Delilah's Cache Cedar Creek, Queensland, Australia
By If and ruzzelz on 02-Aug-08. Waypoint GC1ETGM

I have heard rumours of attempts to reach Mt Samson from the west for years but never heard of any successful attempts. So when wayn0 asked if I was keen to give it a go, of course I said yes. We headed off from the Tennyson Woods car park just after 6:30am and followed the familiar trail in.

We dropped south down off the ridge from Mt D'Aguilar, across a creek and up to the southern of the neighbouring twin peaks. The terrain was largely open although we did encounter several patches of thick wait-a-while. Heading north to the larger peak, we found a large cairn and some pink tape so we knew we were on the right track.

We followed the pink tape all the way down the spur wayn0 had earmarked in planning until we reached a saddle where we headed to the right to angle up towards the higher saddle below the west Mt Samson peak.

This turned out to be a lot more overgrown, again with large patches of wait-a-while but as we got bigger, it started to thin out. It was here that we randomly stumbled across an old rusted winch wheel which suggested logging activity in the area. This was reinforce shortly later when we reached the ridge which had obviously been cleared and was now completely overtaken by lantana.

The one GPX file I'd been able to locate ended here as that group had turned back rather than face the interminable wall of lantana. But wayn0 and I are more stubborn and had come equipped with machetes. 350m later we finally broke through the wall of lantana and the walk up to the summit became a lot easier.

We reached the old trig point around 12pm and, after locating the cache, sat down in the grass for a well deserved lunch and rest.

We discussed finding a way to skirt around below the lantana on our way back. But we had noticed reflectors nailed to trees all the way from the western peak to the main summit and, on our way back, we noticed they headed south down to a saddle that wayn0 had marked as a possible route. So we decided to follow them.

The reflectors were well placed and we followed the trail down an easy descent always with one or more in sight. When we reached the saddle, the reflectors continued, presumably up to the next peak. I was dying to keep following them and see where they went but we were mindful of getting back before dark so we turned right and began to contour along the slope back to where we'd left the pink tape behind.

This was a long, hard section to negotiate and, to avoid steep gullies, we found ourselves almost back up on the ridge once or twice. But finally we were back on the main ridge with the pink tape. From there it was a tough climb back up to the unnamed peak with the large cairn.

From this peak, we decided to follow a GPX file I'd found which headed down a gully, rather than retracing our steps. This turned out to be a good move as we soon found ourselves within 200m of the Mt D'Aguilar trig point and made the final push up.

By this time it was getting dark under the canopy and we were glad to be back on an actual track which looked like a highway in comparison to what we'd done all day. From here we put our heads down and finished it off as quickly as our tired legs could.

In all, our route took us 10hrs 26min and we covered about 17.5km with about 875m of elevation. It is obviously not the easiest way to reach Mt Samson but, with landholder issues on the eastern side, maybe its a viable alternative? I notice that this cache hasn't been found since I was there almost two years ago. Hopefully someone can find something useful in our journey and it can get some more visitors. Thanks again for the cache Ruzzelz and If

Here is my track log: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/mt-daguilar-to-mt-samson-139462989

Last week I joined geo-buddy Beardman75 for a walk to the summit of Mount D'Aguilar after a nearby Event. We also visited the nearby Piper Comanche Wreck. During the walk we talked about Mount Samson and how new paranoid land owners have put a stop to accessing the traditional trailhead. They have even contacted various websites and requested route details to be removed. I've always been curious to know what people like this fear??

I mentioned I was going to try to access the Mount Samson summit from the Mount D'Aguilar summit and due to the long period of dry weather we have been in, next Sunday was the day. He said he was keen to join the expedition so plans were made. We met at dawn, 6:30am at Tennyson Woods car park and were away by 6:45. An easy walk to the Mount D'Aguilar summit and old trig, arriving 7:30. There was better lighting on this trig today so images taken.

During the week I had analysed topo maps and set some rough waypoints. We decided to continue south along a spur then turn east for a few kms, up and over a large knoll. Vines and wait-a-while plants made walking slower than desired. We then went NE to avoid a deep gully. We decided to try to access the summit from the northern side so we headed to another large knoll. Have I mentioned wait-a-while plants OMFG! Unfortunately we arrived at a ridiculous wall of lantana. Oh well, we are less than 2km to the summit, let's do this!! 45 minutes later we had bashed and cut our way through over 300m metres of this south american bitch that shouldn't be here! Once past the wall it was a pleasant walk to the summit through ferns, banksia, and 'nice' flora. We arrived at the trig location and summit at midday and it was time for a well deserved break! This summit and trig was used in a ten year trigonometrical survey of SE QLD that was completed in 1893. A 'new' timber quad structure was installed here in 1944. You can see where it was positioned. It would have been a grand site standing over 5m! A partial cairn which is possibly some remains of the unpiled original trig station with a wooden post in it, possibly from the 1944 installation is what now sits at this location. We didn't rest for long due to the fact that Queensland has very short days at this time of year so it was a quick rest/lunch/drink then time to head west. We wanted to try to avoid the lantana so towards the bottom of the first spur we talked about heading south. It turns out someone else had been here and put reflector squares on a bunch of trees heading towards a southern knoll. This proved to be a good route and we followed it for a while but left this route and headed NW around the deep gully we previous avoided. This route avoided the big lantana wall but it didn't avoid the copious amounts of wait-a-while vine, we were both getting very tired of this awful plant. We decided to take a different route back to the summit of Mount D'Aguilar. Beardman75 had a bushwalking club's route loaded on his GPS. It was a trek up and over the Mount D'Aguilar summit then semi-circled around it. We joined this route once past the gully and wandered down a dry creek bed and gorge. This was one of the nicer parts of the hike. As we got closer to the Mount D'Aguilar summit there were small patches of lantana but they were easy to get through. The wait-a-while was not easy. Also, we encountered ferns with barbs.. WTF EVOLUTION, WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN! It was so nice to reach a track! The last hour was an easy stroll back to our starting point. No vines. No wait-a-while. Completed 5:15pm

This was a tough and mostly unpleasant hike but I wanted to see if it was possible. Our day was definite T5 but if done again with what we know now it would be a T4.5. The cache coordinates are perfect and the cache and contents were in great condition.
Cheers

Today, I joined Beardman75, GurTheWanderer, and karicka, as we targeted a few high terrain geocaches hiking up Mount Kobble followed by Mount Samson. We returned back to Samford for a bakery lunch, when a few of us spent the early afternoon walking around Samford completing the *Samford Village Heritage Tour* Wherigo, and a few other caches in the vicinity. A hot and humid day for the morning, but at least the rain held off for it to turn out to be a nice spring day.

Although there were a few ways to get up to this geocache, the group's consensus was to find *Hipathites* initially, and then follow the tracks all the way to Mount Samson. It was probably the longer route, but at least there wasn't too much difficult ascents or bush bashing (except when we got close to GZ). All in all, it took about five hours for us to return back to our car, with maybe three hours to get to GZ, and two hours to return back. There were a few steep hills and drops along the fire tracks, and as I mentioned, the main track disappeared when we were a few hundred metres away from GZ, and from there, we were following a footpad up. This wasn't too bad, but there were a few thorny ivy parts and wait-a-while ivy that was a little annoying. The rocky outcrops were pretty cool though.

We got to the top, where unfortunately there weren't too much good views, but we did have a rest, before then finding and signing ourselves into the geocache. Thankfully, it was a reasonably quick find, and the cache container and logbook were in good shape. Thanks If and ruzzelz for the cache placement and ongoing maintenance. It was also nice to have found this cache with 427 days [14.0 months / 1.17 years] of unfound love since its last find on 4/07/2020.

That’s a tough walk. Took the long way in and picked up another trad on the way. Some stunning views. Great walk with Karicka, DavidWazza and Breadman.

I AM GUR

After finding Hipathites, Karicka, DavidWazza, Gur and I continued along the ridge. After the fire trail disappeared, it got steeper and steeper. Enjoyed a snack at the top before making the find. Just over 5hrs and 14km in total. Thanks for the cache

Walked up in a good group, started with Hipa at the foot hills. Then is was plenty of more up.
Followed a good, mowed, track along a ridge before following a faint footpad for the last bit.
Some good views to be had along the walk
Thank you for hiding this geocache If and ruzzelz

R

Sharing a pic of the original log! Many thanks to Lat n Long Junkee for supplying me with the image and contributing to my collation of historical geocaching pics.

5385

Saturday. Well… not sure where to start with this one! Last night I checked google earth for tracks and terrain (trying to work out how long this walk would take). Boy was I wrong! In the end, this walk took us 7 hours from leaving the car to returning to the car. Way more ups and downs than I was expecting. Google has a lot to answer for! I got to practice carry some extra weight in the ol’ back pack by borrowing OBC backpack. This was a tricky walk, but we had a steady path most of the way. After looking at some magnificent views and checking out a fairly solid table and chairs, along with a fantastic view of Lake Samsonvale, we were battered by the cool wind in the open spaces but made good headway. Thankfully the track was well made along the way until we hit the climb to the summit. We did have a choice a couple of times and managed to pick the wrong choice, but soon realised that we needed to be on the parallel track. Once we hit the track to the summit, the track virtually disappeared and the up really started (not that we didn’t have a heap of up up up and down down down). We all followed Prime up the hill. We came across a bit of wait-a-while, some other nasty bits of plants and some steep rocky outcrops. Lovely birds nest plants and lichen were also aplenty.

