Bally Mountain - The Saddle Tallebudgera Valley, Queensland, Australia
By GurTheWanderer on 13-Mar-22. Waypoint GC9PT6P

With Christmas approaching, my bathroom scales are quivering in fear at thought of the damage my usual Christmas excesses might bring. I have been attempting a pre-emptive strike on my waistline. So when Seffnjarah suggested we go chasing few lonely hiking type caches, I enthusiastically agreed as it seemed a good way to up the step count.I had a late night last night at a concert, so Seff was left in charge of todays cache target list. He decided that a Hinterland Hilltop tour was in order - and selected a number of the Gold Coast Hinterland's finest hills for us to climb.Having already climbed our first hill at Tomewin, we followed it up with a walk up Currumbin Creek past Cougal Cascades to the old sammill, and another saunter up and down hinterland hills on the fire trails in a conservation park nearby. Bally Mountain was the final hill for the day. About two years ago, when the CO placed the other caches on Bally Mountain, we ventured out, climbed the mountain, completing a loop and claimed all the FTF's. Imagine our dismay to get home from that trip and check emails to discover another cache published up here after our return! Today we came to claim that last remaining cache. It was stinking hot and late morning when we arrived at the car park. With three hills under the legs already, we decided on the Bally 'lite' route to the saddle, following the trail anticlockwise and not going over the summit. It was a real slog up the ridge line in the heat today. I was certainly glad when the trail branched off to the saddle. Approaching GZ, I nearly walked on the fattest, biggest goanna I have ever seen. He was not at all scared of Seff and I, and largely ignored us. It took quite some prompting to get him to move off the trail so we could get past. After saying good bye to the goanna, it was one final rock scramble to GZ, where the cache was quickly found. Checking the logbook, we were amused by Team Herbz muddy initials, but noted some recent finders names are missing from the logbook. After a brief break, we turned around and headed back down the hill to the car. I was completely cooked by the time we got back there and made Seff promise it was only park and grab caches for the rest of the afternoon. Many thanks Gur Pete#8,127 @ [11:29]

Found it in all of 20 seconds, beautiful views

It has been many years since we head high grass. However, once at the top the view is still as breathtaking as it was before. The way down off the top to the saddle is quite steep and crumbly but we both made it in one piece. Mrs Herbz happened to stop right at GZ and made a quick find. We hadn't come prepared to look for caches so neither of us had a pen in our packs. We hunted around and found a stick dipped in mud and made a faint mark in the logbook. TFTC Gur and an FP from us.

Out caching this tiny little excuse of a hill with the CO today. We managed to do the full circuit in a little under 2 hours which I thought was a bit slow for this type of terrain but the co said he normally makes a day of it.Luckily I had forethought my day out with great preparation and was armed with a brand new box of 36 fine point Bic pens, in blue of course. The co told me there was no need to sign in and if I did my log would be DELETED so of course I complied and sadly refused to sign the log sheet to keep him happy.Thanks for the awesome day Gur, such a great part of the world with views to boot.

Congrats to Peppa on his billionth loop. Thanks for the cache GurTheWanderer

I last visited Bally Mountain about 10 years ago. I remember the route up here not being as defined as it is now. I guess word-of-mouth of this awesome location has brought more people up here. Thanks for the cache. Cheers

Davinells had a planThat plan required a CITO in January Somehow that meant Breadman75 and I had to leave Brisbane very, very early this morningPost CITO, Bally Mountain was our target theres some very attractive D/Ts up here the same D/Ts are on Lake Somerset, but thats another storyThankfully Wayn0 joined the adventure and we took a clockwise direction to find all 6 caches over a 9km hike that took just under 4 hours with 526m of elevation gain Brislions doing it in 3 hours is remarkableI was so far out of my comfort zone I thought Id be stuck up here clinging to the side of a rock face and finally get to use my waterproof jacket but thanks to brilliant friends I conquered the saddle and didnt vomit you could say I manned up Once I stopped hyperventilating I could take in the views and celebrate my billionth loop But Ill always be 42 behind Breadman Im gaining on Davinells though Thanks GurTheWanderer Find #10598

Peppa was all set to complete a long awaited DT loop last weekend but the lightning storm had other ideas. So we looked around for an alternative and Bally mountain was the answer. It was hot and humid and steep but we were on a mission and we couldnt have Peppa go home again empty handed. Breadman75 led the way, while wayn0 and I brought up the rear, keeping Peppa from looking anywhere but straight ahead. The views from GZ were awesome, but what was more awesome was seeing Peppa stumble over another loop. Well reach Breadman75 status one day Tftc GurTheWandererFind #5111

