Mt Barney National Park is a mountainous area of Queensland not far from the NSW boarder.
The parks guide says "Rugged mountain peaks rise above the surrounding landscape in this wild, beautiful Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area that is home to many rare animals, plant species and communities."
Yup, that's it.
I was not fortunate to see any of those rare animals, and to be honest I didn't get to see much of the mountain peaks due to the low cloud/rain the region was experiencing while I was there.
The little video below tells the story of my visit & unplanned adventure up the mountain
When I set off for my short easy morning stroll to the waterfalls (12kms return) I decided to take all the gear I would need with me just in case I got caught out overnight - loads of warm clothing in dry bag, sleeping mattress, emergency blanket, 1st aid kit, torch just to mention some of the items, and of course I don't go anywhere without my satellite phone.
So my detour up the summit track, while unplanned, was not without the correct gear.
My fitness - well, while I only rate that as average for me, but I suspect that my 'average' might be rated as fit by others.
My met-on-the-track trekking buddy and I walked the track carefully and didn't go up anything we were not confident we could get back down.
The satellite phone was incredibly handy near the summit & to find our trail back down.
For some reason the trail was really well marked on the easy parts, but once it got a bit challenging the markers were way harder to find, no wonder people get lost up there.
We walked/scrambled up at a careful pace - and when the wind built up too much and the weather closed in, we headed down.
Here are the notes from the park guide to the summit track we took:
South Ridge summit route Allow 8–10hr to East Peak and returning via the same route. South Ridge summit route is a constant, strenuous climb. It traverses sections of very steep ridges and involves several climbs. Care must be taken near cliff edges and loose earth can make the route slippery.
The image below shows were we made it to.
There was a sheltered camp site (Rum Jungle) not far from where we turned around and would have made a good spot to spend the night if we needed to.
I was very happy we did not need to, and once we dropped down the mountain a little the extreme weather faded out to normal low cloud.
As the sign says, there is no easy way to climb Mt Barney.
I do recommend it - but you will need to be sure of foot, fit & healthy with the correct gear.
Pic shows Mikel & I safely returned to the carpark 7 hours after I left it at 8am.
A bit of a longer walk than I had planned this morning, but a great way to spend the day.
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