On the way back down, it was a bit dicey and we lost the path for a bit. Mr Prime took a bit of a fall and managed to crack his GPS screen . We didn’t take too long to get down off the mountain top, thank goodness, and the trip back was longer than I remembered it when going up. Had to laugh - every time we thought we’d had the last climb up the hillside, we had more up! It seemed never ending at times. It was so lovely to finally finally get back to the flat bit of land where we left Hipathites this morning. At least it was all down hill from this point. In fact, I reckon you could have scooted down that hill without brakes and ended up in Samford (if the road was straight). Seven hours, 15km and an elevation up to about 705m. All in all, a good day’s hike. I seem to have pulled up really well, but tomorrow may show a different story . Lots of fantastic views on the way to getting this cache and apart from the windy which was blowing at a rate of knots today, the weather was perfect! Thank you to my caching buddies for the day today - OBC, PPrime and 1Minniemoo

This was the 2nd of 2 caches found on this outing.

Thanks ***If*** for showing us this place

Some great cache logs there guys
Lots of suffering for the art of geocaching is evident in every word

But of course it all felt sooooo good when you got home that night didn't it ??
And even after the endorphin rush has worn off,
you can bask in the glory of knowing that YOU have stood on that most prominent of peaks visible from anywhere on the dark side of towne
Bragging rights !! [^]

Today an intrepid four of us (myself, oz_bean_counter, 1MinnieMoo and Mrs Slow Puncture) conquered Mount Samson - starting early enough to enjoy Sunrise at the first (little) summit. From there we found a new way to our destination (somewhat more effort than anticipated), emerging, successfully, back out of the wilderness some seven hours later a smidge tired.

This was meant to be a quick morning's walk in the park, a training run for a bigger hike next month. Our approach meant a lot more of the upness (1.3kms worth with many downs in between) and a 15km across hike - way more than was intended for this one. Consider us trained. But we did see some stunning views along the way. A clear Brisbane Winter morning, in the bush, up high ... there is little better places to be. The bush changed a few times as we went. Always interesting. And quiet - bush quiet - other than our steady crunching of steps and heavy breathing. (And the talking - although less of that up the steeper parts).

After nearly four hours we emerged onto the densely bushed 'top', and after a short hunt the well hidden container was discovered, signed, and we retired to a small outcrop nearby with views to the north. Did I mention the amazing views up here?

The muscle soreness will ease, the memories, the achievement, the stories, will last forever (some things I cannot. ever. forget. Despite therapy.) A fantastic morning in great company - and views that literally took our breath away (a lot). A FP of course - my thanks to If and ruzzelz for bringing this beautiful location to our attention. And my thanks also to my hiking girls for the always delightful company, support and encouragement ... despite this being tougher than advertised (by me). Success is always the best was to celebrate such a challenge.

Thanks If and ruzzelz for entertaining me at this location.
*{Overall find #7832}*

4/7/20 Find #3882
The plan today was for Pprime to collect oz_bean_counter and I super early and head here to meet Mrs Slow Puncture at the start of the walk to Hipathites, to make it to the top of that one for a coffee in time for sunrise, and then continue on from there to this one, with both these caches having sat on the to-do list for far too long.
Parking the car and setting off on the well paved track at 5:45am, we made it to the first cache at 6:15am. Then we headed a few metres more to the open flat ground, where we set ourselves up for our coffees, with Pprime firing up the jetboil. We enjoyed the warmth of the coffees while watching the sun come up, on this rather brisk morning.
Then it was time to set off on the rest of our adventure for the day, an adventure that ended up being much more gruelling than any of us had previously expected.
With the non-stop ups and downs, I soon came to realise that I was actually the least fit of the crowd here today, and the journey certainly became quite the struggle physically and mentally.
But on and on we continued, with much less ridge line than we had thought we would have. Mrs Slow Puncture must have been on some serious caffeine today, as she kept getting up the pace and running up parts of the hill before turning around and taking evidence, or was that photos, of the rest of us dragging our backsides along.
With serious persistence however, we made it, and after dropping packs the search for the cache began.
I’m sure Pprime was just laying around when he happened upon the cache tho, he looked so comfortable as we all headed over to join him, but we were all grateful, and with names in the log, we then found ourselves a nice flat spot to sit and have a some nourishment and rest before the arduous return journey began, a journey that did almost seem to break every one of us by the end, apart from Slow Puncture - I don’t know just what she was on today!! Whatever it was though, I’ll have some please!
With the whole journey completed in approximately 7 gruelling hours, it was time to take our exhausted selves home, where I immediately had a hot shower, donned pjs and curled up in bed with electrolytes, coffee, chocolate and Netflix.
Thanks for the cache If, it certainly did challenge me out there today with the route we chose, but I’m pleased to say with fantastic company it didn’t beat me. For the fact you have seriously pushed me past many of the physically difficult hikes I have done before I am painfully handing over one of my favourite points. Now to not get out of this bed for the next few hours. “Kids, you’re cooking, and you can bring my dinner straight here to me tonight”!

I really feel like having an ice bath, a beer, and to curse the CO's mother. Repeatedly. Using words of french origin.

The plan for the day sounded simple, start with Hipathites (GC1B0B7) and then make our way the 3.8 km along the ridgeline to Delilah's Cache, and back the same way. Easy peasy! I knew the walk up to Hipathites was a killer (we'd done it already, and scoped out the path leading to Delilah's from there). Oh we were so naive! We stopped here for a coffee, to warm up (or to cool down? the wind was very "fresh" and I don't mean minty), enjoy the views (amazing!) and prepare for what was ahead of us.

This walk was beautiful. Really really beautiful. We could see the city skyline, Lake Samsonvale, and even Moreton Island and the big sand dunes. I'm sure the stunning scenery served as a distraction, and lulled us into a false sense of security as we set out making our way to Delilah's Cache.

Prime was carrying a full overnight pack, I was carrying an almost full overnight pack (which Mrs SP thankfully carried most of the way from Hipathites to Delilah's). Half way along the path we saw signs that we could have driven a 4WD up here - why didn't we think of that earlier? There was a full BBQ set up with a heavy table, chairs, solar lights and a firepit. Bring that on .

Getting closer to Mt Samson, we had ascended and descended two significant "hills". and now needed to ascend Mt Samson itself. Lots of lawyer's vine, rocky outcrops, and strangler figs. Absolutely stunning. Less talking by this stage - chatter and innuendo was replaced with heavy breathing, the occasional wow, the occasional curse, but mostly focus on putting on foot in front of the other. We finally made it to the top, 4 hours later, thoroughly exhausted but delighted to find this cache. There are fleeting views from the cache, but better views just a few meters away at a rocky outcrop looking north east. Rest, food, water was in order. Plus some photos and a jacket to warm up.

Now to come back. The descent was steep, moreso with a heavy pack sans hiking poles. Those two "hills" we ascended and descended on the way here were mocking us - knowing that we had to conquer them again was not sparking joy in my calves and glutes. My calves and glutes are not talking to me anymore and I don't blame them :p.

At every turn it looked like we were done with the "up", til we rounded the next bend, and there was more. And more. And more. INSERT FRENCH WORDS HERE. I have questions - why is Mrs SP running up that hill? And how does she still have energy left? I feel like I'm dying!
Seeing Hipathites again was music to my glutes. Or as the Divinyls would sing, "there's a fine line between pleasure and pain". Hey maybe we crossed that line this morning!

The return journey was 15 kms with 1300m elevation gain, 7 hours in total. Hiking from Hipathites is a perfectly reasonable path to get to Delilah's, there is nothing dangerous or technical about it, but it was physically the most challenging bushwalk I've done to date - and I've done a few beauties (Northbrook Creek, England Creek, Mt Superbus). There were some short sections that were marked private property, but on the other side of the fence would have been fine and easily walkable.

Time to rest, shower, sleep, curse, and question my life. But also, sit in quiet contentment, because despite this epic whinge, it was amazingly beautiful and totally worth it. Thanks for the great company - 1MinnieMoo, Mrs SP, and Prime.

You get an FP for this one without hesitation. TFTC and TB visit.

#4947 [15:08] we did a beautiful walk today with friends including four kids and two puppies everybody was so brave and we made the summit without issues. the path was quite obvious, no need to use machette which we didn't have
regarding to access - we had two cars, the final one at S 27°17.499 E 152°49.072 where the sign "private property" was across the road heading up. we saw that when we arrived from the top. my friend blech met the farmer during his previous trip who said it was there because of people driving up and leaving rubish. he had no problems with hiking up. i think for all good feeling it would worth ask him for general geo-permition to avoid next issues.

thank you for the cache, it's on its place in good condition

Epiphany Part 1
With a free Tuesday, the Domsky duo decided it was time for a good walk, as Mr Domsky is keeping his legs and backpack-carrying muscles in condition before he heads off to do a walk in Tasmania in a week or so.
Seeing the inactivity on this geocache, and knowing from a bit of discussion on FB that it required a good walk, the Domsky duo thought a reconnaissance trek was in order to see what this was all about. We thought we could at least start the journey, even if we did not make the entire trip. Previous comments had led us to understand that there would be no major rockclimbing involved, so this seemed like a good walk to tackle.