Now today is my day to climb this hill. I miss climbing with The Green Geckos and Muggle65. So today was my slow pace going uphill but fast downhill. It took me about 2hrs uphill and 1 hour downhill.
For me there was couple scary part with ridge lines to walk across.
I found 6 caches on this walk. Thank you The Green Geckos and Muggle65 for replacing caches that were missing.
Now I have tick of another hill climb in Queensland. But still a lot to go.
GurTheWanderer thank you for placing and maintaining this cache for geocaching community enjoyment

Loved the route to this one. We have replaced the cache. It is now a camo preform. Thank you for a fun cache

From the top lookout & last cache we started our decent and come across a steep dusty section where it was a bit slippery under foot. We had to swing off trees going down to the saddle. This part of the trek was great and lots of stag horns to admire.

I found what the CO mentioned in the clue - a ground level small log, below a mini ledge, over look the east valley.
However, nothing underneath it.
So I created a very temporary replacement - a pencil case from the previous cache, where I've put in a few pieces of paper and has a little swap. I've placed this on a little rock underneath the log.
Hopefully it will keep dry until the CO (my dear friend) returns.
A sketchy climb thus far, certainly has the adrenaline going!
A very great location.
I love your mountain..
Tftc

Couldnt find it
Found the view but no log.
Good day though.

*FTF* First to Find at 10:11 hr.

Today, the morning consisted of a a planned solo hike at Bally Mountain. An awesome yet challenging hike with great scenic views around the vicinity. I then started to make my way back north through Mudgeeraba, completing *Mudgeeraba History* Adventure Lab and grabbing a bakery lunch.
On my return back to Brisbane, I stopped at Toohey Forest Park in Nathan where I joined jesswrigley for a walk around. An enjoyable area with some nice lookouts of the mountains in the distance.

I seem to recall GurTheWanderer mentioning this mountain and that he was planning on putting a few geocaches around during one of our prior adventures, but the name of the mountain went whizzing past me as I had never heard of this area, and I was always up for any hiking adventure. Yesterday, Beardman75 suggested this possible hike option, but after a long day, we were both feeling a little exhausted. I mentioned this area to jesswrigley, when she started to pay particular attention to this area, and I soon found out that she had lived very close to the base of Bally Mountain. We discussed whether Team Warren hiking with baby Warren was a wise option, but we decided to play it safe, and consequently I took this hike solo.
I ended up departing the vehicle from the suggested parking waypoint at 08:35 hr, and in walking the circuit, I was back at 10:50 hr, hence taking a total of 2 hr 15 min. I lost some time from departing the summit and losing the footpad, and so needing to retrace my steps in finding the track, hence otherwise, it would have taken me two hours, and that was just taking a solid walk and not really taking too many rest stops (other than at geocaches). My distance that I walked was approximately 6.8 km with a total elevation gain of 450 m. I thoroughly enjoyed this hike, with spectacular views and only a few small sections of bouldering/clambering. Going through a small cave was pretty cool too.

Reading Crookedpete's log made me think whether there was an issue with this geocache that delayed publish, or were there more geocache hides scattered around, with the CO teasing a new publish every time a group made this challenging hike? I did have a chuckle at that thought (as that would be something that I would do).

After arriving at the summit, I was starting to become complacent that this walk wasn't too bad, and I was making very good time than what I had thought it would take. However, complacency always then comes with mistakes, and after reaching the end of the formal walking trail, I decided to take a RHS approach, of which the footpad soon ran out, and I was in dense bushes as the hill headed downwards. After sorting myself out and walking back to the trail on the map, I realised where I had gone wrong, and that ridge footpad was much better. There was some steep-ish descents, and a downwards rock climb, but when I followed the trails, I was in a good space. Walking the ridge from Little Bally (?) was certainly a highlight, and eventually I made it to this small summit. I had almost forgotten about this geocache when I went back into the app, and I soon realised that I was standing at GZ. From there, the cache was a reasonably quick find, and the cache container and logbook were in good shape. Thanks GurTheWanderer for the cache placement and ongoing maintenance. A Favourite Point from me for this fun adventure!

Some times in life, everything you touch turns to gold. Today was not one of those days.

At other times, it all turns to you-know-what. My companion, Seffnjarah and I walked past this one yesterday before it had been published, collecting the other new geocache offerings up here, only for it to be published a few hours later!

Not buying lotto tickets this week.

Published