk where some land clearing had occurred for multi-track use.
It impresses at first but if I’m being honest I was ready for new terrain by the time we neared Ubajee Walkers Camp.
Unlike previous walks to Baroon Lookout, Kondalilla Falls and Mapleton Falls I had no idea what awaited us at Ubajee lookout and secretly feared it would be a tad disappointing. However while the lookout is just a modest perch on the side of a hill the view was just as spectacular. 5kms from any car parks it felt more isolated and earned as a result too. It made it all worthwhile as we began the 7km trip back.
As we neared home it was nice to take one final view from Peregrine lookout at sunset.
I leave you with one spectacular photo of a truly beautiful thing.
-by Lloyd Marken
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