Did someone mention machetes?
We think two per person would be in order. The lantana and long grass are so happy after the recent rain. The lantana flowers would smile with wickedness if they possibly could.
The other option could be a helicopter drop to the top of the mountain. That would be very civilised......I have often thought that would be a very fun way to collect a smiley on a geocache!
No water on the mountain today, so we were glad to have plenty of our own.
As a previous finder said, this walk is “Up, up, up”! And it was!
The weather was slightly overcast, and the temperatures didn’t promise too much heat, so it seemed like a good day to give this a go.
Armed with our machetes, battery-powered whippersnippers, Indiana Jones hat, vegemite, sultanas (also mentioned by a previous finder) and of course the trusted whip, off we went. Did I also mention that Mr Domsky’s knees are on the closer side of octogenarian rather than septuagenarian. Yes, true! Like Tigger, he positively bounced his way through this walk, while I took the slightly more sedated walking speed, perhaps not quite as slow as Pooh Bear.
The most difficult part of this walk, as alluded to by other finders, was exactly where the Trail-head began. In the end we did do some Lantana bashing before we set off on what was a very good Trail.
For the first couple of kilometres, it was steady Firetrail, nothing that a set of walking poles and steady going couldn’t manage. Yes, it was up, up, up!
After that, we arrived at what we would refer to as a ”saddle” or plateau, and then we came to the real bit of the walk.
.
Actually, given this cache has not been found for 18 months, I would say that the track is still frequented by bushwalkers. True, we kept looking ahead, to make sure we could see where the track was leading us, however it was always there, albeit somewhat a little hidden for a few metres here or there.
The last section of the walk is a pretty steep climb, however always safe and we just took our time. The walking poles, and the Indiana Jones hat were very useful for this, however we had no use for the whip!
At GZ, we stopped for a while, but not until that log was signed! After that we enjoyed our reward of vita-wheat biscuits, vegemite, sultanas and water.
Like some other mountains we have climbed, the views on the way up were more spectacular than right at GZ, although this one unlike some others we have climbed had no leeches at the top. That was a bonus.
We collected a TB from the container. We note the container is in perfect condition with everything dry and safe in a good hiding space. There was a bag of wooden golf tees inside, however without our golf clubs at GZ, we gave them a miss.
TBC

Epiphany Part 2.

Then it was time to re-trace our steps and head back down. A couple of times we mislaid the track, and we were grateful to have our wikilocs functioning, to get us back on track. We hope our machetes have carved a better route for those who will follow.
The return trip was slow and uneventful, with some very strong wind and grey skies. No rain thankfully.
And then we arrived back at the road.......and that is when the next part of this journey became a little more complicated. As we exited the track on to what we thought was public property, Basin Rd, (a very steep single car road, in good condition and a bitumen surface), we could see a Pajero parked directly across the road not allowing any car to go up or down. Clearly this was a message for us, and now our car was parked in a safe place higher up the road, politely on the verge, of what we had assumed was a public road. Now, we were blocked in, and definitely not going anywhere until we had found and met the owner of the Pajero. In the distance we could hear a whipper snipper, from the second top house on the road and thought we should follow the sound.
With a little trepidation we headed to the sound of the whipper-snipper, hoping we hadn’t misheard that sound to that of a chainsaw!
As Mrs Domsky approached the sound, A stranger sauntered over, his weapon in hand. Clearly he had the upper hand as we could go nowhere without our car. Fortunately his weapon was the whipper-snipper, not anything else…....
After a bit of gruff introduction, and polite conversation from us, he softened, (phew) , and told us that this area, and where we had taken the track was now private property. Given our car was “impounded” by his, we didn’t have much choice but to apologise and feign total ignorance. We did want to get home today. In the end, with everyone relaxing somewhat, we actually gave him a lift back to his Pajero in our car. If anyone comes across him, his name is David, and he is a man of the bush and knows how to hold his own. He was polite, but was not going to give in.
He said that the land we were on had previously been public, government land, but now, that particular access point is now private.
So, here’s the question: is this access point private or public?
We feel happy to have been able to walk to the top of Mount Samson, but is there a more public access point?
At what point does Basin Rd become private?
One thing we can add is that parking near the start of the Trail, where we began our walk is very limited. Had our car been parked much further down the hill, no one would have spotted us on the walking Trail. It was our car that was apparently the giveaway.

We haven’t checked for ticks yet!
A great walk. Not as daunting as we may have thought. At least there are trails!
Nice to grab the smiley here and be able to move the TB on.
Thanks If and ruzzelz.
We add a favourite for all sorts or reasons!
Domsky

Good to see the FB posts have generated some activity up here. The entry point to the walk is a public road to my knowledge and then the fire trails are on private land.

A BIG thanks to domsky and ruzzelz for updates on access to this cache !!
The local bushwalking clubs have also removed details of this walk from their website.
So getting to Delilah's Cache is going to be a real challenge now

When ruzzelz and I initially tried to reach this summit and place the cache,
we didn't know about the 'other' route,
and tried to access the summit from the Mt Glorious Road.
We became a bit 'lost'

So gave up on that approach and hid the cache container we had at "Palm Gully",
[GC102FM](https://coord.info/GC102FM).
Thus the best way to the top would be from the start point of that cache,
and through the rainforest along ridgelines to GZ.
Should be possible !!

Terrain rating upgraded a bit to reflect that

Wohoo! Took my geo-kids and geo-friends and we made it! I love this place, we are coming to this area for years and we never made it this far. Having a chat with @VikoCZ quite a while back I've put this one on my list and then I've been just waiting for a right opportunity.

Saturday morning we headed off from Redcliffe and parked in nearby where it said 1.9kms to your destination - 2,5hrs later we made it. It was beautiful weather, not too hot not cold, few drops of rain, kids stuffed up with chocolate

I've been surprised finding that this cache haven't been found for nearly 10 months, but it is at its place and all looking well.

Thank you @If and ruzzelz for creating and maintaining this cache and congratulations to its 10th aniversary!

TB IN: TB Röda Kräftan

Found this one no problem. Drove most of the way up and then walked the rest of the way to the top. Didn't specifically go looking for a cache but when I got to the top I knew there must be one up here somewhere.

Log a little damp but cache is good condition.

It is only now I have the strength to log this. Also the memory of this experience has faded slightly since that eventful day. On a lovely Autumn day with my geowife Dora the Explorer we headed out. Following comments in earlier logs we parked near the Stop sign. Don't do this. Continue on the road past letterbox for 395. Drive up the hill and you will come to a left hand hair pin cnr. The firetrail starts just past the apex. This was all discovered on our walk back. OK, back to the Stop sign spot. We left our car and followed a powerline trail, all very nice, then it all fell in a heap. We had to start bush bashing through acres of lantana straight up the side of the hill. This continued until we reached some private land, snuck through and back onto public land to continue our mountain goat ascent. Wife said her GPS showed a track further up. So I followed. At last we reached thr track and it was a joy to walk along after all the bush bashing. We soon reached a small offshoot on the right as GPS pointed in that direction. Don't take this pad, stay on the firetrail right to the end where it merges into a foot pad. When we took the wrong turn it was ok for a while then everything disappeared. Vertical bushbashing 500m plus took over and I was on my hands and knees. To get over lantana I surfed over the top then crawled up. Around and over huge boulders, along animal tracks and grabbings saplings to stay upright.

We were both exhausted when we reached GZ, thankfully we stumbled literally on a bush track just before reaching and finding cache. As we were running out of daylight we had to find this track and get off hill before dark. We got it and it was such a relief to be going on a formed path after so much bashing. The path then merged into a firetrail, hooray. Exhausted we slowly made our way back. I kissed the car when we got back and we both crawled inside, marriage still intact. This was the hardest walk I have ever done due to the neverending bush bashing. Never again!

Was horrible. We went the wrong way. We went down the track that followed the powerlines. Don't do this. We should have drive right to the end of Basin Road, past 395 and up the bitchumen road. There is a dirt track there.

We then bust bashed straight up the mountain as the road we were on went into someone's driveway. We then continued up the mountain with some lantana bashing along the way. We came out near a clearing with a camp fire and rubbish bin.

We then headed along the 4wd track and saw a minor track branching off that someone had cut through the lantana. Don't Do this. Stay on the main track.

We spent quite a lot of time busy bashing through the lantana and climbing up rock boulders to get away from the lantana. We finally arrived at gz and it was a quick easy find.

We then found a nice easy trail on the way back. If we didn't my husband was so exhausted that he was going to stay overnight. We made this into a t5.

The trip back took 1/4 of the time as the trip up. We both agreed the worst cache we have ever done. We are both absolutely exhausted.

SeffnJarah was the sadistic architect behind today's adventure. Our usual third wheel, SwellerFungus, was unavailable getting his bikini line plucked and his noggin' polished with *beeswax* (or some other equally pathetic excuse). In any event, Fungus had already done this one.

Knowing Fungus was unavailable, Seff designed a two *prong* torture test to check the progress of my recent fitness kick. The first prong of the test involved climbing from Hipathites Rd to the Hipathites cache. This first test involved running the guard dog gauntlet on Hipathites Rd, a mild smattering of lantana and a brief introduction to lantana's uglier, nastier bully of a brother (which I named Lucifer). Lucifer is fairly innocuous looking shrub but has these hidden thorns that jump out and grab you when you least expect it.

Having successfully completed the first test (just a warm up, practice test really) upon signing the Hipathites logbook, we continued up the track to the cleared pad at the top. Once I had wiped the sweat from my eyes, I took in the great view. The morning sun was just starting to burn off the fog in the valleys. The lactic acid was still burning in my legs, when we set off down track behind the flat pad up over the next hill and down again to a gate with a big private property sign.

Now, in designing today's torture test, Seff had done his homework and knew a public road ran along the ridge line, with public land to the south and private land to the north. Me thinks the private land owner may have adjusted his boundary somewhat to his advantage. None the less, we took heed of the sign and followed the fence line down and across the saddle, past a very inquisitive, magnificent horse and then up a very steep track to the ridge.

By now, my hammies were begging me to stop, but onwards we went on the well formed fire trail. On a topo map the ridge line looks reasonably flat, but the reality is nothing like that. Long steep climbs were followed by knee shattering descents, and the dreadful knowledge that the reverse would apply on the way home.

At the top of the penultimate outward climb, the fire trail became a rough foot pad and the lantana started. Truth be told, I've hacked at worse lantana than this. Never the less, our tools of the trade were put to good use and Seff and I soon had the track in good shape. Check out the before and after photos of the trail.

In a lather of sweat we arrived at the top, ignored the cache and headed to the summit cairn, where I lay down in the foetal position for a quick cry and a rest, whilst Seff amused himself with the kahlua bottle puzzle (aka how to remove a summit log from a Kahlua bottle). After a break, we moseyed over and found the cache.

Then it was time for the slog back to the car. I was secretly pleased when when we rounded a corner to yet another incredibly steep hot climb and I heard Jeff cuss at what was in front of him. I was mostly broken, but just maybe, he was suffering a little bit as well.

The final hurdle in Seffs torture test occurred on the journey back down the hill near the finish line, when there was some gun fire close by in the next valley over. My pace picked up with each shot. At any second I expected to round the corner to a banjo being played on the ol' porch.

Torture test complete on a hot sticky morning in 5 hours and 40 minutes.

Many thanks, If and Ruzzelz. Have a favourite point. This little adventure is a *gem* .

Pete

#3,051

The track seemed a lot steeper on the way back down and my knees were soon complaining. At some point the J.E.F.F. App navigation module managed to send us off on a tagent, but in my defence we were following a track. The lantana gradually started to cover the track until it was almost impenetrable. Knowing our gardening was not that shoddy, I quickly realised my error only 30 or so meters along and a quick back track had us back on course. Once back at the fire trail we had a moment of uncertainty as some rustling in a nearby patch of bush had our imaginations going - was it just a wandering goanna or a wild boar ready to dash out at gore us to death. We moved on as fast as our tired legs would carry us, up and down the various climbs and descents until once again we had to face the canine chorus line. With the nearby gate open while the owners were moving a caravan I was not happy to be passing by with the dogs possibly on the loose, but nothing dashed out to meet us so we arrived safely back at the car, just under 6 hours after leaving.

Thanks to the CO's of both caches, a couple of gems and a great challenge to connect them together in the one walk.

With the Fungus part of the Bromance still lazing away the days on Fraser Island, Crookedpete and I were left to look for a walk that had already been completed by him. Delilah's Cache looked to fit the bill and I looked around for some other caches to complete once we had finished. I soon spotted Hipathites and an interesting though immediately crossed my mind - could we do both caches in one walk? A quick check of the logs confirmed that although there had been attempts, no one had yet managed the feat. This set in stone our plans and we met up at the parking spot on Kreisch Road just before 6am. Our first mission was to run the gauntlet of the canine chorus line. If the owners weren't awake when we arrived they sure were by the time we went past! I guess if they taught their dogs to mind their own beeswax then they might get some more sleep.

It was soon time to commence the long ascent with the added bonus of a lot less lantana than we had anticipated and the other cache along the way. A couple of spots provided some magnificent views, which were enhanced by the reflection of the sunrise on the fog and lake waters in the distance. We steadily followed the indicated track of the Kreisch Road, past the Coast Guard repeater tower and reached a barbed wire fence gate with a No Trespassing sign. Knowing this was a road reserve which entitled us to public access we kept on going through, all the while thinking we would be miles from civilisation. While Crookedpete was doing the honours of opening and shutting the gate he managed to scratch himself on a barb prong which quickly got the claret flowing. We soon reached another gate with Crookedpete once again doing the gatekeeping honours and once again ending up with a new war wound for his troubles. Just after passing that gate we soon realised our expectations of remotness were way off, with a house appearing close by down the bottom of the slope. We also noticed that there was a horse wandering around nearby and started to walk over to us. At this point we decided to climb over to the other side of the fence running parallel to the road, just to be on the safe side. After tracking along the fence line we reached the end of the fence and another gate with a No Trespassing which corresponded to the end of the road reserve marked on the map. Thankfully the dirt/gravel road we had been following continued on up the hill until it met the walking trail that would lead us towards the summit. This soon converted into another dirt fire trail which was easy to follow although the constant ups and downs had the legs starting to complain. With unexpected suddenness the fire trail abruptly stopped and were left to follow an at times indistinct trail for the rest of the way to the summit. Once again the lantana here was nowhere near as bad as we expected and we did a little gardening of our own, breaking off the odd branch that had started to grow over the trail again. WIth nary a misstep we reached the summit and the rock cairn. It was time for a rest and some food before heading off to find the cache, which was located safe and well.

Tee Hee !!
Thanks for a couple of great finder's logs there 'seffnjarah' and 'Crookedpete'
Glad you had fun !!

After two failed attempts over the last few months SLABBA finally got to Delilah today. Best advice I can give is to stick to the main track as far as it goes. Path is clear and doesn't need a machete. Cache is in pristine condition but I had to leave another pen as the two inside didn't work.

Tracked this one all the way up the hill from the east and then south along the ridge. Over the top of the first hill the track becomes hard to follow as you head down towards the National Park sign. Only a few hundred metres later track becomes impenetrable with lantana, at a point my GPS says is exactly 600m from GZ. Gave up there.

I had today off work planned for about a month to do a 5/5 walk with a friend. However, an injury saw him pull out yesterday. Last night I needed to come up with a plan quick before my wife filled it with chores/jobs. All the grid spots I need are a bit hard to do solo, so i ruled them out. I then thought I am close with unloved caches for the challenge so set about learning how to search for them. Another friend showed me how easy that is. I soon found this cache that was 12 months unloved and would give me a good hike at the same time.
This morning I was up at 5am and drove the 45min to Basin Rd. I chatted to a lady and her dog down the bottom near the stop sign. She said to drive right up further. So that is what I did. I parked near a house and set off through the bush. After only a few minutes luckily, I hear a shout from the owner to come back down. I had parked on his private property by mistake. I was very apologetic and he told me the correct spot. He also told me to watch our for brown snaked as he has seen lots lately. The rest of the walk I looked at every stick lying on the ground thinking it was a snake. Once i was on the right trail I headed up and up and up. Turning around to see the view every now and then which also gave my calf muscles a rest. The distance to cache didn't start reducing for quite a while and actually got further away and a few points.
After heading down for a bit I followed the wrong fork in the path and ended up in dense yucky lantana. I pushed through for about 300m one step (crash through) at a time. I wore short sleeve shirt and no machete so my arms are ripped to shreds. So sore. I could feel the ticks crawling all over me. I only saw one and it didn't get to bite me. Very lucky. I popped out on a nice path all the way to the top. Wish I had found it earlier. At the top with only 15m to GZ I saw movement and I froze. A large wild bore was ahead of me. I had heard they can be aggressive so I picked up a rock and through it near it to scare it away. It made a lot of awful noises and ran away to its friend who I could now also see. I signed the log as quick as I could and retreated back down the track with a rock in each hand just in case. My heart was racing. Heading back to the car was much easier now that I had a track to follow. I saw where I had gone wrong too. Happily back to the car after 2.5 hours up and 1.5 down. TFTC

Found it.

This is our sort of geocache, a walk that challenges you and takes you to great places. We parked down near the stop sign and walked up the road to the fire track. The climb up the fire track required plenty of breather stops, but not a scramble. Turned left at the T junction, then followed the fire track (which goes further than the map says) up the hill around a couple of knolls/saddle. At the end of the fire track there was a bright red garden rake, what are you doing here? From then on the track is obvious but fades the further up the hill you get. We stopped at a nice rest point (S27.30319 E152.80583) for 10 minutes before starting the final push for the top. At the highest point there was a muggle cache (bottle on a string with a visit log inside) and a Brisbane Lions flag. Found the geocache no problems. Replaced the torn plastic bag around the log book, though the log book is damp and probably needs to sit in the sun for a while to dry. We had our morning tea on a nice flat rock with a view to the north, under the lazy eye a python sunning himself under a grass tree. Easy walk back.

Good hike, loved this one. Grid was bang on which made it fairly easy once you get to the feature. Didn't see any trackables in there and I left a special button. TFTC.

I came here with Misssusan79 and Lisylou. This was my first ever higher star terrain cache. It was amazing here. I loved the views, the rocks we climbed over and all the enormous trees!!!!!

Off on another hill climb, this one had been mentioned as training for Stinson so misssusan picked this one for us today. We also thought we'd take advantage of swellerfungus' hard work of clearing the path. We teamed up also with lucky lotte who is only 11 but was keen to do some caching and was up for an adventure like never before. We got started a little later than we would've liked but at least it wasn't as hot today. We got to the end of Basin Rd and It was 9.50 by the time we started the uphill slog and there was no warm up, it was straight up straight away followed by more up up up. We got to the top of this section and enjoyed the great views over the lake, lucky lotte was struggling a little, so we decided to stop here for a snack break, this helped spur her on and we continued on. We got to the lantana where swellerfungus had obviously cleared, yes some good work there, it was quite amazing this little pathway through the lantana. On we went to the rainforest section, it's amazing how the bush changes, this section was so beautiful, lots of mossy rocks and big boulders to navigate around along with lots of vines and spikey things but it's all part of the fun. We arrived at the top in 2hours 10 mins, we thought that was pretty good especially with the youngun in our midst. We got on with finding the cache straight away and we located it pretty quickly. We found a rock to sit on and had some lunch. Time to head back down down down, lucky lotte was really enjoying this now, I think we almost have another convert on our hands. Lots of laughs and giggles as we navigated our way back down, a few slips and slides but nothing terrible. We were almost at the lantana section again and somehow we went a slightly different path and missed most of the lantana, but we decided to keep going, I could see where we heading with the waypoints I'd set and we made our way back to the main track. From there it was down the track back to the car, it was starting to spit a bit and we hoped to beat the rain and get back to the car so we didn't stop. Luckily we only got a couple of spits and that was it. From top to bottom it took us 1hour 40 mins. Once again I must say I was very impressed with lucky lotte and congrats to her for doing her first serious hike and mountain climb. It was a great walk and well worth it, the mountains are beautiful out here and everything looks so lush and green with recent rains. Thanks If for bringing me here today.

This entry was edited by Lisylou on Monday, 07 April 2014 at 21:16:09 UTC.

Another Monday and another mountain! This one was my choice and it was a great climb. We parked at the end of Basin Rd after exploring further and ending up in someone's driveway. The climb started straight away and it was up up up! We followed the fire trail all the way to the first peak lookout where it was a quick stop for some fruit. Onwards along the saddle and then through the path clear by Swellerfungus. This made our passage much easier! The the scenery changed and we were amidst an ancient rainforest. I just love the way you can see so many different types of landscapes in just one walk. We had to dodge some spiky plants, climb mossy boulders and pick our way up to the top! What a rewarding feeling it is to reach the top. Today we were joined by 11yr old Lucky Lotte, and this was her first ever climb. A pretty tough one to do first but she made it and judging by the "oohs and ahhs, this is amazing" comments I think she she enjoyed the hike. Already a keen cacher she may be a mountain climbing convert! So proud of her! Anyway, back down we went with lots of giggles at near slips and a very nice seat in the car to rest tired legs.

I had planned to set off around 6.30 but one thing and another on a Sunday morning so I didn’t get started until 7.30. The temperature was still quite cool but there was not a breath of air and I was soaked in perspiration within the first 500m (probably sweating out that bottle of Cab Sav I had last night. Come to think of it maybe that’s why I was a bit late starting). First hour or so was pretty uneventful just up and up and up around a bend and up and up etc.

Finally reached the National Park and took advantage of the work Swellerfungus did yesterday clearing the track of lantana. I reckon you could drive a semi through there now. I felt a bit guilty taking advantage but then I thought as they say in Newcastle “Don’t you ever let a chance go by” (one for the oldies).

Another uphill slog and I was at the summit. Champagne and Caviar all round! Well water and a Muesli bar, find the cache, sign the log and back down.

Swellerfungus had said “don’t get off the track on the way down”. “Who would be silly enough to go the wrong way” thought I. About 80m into my descent the ‘track’ stopped. Dense bush in front, boulders, thorny vines and spiky plants to the left, boulders, thorny vines and spiky plants to the right and behind me a steep climb with vines and stinging plants closing in. Fortunately I had taken plenty of waypoints on the way up and when I looked at the gps it said the track was only 30 metres that way, no that way, no back over there. It was jumping about like crazy (I don’t think it likes rocks). I was about to sit down and have a cry when an inner voice said “Man up! You have a real compass in your bag, use it”. With the direction sorted I was able to continue my descent and work towards the track and when I finally rejoined it I felt like skipping all the way home.

By the time I got to the fire trail and the downhill run the temp had soared to around 35 – 36 degrees. I sure was glad to be on the last section and by the time I reached the geo mobile my feet felt like the brake pads on a racing car.
All in all a great trek. Thanks

Our hike for today is Delilah's Cache. Swellerfungus & I are in hiking mode,

Beware the Ides of March!

Well if it's an If cache, then it will be worth doing! The fact that Russell must have come with him just adds to the value! The best thing I did here was to follow the description and contacted Russels for some advice. It certainly proved an advantage to completing this one safely.
This cache was recommended as a Stinson Precursor Training, and it lived up to expectations. We put out a few feelers, but got no takers on a run up the hill today, so LadySim and I got a coffee on the way and finally set off at 6:45 this morning. By 6:50 I had sweat pouring off my brow, down my back, into areas I won't mention, and the cursing began (that was just the hill to the start of the fire trail)...OMG that firetrail just keeps on giving!

We cracked on at a fair pace, and had our first quick rest at the first turn off. Some more push and we got to the most spectacular view of Lake Samsonvale, that made the effort so worthwhile. A second stop to enjoy the view, and then off following well defined tracks, with beautiful views of our destination - still seems a long way up though, and some down to boot!

Eventually thee tracks got less defined, and thats where it got more interesting! A small detour because the track turned without me knowing, and we 'cross countried' a little to get back on track. Soon after we came to the wall of lantana. After some debate a path was chosen, and without too much clearing needed we scratched our way through. A path led us up and up into some nice rainforest formations and eventually to the wait-a-while and scratchy palm tendrils (that sometimes even steals hats off your head!). OUCH!

Soon enough we were at GZ and LadySim had a find in quick time. Log signed and onto the top. More nice views and a ceremonial lunch at the totem pole. LadySim even put our names in the Kalhua Bottle.

Coming down got nasty...a small deviation from the path (because I couldn't determine exactly where it was!), and we found ourselves surrounded by the scratchy palm and its nasty tendrils. Only one thing to do - use the trusty machete to hack out way back to the track.

A pleasant walk back down the paths in pretty quick time - even with LadySim's ongoing knee problem (off to the podiatrist for her!)

Thanks for a great cache - well done to you both. We really enjoyed our walk. Great views, challenging hills, nice paths, some off track, some things expected, some not! Total Walk (and rest) time just over 5hrs, including a total time to top at 2 hours 30 min, and 1 hr 40min down. Fave Pt for me!

It's Freaky Friday with teamdfl again! While on our last outing we looked at attacking this one but figured it needed a bit more time than we had, so shelved it. This week in our planning it went straight to the top of the list, and so this morning teamdfl turned up at my place after a few hours sleep but with caffeine in hand, and we took the drive northwards.

Bumblebee got us to the end of Basin Rd, 1.7kms of GZ, and then began the very steeeeeeeeeppppp slog up that hill Darn hard work for me, and I made many stops to get my heart rate down, as usual The path was wide and clear up to about 700 metres out, and then the lantana looked like it had tried to take over again, but there were obvious signs of people passing through recently. Also we had a clear trail on both our GPSr's [^] so though it was still steep and much more dense we were able to make our way through.

The last 200 metres or so was definitely more of a scramble, and the wait-a-while vines got in the way a lot. We saw some magnificent rocks and trees, and in several places there was a heavenly aroma in the air. Jasmine or something similar, but we could not work out which plant it was. No flowers anywhere to be seen The cache itself was a quick find, and the co-ords were spot on Then we headed up to the peak to check out the views and to have lunch.

A round trip of 4 hours for us, 2¼ hours up and 1¾ hours down. TFTC, If and ruzzelz. Another mountain in the bag and a favourite point from me.

Out for freaky Friday with IolantheK. This was our goal for the day. After finishing night shift it was a late start, arriving at the parking spot at 9:30am. Soon we were on our way up the hill.

The end of the dirt raod is a bit steep, but easy enough to walk along. When the raod ends the trail becomes much more enjoyable.

There have been no finds on this cache for a while, but there have been enough people up and down the hill to keep the well defined track nice and open.

Only one small section where the lantana was trying to make its way back across the path. Quite easy going with some ducking and weaving around the vegetation.

Just over 2 hours from the car we had the cache in hand. We continued to the top to sit for a rest and have some food.

A very pleasant walk indeed. Some stunning views along the dirt road on the way up. The view from the top is pretty good too

Not wanting to repeat everyone else’s comments, I will keep this brief… but suffice to say, this is an epic walk/slog!!!

First of all, the Waypoints that CT got from Ruzzelz/latlongs and bedmaker were spot on!!... although we could have done with an extra one at the start to tell us to go left instead of right, however, that didn’t cause us too much concern, thanks to the above for those waypoints!!! I also have to give a nod here to Captain Terror, who had the Machete going almost constantly…. Not sure if any of the rest of us could have kept that up!!

Of course 'Picnic Rock' was a welcome break with those Pigwig snacks….. then it was into the saddle, where the Machetes really got a big work-out!... and several of us got stung by jumping ants …. And then it was up and up again!!

Found the cache OK at the summit, and then a long anticipated break for lunch…. I don’t remember dry Cruskits tasting so good

5 Hours up and 2 Hours down says a lot about the steepness and the lantana!!

Somebody might have mentioned that I fell into a wee hole near the end… but I’m sure those tales are exaggerated

Thanks IF and Ruzzelz, I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to place the cache here!!.. A FP for the shear effort to put this out there!!

So, so tempted to log a "needs maintenance" on this as a kind of revenge...

Ok, well, I was seriously underprepared for this one, having limited myself to scanning Brother Colin's log and noting the 2 hour ascent time, and also housesitting and not having my usual access to anything much at all, I rocked up at our rendezvous parking spot with nothing more than a hiking pole, a couple of litres of water and a box of sultanas. Fortunately for me, my companions (as listed below) were much better prepared, not to mention much better cooks (thanks Pigwig!).

With a natty little map of an appropriate approach, a bunch of extraordinarily useful waypoints and a couple of machetes, we launched ourselves through the undergrowth, dodging holes, clambering up rockfalls and waterfalls (mostly sans water) until we came across a seriously overgrown track, which we followed up and up and up. Stopping for a snack or two and a chat, we proceeded toward the summit, only to be slightly horrified when our trusty leader pointed out that the actual summit was that intimidatingly high one over there/i].

Up we struggled, with Captain Terror leading the machete-slashing way, and for sure without his very big knife (or Herbz's very big knife) we'd never have made it. Pigwig's leg decided it wasn't so keen on the treatment and protested, but she soldiered on like a trooper. Many long hours later, scratched, bruised, ant-bitten, tired but unbeaten, we made it to the summit and to the cache . Hurray!

An awesome view for lunch eased the aches for a while, and thanks again to everyone who shared their yummy food with me (yes, I shared my sultanas!) and then the descent began. One of the harder descents of my career, but certainly easier now that we had a slashed path to follow! Back past the jumping ants, Picnic Rock, the slug with the warning triangle on its head, the pile of plumbing materials, the 'ruins' and onto the 'road', which we followed back out the real road, although Mr Agap did literally disappear into a hidden hole just before we reached safety. Poor chap! Back on the washed-away road, we marvelled at the teetering abandoned bulldozer before staggering down the final killer slope to our cars and the welcoming arms of the lat&longjunkies.

Thanks to my wonderful companions for being with me, and to russelz and If for hiding the blighter . =^.^=

A grand total of 7 hours after we departed ( I think), we emerged

Mr and Mrs Herbz, Agap2, La Kedi Captain Terror and myself all set off to find this one at a resonable hour of the morning.
With Captain Terror in the lead with his trusty machete carving a path for the rest of us through nasty lantana, viscious large spiders, and the occasional jumping ants.
There was the occasional rest stop to discuss caching and have a bite to eat and drink - just when I thought we must by now be nearly there it was pointed out to me that, over there is where the cache lies.... I remember discussing this earlier in the week with Mr Herbz who apparently said...'how hard can it be?' [:(!] hmmmmmm.......only thing to do is to keep going, along the way we saw an amazingly large white slug with a red triangle on it, photos were taken and the group marched on.
Finally making it within cooeee of the cache it was a bit of a climb up, nothing to difficult but my calf muscle decided now was a good time to overstrech itself
The log book was signed and the picnic rug was spread out [:o)] with a lovely view of the glasshouse mountains.
The trek back was easier as Captain Terrors swathed path was easy to follow, my knee decided it didn't like the downhill run and by the time we were nearly back Mr Herbz found and easier pathway back to the road for which I am grateful but maybe Mr Gap not so much as suddenly he disappeared from sight down one of the biggest holes I have seen in a long time much to my amuzement
It was a welcome sight to see the L&L Junkies patiently waiting our return and a nice chat and some pain relief for my knee.....
Many thanks to Ruzzelz and If for a great day out and more than 1 reason for the trek

This cache seems to have burst into the spotlight lately and so a while back I thought I'd get me some of this Delilah action. I organised a few of us to tackle this one today, so at the parking co-ords arrived Herbz, Agap, Pigwig, La Kedi and myself. I was grateful that I had managed to grab a few en route waypoints from a previous finder which made our trek about 4000 times easier, and I guess a week or two shorter. We strapped on boots, filled waterbottles and headed on up the hill. We decided to follow the direct route from waypoint to waypoint to start with and for the first leg this turned out to be a difficult way to go. Being early morning the long grass was still wet and having been a while since anyone was here, very overgrown. We followed a small creek up and up until we joined onto the road and that made the going much more palatable. My machete which had already cut a track to here was used continually along the road, clearing grass sometimes head high, cobblers pegs galore and the occasional sprig of cheeky lantana. Somewhere near the first summit after checking out those incredible views to the east and looking around the discarded building supplies we pulled up on a rocky outcrop and had a bite to eat. La Kedi dubbed this spot 'Picnic Rock'. Many thanks to Pigwig who must have been cooking up a storm for the previous week and supplied all sorts of tasty goodies. We set off, and it was from here that the going got really tough, up until now it had been long and uphill, but still possible without a machete or scrambling. The saddle between Picnic Rock and the bottom of the hill was simply lantana city. The wet and hot summer had given the lanatana every opportunity and it had taken it, going ballistic and burying the track very well. I decided to take the lead and for a good while every step had to be cut through the least dense patches. My poor arms and legs are rather scratched, but we got there after a while. We finally gained enough altitude to be out of the lantana and it was just the steep ascent to the top. A beautiful patch of bush here as we ascended. The last stretch I remember was 80m horizontal and 50m vertical so some slipping and sliding was inevitable. We finally made it to the summit and we spread out to find the cache. As Mr Herbz found a spot for lunch, I spotted the cache, remembering the photo on the cache page. The log was ceremoniously signed and we sat on the flattish rock with views to the north and the Glasshouse Mountains and indulged in lunch. It had taken us 5 hours to get up here. I had gone through almost 3 litres of water and the return trip seemed so long from the top. I guess if the lantana wasn't there, it'd be easy enough to do in 3 hours. Soon it was time to head back to the cars and with a nice alley cut through the thickest lantana and tallest grass already knocked over, we were back at the cars in only 2 hours. We found an easier track at the bottom which shaved a few more minutes off the return journey.Out of water and energy it was nice to have Mr and Mrs. Lat&Long Junkie waiting for a chat at the cars. The next day My arm was sore to the point of uselessness and two days later my legs are still itchy from whatever I was pushing through below that grass. A great walk up here and glad to have found this cache. I do suggest anybody going up take a good arm, a sharp machete and plenty of water, this trek through a wee bit more at us than we were expecting, but nothing that gave us grief. Thanks for hiding this one If, a good challenge indeed. I can also happily say this was my 200th smiley for the month, a new record for me. TFTC

6 of us set off at 8.45am this morning. It wasn't long before the machete came out as Captain Terror carved a path through the lantana for us. Up and up we went and up some more until we called a halt and Pigwig2 passed around some homemade muesli bars for a much needed energy boost. We continued up until we reached the saddle where the lantana was extremely dense, Captain Terror was working overtime, swinging his machete round and round and side to side. Eventually we emerged out the other side ready for the final ascent where some of us came into contact with wonderful jumping ants!! Pushing on up we came at last to the top, we had made it! Now to locate the cache, we spread out and before long Captain Terror called out, "Found it!". After the log book was passed around and the cache replaced we discovered a great spot for a well deserved lunch with a fantastic view towards the glasshouse mountains. It had taken us 5 hours to reach the summit! Heading back down was much easier and 2 hours later we were back at the cars. Thanks for a great but exhausting day. TFTC Ruzzelz and If

Well I started early and ended up doing 2 laps of Hipathites (read my log over there)before heading around to do this one. I had a BIG day planned for today.

I arrive at the parking spot and change into my hiking boots and I'm ready to go at 0855 And I start walking...Up and Up and Up and I thought Hipathites was steep This one is just as steep ans sooooooo much longer.

Finally I reach the first WP and the angle slackens off for a bit as I'm now following the ridge. So far I've been walking along an old road that is slowly becoming overgrown but so far so good, no need for the machete

Eventually I come across the ruins..how did they get all those blocks up here [?]

And here is where the fun begins...I dig out the machete and start swinging The track slowly widens and I make progress back onto the ridge line and ever so slowly up and up and up as the steepness picks up again. I am soon cutting a way through the lantana along a faint path and it is steep. [:(!] And I am starting to hurt.

But with the cache so close I'm not turning back. Another rest stop then onwards and upwards again and soon I feel a blister coming on. I dig out the first aid kit and add a patch to my heel and I'm off again Only 200m to go and O so steep and jungle like. Head down I continue....and then I'm at the summit. I collapse and dig out some food and something to drink and check the GPSr..the cache is about 40m or so behind me. It is now 1120.

After a bit of a rest I head for the cache and soon find it I have just realised I signed it with yesterdays date Now for the downhill bit.

I just keep going and going and going and before I know it I'm back at my bike. It is now 1320. Almost 4 & 1/2 hour round trip. But I have to cycle home yet. Soooo tired now.

I eventually get home at 1450. A BIG day achieved Time for a beer...or two.....or three...

Cache is in good condition and awaiting more visitors now that the path is cleared.

After a long and invigourating walk up a hill that seemed to take forever the terrain flattened out. Kelvin, Mark and Dion and I made our way ever upward. It was a little chilly on the way up but atleast that means we did not sweat so much with the huffing and puffing which was mostly me. There were some good views on the way up and some odd thigns to look at on the way up which made the trek all that more interesting. There was much spikes and spiney things to navigate but recent trekers have made this walk alot easier. I can only imagine diong this with the lanatana fully grown. Even with me stopping for a few breaks and holding up the team we made good time and Managed the top in about 2.5 hours. The cache was quickly located and of course signed by all attending peoples. After lunch nearby next to what appears to be a small campsite and a wierd ahtn on a pole we returned to make our decent. I honestly think these palces always look worse going back. We stopped to look at an interesting gutted house and the occasional large rock with no views. It was warmer by now so the descent was a little warmer. After a couple of hours we made our way back to the comfort of the car and the thought of doing some roadside caches on the way home. Cheers to If for thsi little jaunt up a hill.

A great cache. locki's, Doshell, Dyathinkhesaurus, and I made an early start for this one. The climb started immediately. We were all really puffing before too long, needing quite a few rest stops. The track up was in really good condition and only taking a couple of very slight detours on the way. We were lucky the track was still relatively clear with almost no lantana to annoy us. The views from about half way up were brilliant and probably a highlight. The last assent to the summit was quite steep, and after signing the log had a well earned lunch break. Our trip down took almost as long as going up as we took a couple of detours to check out the various views along the way. Total time for the excursion 5 hours.

Thanks If for bringing us to a great part of Brisbane.

Thanks If for showing us this place, and placing the cache up there. I was wondering on the way up, if you had taken the same route up as we did.

At 10:30 it was a quick find when stairman1 recognized "the spot" after we set off at 8h00.

Thanks again stairman1 for the spontaneous carpool up the last piece of basin road. Dyathinkhesaurus who had been waiting at the starting point already recognized that there was not much space for parking cars up the hill.

It was a nice walk up and down on a beautiful winter day with good company. Thanks Stephen, Kelvin and Dion! I can imagine it being much tougher in summer with more vegetation and higher temperatures!

Only minor scratches, and NO ticks (it may have been too dry for those nasties to survive)

Thanks to If and ruzzelz for this cache, one can only imagine how tough going it would have been to place up there.
Got cracking nice and early with stairman1, lockis and Dosshell. The bitumen rise right at the start of the trek was a dead giveaway on the angle of this ascent. A great walk up with a lot to see along the way, and it does flatten out somewhat, the hardest part was definitely the first half hour of climbing. The track is nice and clear. Thanks definitely to previous cachers who have managed to give us a clear passage through the lantana.
View highlights are definitely about half way up however there is a bit of a good spot just below the summit about 20m away from the cache. It was quite windy which made it very cool at the summit. It is a really good illustration of how much the flora can change in such a short space. Like the others have said, it was a 5hr round trip and one that I would recommend to anybody that was keen on walking. A great day out with other fellow cachers!!! Thanks guys, it was a great time.

The chatter about this cache has been quite high recently. Lokipagan had mentioned to me sometime ago they had wanted to do it. Today was the day we picked.

Today - Lokipagan, SonOfMeerRescue, and I set off from Basin Road. We legged it up the road and into the bush. It certainly was obvious others had been before us. I was glad though - I always seem to be the one throttling myself through lantana for a cache

As is the status quo, I held the show up a little - but I wasn't TOO bad. We made a very very very wrong turn at one stage - but we righted ourselves and made our way up.. enjoying the forest.. the trees.. the ovens.. the totally destroyed little building .

Then we saw GZ off in the distance. Hmmmm.. really? I applied the Fangsoki Theorem of Getting up Hills... "one step at a time". We got to the hill and started the incline. Grabby vines.. rolling rocks. Thankfully it was not TOO steep. I fell out on the top.. exhuasted. But we can't be sitting aorund - there was a cache to be found. We all fanned out. I ended up on my back rolling around after taking a wrong step It was Loki that came up with the prize in good condition.

We paused at the top for some lunch and a drink. Then it was time to get off the mountain. Pretty soon I was just getting tired going DOWN the hill. We finally came out of the bush..

[u]Fangsoki Status Report[/u] -:
Keeness to do another cache this afternoon : Nil
Absolutely Buggered Factor : 1000%
Sense of Humour : Nil
Amount of Ticks : One
Smiley : Attained

I would recommend this one to anyone. It took us about 5 hours to complete. The beautiful area is much untoutched due to its remoteness. The views were quite spectacular. Personally, I think the terrain needs to go up a whisker. But that's just my opinion.

I wanted to thank those that went before and have obviously rogered the lantana into submission. I also want to thank Lokipagan and SonofMeerRescue for their patience too TFTC If and Ruzzelz - I am very happy to have this smiley. This cache has been giggling at me ever since I started caching

Addendum : Tick count.. +1

This entry was edited by Fangsoki on Sunday, 26 June 2011 at 06:08:05 UTC.

This entry was edited by Fangsoki on Sunday, 26 June 2011 at 06:08:38 UTC.

We are verrrry grateful to previous finders for clearing the path to this one! That was our opportunity and I wasn't missing out. Unfortunately I had underestimated this cache just a little . So Fangsoki, SonOfMeerRescue and Lokipagans arrived bright and early this fine winters day for a bit of a walk.
That turned out to be much more than 'a bit'. I also assumed the five paths I had obtained to follow would mean no problems with the trail; but I failed to take into account Loki's navigation skills .
Short of it is, we made our way up (and up, and up, and up) battling the greenery and eventually, after much huffing and cursing and blood letting, reached the top. That is a long way up and quite steep too I might add!! Certainly one of the tougher caches we have done! Plenty of spectacular views to be seen from various vantage points.
Tick count was Loki: 3 nymph stages <2mm
Pagan: 2 larger adults + a nasty reaction to something!
Very glad to have done this one. It was a long hot hard walk up and feeling pretty wobbly by the time we reached the bottom again. A great achievement. Thanks If and Ruzzelz.

A beautiful day that could have been spent on the beach Drink beers and watching the seagulls. However a Lokipagan suggested a bit of caching "Up a small hill I believe pagan said" Got to meet Fangsoki at the base and started on our way. Not long into it Loki had a Nav SNAFU so up and down a land slip but after that was a great walk. Not sure if 3 1/2 star is right thou the cachers before us made the traveling easier (BIG THANK YOU)

All round a good day TFTC

My my my Delilah
Why why why Delilah (because of the cache)
This tune of Tom Jones was playing in my head most of the way up to this.
What an excellent walk we had.
Lat&Long Junkie was telling me about how hard it was for him a week ago and of the amount of lantana he struggled through to get up through the last part of the climb. He told me in passing that now he had cleared a path it would be a good time to do the walk.
So, on that note I prepared for an assault on this. During the week I did some research and gathered information. I also asked LLJ to send me his track routes along with some he’d received from Ruzzelz.
Come Saturday and TassieGirl and I headed off on our way.
The first minor struggle up through low growing weeds wasn’t too bad and we could still see LLJ’s tracks to follow. We continued up, up and up along an old road.
Stopped at a rocky outcrop part way and here we were rewarded with some fantastic views to the east. Morning tea time and a few photos was the order of the day here.
We had a beautiful clear day so we could easily see right out to Moreton Island. A bit further on we came upon the old ruins and the various bits and pieces around there. Had a sticky beak like most other people and continued on.
Finally we saw the objective in our sights and made our way up through the hardest part of this journey. We could see where the lantana had been cleared by LLJ but there was still the odd part of the hill where we used the track log to make sure we were heading up in the right direction.
Arrived just shy of the top and found the spot where the cache was hidden. Did all the necessary signing of the log and replaced it back in its little hidey hole.
With this done we continued up to the cairn on top for a well earned rest and a bite to eat before making our decent.
Going down put the navigational skills to good work again, amazing how things look just that bit different when you’re heading backwards. We found our way down without and mishaps or worries and arrived back at the Bedmobile happy in the fact that we’d crossed this one off and had a nice bit of exercise for the day.
TFTC.

Bedmaker and I found this one today.
We heard from lat&longjunkie about the path that he had cleared through the lantana so what better time to attempt it.
This was a really great walk and some great views and interesting things to see along the way.
The last part of the walk was challenging but rewarding once I made it to the top.
Many thanks If for bringing us up here!

Another one of several mountain caches I've been eyeing off for a long time . Tough walk, this one. You leave the car, walk a hundred metres or so and start climbing. Admittedly, it's a bitumen road, but it's steeper than any of the mountain track [xx(].
I had 'ruzzelz' tracking log in my GPSr, a lot of water, some food, a camera and a machette. I used them all, frequently. A lot of the track is easily followed, if not actually seen. Three months of warm weather and rain has been kind to the flora on Mt Samson . There are lots of photo opportunities, but two in particular are memorable. One, you climb onto a large rock beside the track. The other is seat beside the track. You just sit and drink in the vista [^].
I was two-thirds of the way to GZ when I had my first sight of the objective. It was terribly disheartening to find I had gone so far and still had so much to go . I was still keen though, as I hadn't reached the lantana at that stage. I was directionally embarrassed three times before I found my way through this prickly barracade. The lantana fought a good fight (see my photos [B)]) and if I hadn't had that track log and machette, this would certainly have been a DNF log. The final ascent was simply up, up and up, so getting lost wasn't an issue. Still it was hard work, loose and slippery underfoot with everything spikey reaching out to grab my attention. Finally, the GPSr took me straight to the cache, even with the tree cover. TN/LN/SL and sat for some time soaking up that special feeling you get at times like that [^].
Walked the extra 35 metres to the summit and had a look around. A lot of hikers spend the night up there, watch the sunrise and walk down, after leaving their rubbish lying around . Picked up some of it, but rubbish carrying gear was limited. This is a walk I'd recommend to everyone, but make sure you're prepared and fit enough. It's hard work, but oh so very sweet to be writing this "found it" log.
"If" and "ruzzelz", for all the names I called you on the way, and the evil things I wished upon you, I apologise. It's just that they all seemed so apporpriate at the time.

Thanks for the awesome cache! With the kind permission of the land owner, a few friends and I rode our mountain bikes to the saddle (at 500m elevation) we met some hiking friends there and hiked to the summit and back, then rode the bikes back down.

Getting s bike up there was a huge effort but it was worth it for the beautiful rainforest (and the fun descent).

Thanks Russelz for helping us sort out the route. Some of that Lantana is horrible. If you're thinking of doing this cahce, give it a go in the next couple of weeks while our tracks are fresh and some of the lantana has been knocked down.

Took nothing. Left nothing.

Only maddogs and Englishmen would go out on a day like today to visit this cache. Well our little group had the MTB'er (who rode in the the NP entry point, and Englishman and the rest of us.

Since my last visit entry track now has gown over, several landslips and large washouts have occurred on the track and the lantana density at the saddle right on the NP boundary has increasedsignificantly. I think another star could be added to this cache.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2067669&id=1476042526&l=c0e70a7493

My recommendation is go in the next couple of weeks and follow our track, otherwise you will have to make your own. But watchout for the red belly black - he/she gets a tad angry when you stand on it.

No TB's of GC's in the cache either

This entry was edited by ruzzelz on Friday, 11 February 2011 at 23:57:49.

Thanks for this cache! Great location with a challenging walk. Lovely.

Tick Report:

Only two so far, but there's still time to find more.

BTW, the Summit Log Book (which we found first as the clouds and the trees had conspired to bannish all sat coverage by then) was open and in the rain. We left the non-waterproof tin box but removed the soggy log book and non-working pen, as they just looked like litter by then.

If the next cachers to take on Samson and Deliah had a spare box and log book it would probably be appreciated

Thanks Seizer for starting my new year's finders logs off to a spectacular start [^]
Good to see my fellow bushwalkers getting hot and sweaty in the summer heat

Tips from Totalube:

Wear long pants or invest in gators - We chose gaiters
Do it in the cooler months - Hmm, does New Year's Day count
Bring ample water - The mountain supplied, it was raining
Bring an experienced bushwalker - we brought each other, that should cover it
Maybe a machete - very good advice, which of course we ignored, then regretted ignoring

This looked like a good way to blow away the cobwebs after staying up to see in the New Year, and it fitted in nicely with our joint NY resolution to check out more of out local area. As our overnight new Year's guests didn't leave till midday it was 2pm by the time we parked the geo-mobile at the appropriate spot.

The steep steep climb started out pretty sweaty, but by the time we got to the bush bash on the final assault we were well and truly in the clouds, and even got a little chilly while searching for the hidey hole, which eluded us for quite a while, though we both thought we had searched this spot before. Why are these things always in the last place you look ? (No, don;t bother, it was a rhetorical question). So much for mid-summer in Queensland!

But find it we did, dropped in Blazers Travel Turtle Geo-coin and took out a tape measure and US Air Force medal

Great views of all the lovely water around at present, and a great start to 2010

On the way back down we stopped to check out the building ruins - does anyone know the story behind that ? Was it a private house or some work related building ? There seem to be an awful lot of old pipes and things lying around.

Thanks Ruzzelz & If for starting out our year so well.

And check yourself for ticks, I found 2 at the top of my leg a day later!

I've been keen to put a smiley on this cache just to eliminate it from my unfound list. So the plan was actioned to introduce others to this hill climb of tempestuous proportions. While the new visitor numbers were not high the cache now can claim international status as Gaelan (from US) and totalube made their way to the top.

I again caught up with the lady walking the dog at the viewing area on the track.[^] We also found another visitor book at the top which appears to have gone in only days after the cache - a few more logs in this than the cache itself.

I'll let the other cachers tell the story of our adventures for the day

ruzzelz organised a posse on Facebook to tackle this, Initially we had a few interested parties, however eventually there was only myself ruzzelz and Gaelan, who was visiting from O/S. Ruzzelz organised an early meeting at the Samford bakery to stock up on needed supplies. A 7:00am meet was planned, I was ready in the morning, and luckily I checked facebook in the morning, as Gaelan had indicated he was arriving by train at 7:05. A quick call to postpone leaving time. Picked up Gaelan and on the way to Samford. A quick drive to the start of the trail. As I started walking I realised the comfort of wearing shorts may have been a mistake .

There were great views on the way to the top, and we met a local walking her dog. After catching up on local knowledge we were glad to have some path knowledge as to the approach to the cache. The last bit was hard, especially walking through the lantana, of which we tried our best to remove, after covering a great distance we found the cache safe and sound after over a year.

We ventured further up the hill to find a cairn, and also signed the book (left by a wedding party it seems). We took a break before trekking back, a few mistaken track choices were made, but thanks to common sense and a Garmin track log we made it back to a better beaten track and back to the car.

The bakery stop for lovely baked goods were a deserved treat after the 4hr hike, as in honour of If, who enjoys his pastry

I do have few suggestions for further finder;

Wear long pants or invest in gators
Do it in the cooler months
Bring ample water
Bring an experienced bushwalker
Maybe a machete

Thanks for a great cache and the hike

3 visits in one day -popular spot.

Found it.

On this chilly Sunday morning a warm sleep-in won so the walking started about mid-morning attacking the hike slightly differently though plan A, and parts of plan B, was eventually adhered to. Passed a turn off down to ... [I knew there had to be a better way], and came across a few nice surprises on the way and a couple less nice, and spectacular views at various vantage points of large and small natural formations and distant panaramas of way way out.

About 700m from GZ, I thought the outcome here was going to be all bad, but nope, yep, nope, ... Oh, I see. Up and up to the cache ... The GPS signal only started to break up in the closer confines near GZ but the container was located with little trouble after a short search.

The fuel gauge hit empty and switched the 'petrol tank' over to reserve while I was concentrating on the final climb up to Delilah, so after signing the log and leaving a momento [Emergency Services keyring from memory], returned to the fire trail to refuel with fruit and other nice goodies before heading homeward. I'm always fascinated how the forest comes alive when the silence isn't blugeoned by thomp after thomp of one's own boots ... the crack of distant timber, buzzing insects, the telltale bounce of a small twig.

Well done to GREEN GECKOS, Rogainer, and ControlFreaks. Payed a maintenance visit to a 'nearby' cache while in the general area and all seems well. All up about 13kms return via the long way around. Did I say it was steep?

Thanks If and Ruzzelz for putting a cache up there!!


=Why?
=Because Y's a crooked letter.

This one popped up while I was logging yesterday's finds. Emailed for some directions and had a response in minutes! Decided to leave early and try to get a photo of the sun rising. Was taking my 6th batch of photos when I heard some laughter from down the track. Hello, hello, who do we have here? That would be Control Freak and Rogainer. Very nice to have some company. The pair of them charged up the hill (like a pair of Commandos and I was the Biggest Loser) I fear I held them up but we were soon at the top for a joint FTF. Some excellent views were enjoyed on the way up, an If GC dropped in the cache, and a very nice FTF prize put in my pocket. Thank you If and Ruzzels - a great way to spend a beautiful Sunday morning.

Oops, forgot to drop If's GC in

What impeccable timing you guys have! Rogainer and I were looking around for a Sunday morning challenge in preparation for an upcoming rogaine. We had Barney in mind but work commitments this afternoon put paid to that. We were a bit bereft of other ideas when Mrs CF noticed this one pop up on the radar and that was that.

We agreed to meet up for a 6.30 am start. On arriving at the recommended parking spot it was obvious that we weren't the only ones out this morning - a 4WD with a characteristic sticker on display! Soon we were making our way up and up - a good warm up on a brisk morning. A short while later the owner of the 4WD came into view - the Green Geckos. We joined forces and continued upwards towards the peak we could see in the distance. Somewhere near the top we reached GZ and soon had the cache in hand - a joint FTF at about 8.00am.

We looked through the goodies and made our swaps - I deposited a US medallion courtesy of jkomives who I met through work and caching in Seattle - I promised to place it somewhere in Australia and this seemed like a good place to me. After hiding the cache again we continued up to the top to enjoy a bite to eat before the trek back down.

Thanks IF and ruzzelz. It was another great area and another great cache and we thoroughly enjoyed the walk, the company and the views.

With a major Rogaine coming up, Pa freak & I had agreed to go out and do a couple of solid walks leading up to the event.

The agreed times were Sunday mornings - but where should we go? During the week, I had eyed off this exact hill as a candidate.
What do you know? Saturday night and a cache appears - the destination is set.

Arriving at our agreed rendezvous point at 6:30am, we were surprised to see another vehicle already parked there. A small sticker of a green gecko on the vehicle gave a clue.
We set off UP the hill - and my god was that a good steep start to a walk. About 45 minutes and many great views later, we catch up to a lone walker - ms green gecko herself!. We all head off to the cache together - more up.

75 minutes after leaving the car, my GPS lead me straight to the cache location and after a brief search, the well hidden cache revealed itself.
Formalities over, we continued to the top and rested at the summit campsite for a short while.

Out to get some serious exercise, we decided to walk along the ridge to the "Hipathites" cache.
We got to within 1.3km before a private property sign scared us off, so we had to go back up the very steep track we had just descended
So back along the ridge and then down down down to the cars we went.

Thanks Ruzzlez and IF, Fabulous views and with a climb of just under 600m, it is a great workout

Why, why, why?

TB in

Yes! Why why why... 'cos it was there [:o)]
Dropping in the Cinderella travel bug in this magical castle

[This entry was edited by If on Saturday, August 02, 2008 at 3:27:03 AM.]