Freds mate Mount Lindesay, Queensland, Australia
By Rogainer on 01-Oct-06. Waypoint GCYKND

East peak, you have been conquered!No lie, Barney is a hard hard slog. And made even harder by doing it with an overnight pack. We grunted, and groaned, and huffed and puffed, and complained, and held back tears, and supported each other - and eventually, we all made it. Exhausted but proud we set up our tents, refilled our water supplies, and enjoyed nature.In the morning, it was time to conquer the East peak, with a few minor detours of course! Turns out there isn't a single track up there, it's more like "choose your own adventure", and so we did. It was rock hopping almost the whole way. There are places that I previously would have turned around if doing it solo, and I'm so glad I didn't.The trip down was hell, and blisters made it worse. Again, perfect support from friends gets you there in the end.Thanks for a great weekend, and for a great cache!

Hubby and I are spending the weekend in this area and we decided to climb Mt Barney today - my 6th summit over 35 years. We chose the SE Ridge which we have done twice before - six years ago and 32 years ago. Being a forecast hot day, we left early at 5.30am and we were at the top at 9am - 3.5 hours - not bad for a couple of seniors. I pulled out my phone and suddenly it was buzzing and telling me I was close to gz. With the excellent hint, I quickly found the cache. Logbook signed and replaced as found just as others came past. The cache is in good condition. Very happy to get back up here so a fp.We then headed down via the South Ridge, finding the information for the two multis along the way. Because these took a bit more time, the whole day took 9.5 hours and my app said that I walked 18km. An epic day. Tftc

Sorry, didn't think to bring a pen. Great hike. TFTC

Epic climb. We camped up there for the night. View was incredible

Found! Thanks

Mt Barney has been on my bucket list for a few years and I made the decision to conquer it this year. I just had to gather some willing participants to go with me, Peppa and Beardman75 stepped up to the plate and a plan was made.

We climbed Peasants ridge with overnight packs yesterday, setting up camp in Rum jungle. After a chilly night we packed up camp before heading off for the East peak.

The legs were a little tender today but we pushed on and made our way up. Before we knew it we had reached the summit and were greeted with stunning 360 degree views. What an awesome spot!! The cache was soon located and log signed.

Super happy to have reached this summit and to do it in the company of good friends made it that much better. Thanks for bringing us here Rogainer

Day 2 of epic over night hike.
Very cold during the night at Rum Jungle. Certainly felt like I had cramps in both my ankles.

Woke up to a beautiful start, not much cloud in the sky.
We packed up the tent, and the hike bag. After Stairman1 was ready he led the way to East Summit.
Mostly a foot pad to summit. Not much trail, but the trail marked on open trails certainly helped.
Reached a few "false summits" - when you think you're at the top but your not.
Then hitting that wall - a big granite vertical slab certainly puts you off reach that final peak. Lucky a chute gave us access up but gee.. that part certainly is tricky.
Finally reached the top.
Took quite a few photos.
So glad to have made it.
Didn't take long as the clue really does help make this one easy to find.
Love the cache guardian.
Fp for that and the view
My smile says it all...
Tftc

Rum Jungling at the event put on by FlutterBeryl after a strenuous climb. This is my first overnight trek & very happy to have a couple of previous climbers aboard for this ascent. After setting up camping in out tropical camping site we set off to collect a couple of caches.

Feeling sore today & the climbing was harder and waited until my muscles had warmed up I don’t recall anything warming up on that day.

Thanks Rogainer for the cache & thanks FlutterBeryl for holding the event that brought us here.

Tyftc!!!

Woot woot found and enjoyed!!!!

Today, a plan was arranged to hike up Mount Barney. I joined Beardman75 and Wayn0 on the full expedition, while GurTheWanderer made the partial ascent. An early start to the day was made in driving the two hours, and then it was a full day of hiking on the mountain until returning back to the car as light started to fade. I then returned home via Rathdowney in order to make a strategic dinner stop in Beaudesert. It was a cracker day with clear and spectacular views from Mount Barney's East Peak.

In terms of the hike, it was a long day, departing Yellow Pinch at 08:00 hr, and returning back to our cars at 17:00 hr. We travelled a distance of 17.5 km over an elevation of 1223 m, so although it wasn't the longest hike that I've undertaken, it was the addition of the change in elevation that made it a tough day. Our route involved ascending via South East Ridge to East Peak, scrambling down to Barney Creek and then to Rum Jungle, and then following Peasants Ridge (South Ridge) down, crossing a causeway that flooded our ankles. I really enjoyed the adventure of South East Ridge, with a few required scrambles and slab sections, however caution was exercised with wet patches from previous rain that made it challenging. The scenery and views were fantastic, and this hike has got to be one of my favourite South-East Queensland hikes to date!

Funnily enough, I didn't make the connection of this geocache name to this mountain until reading the description, despite the fact that I also watched The Flintstones cartoon growing up. We ended up arriving at this geocache location at around 12:10 hr. With Beardman75 already having made this find, he continued walking to the summit and left Wayn0 and I scurrying around to find this cache. After about five minutes of looking, we found this nicely tucked away container. The cache container and logbook were in good shape. Thanks Rogainer for the cache placement and ongoing maintenance. It was nice to have found this oldie 10/2006 hidden cache, of which is one of Queensland's 500 oldest yet active geocaches.

Arr yes, Mount Barney. My first adventure with this mountain was September last year. Three of us went up South Ridge Track, set up camp at Rum Jungle then hiked up to the West Peak summit. The two adventurers I was with trekked up to the this East Peak for the sunrise the following morning. I was having no part of that haha. I had decided on that hike that the East Peak will be another day.. and what a day it was! We started at 8am and headed up the South East Track. This track is definitely more my style. Four hours later we hit this cache and the summit.

We could see clouds on all the visible peaks including Barneys but by the time we got to the top there wasn’t a cloud in site. Fabulous views all around. Lunch, an Earthcache, then a decent via Rum Jungle saw us back around 5pm.

A great hike with great geo-buddies. Thanks for the cache.
Cheers

I’ve climbed Barney years ago, before I had discovered geocaching.
When I saw there were some caches up here it sparked my interest to do it again. I joined onto a guided hike from Barney Lodge so I didn’t need to worry. Great food included ! They took us up the south east ridge which lead straight the the cache !! Educated the muggles about caching whilst we walked.

accurate hint.
Thanks so much for the Cache !!

Left camp at 5am not sure if we would made the summit before sunrise.
It was hard to follow one single path in the dark, as it got lighter it was far easier to pick a good path.
Made it up in time, great views of mist in the valleys and Mt Lindsay has a cloud all of its own.
A great start to my day.
Thank you for hiding this geocache Rogainer
Find number 23303
R

TFTC. Found by accident.

Great hike. TFTC!

Tough walk, especially up Bippoh Ridge in pouring rain. Easy find once here. Cache in great condition. Took a coin & left a friend for Fred. TFTC

Tftc

Found but didn't have a pen. TYFTC

Many thanks to Beardman75 for replacing this cache for me
Cache is now a 200ml sistema container - same coords

I went up South East Ridge with a group of hikers this morning. We headed off in the dark from Yellow Pinch at 5:30am and made the summit at 9am. It was not as tough as I had expected after struggling on Mt Maroon a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, as the sun rose, the fog set in and the summit was a total white out. It was also very cold and windy.

After enjoying a sandwich, I headed over to GZ to have a look for this cache. Unfortunately, as previously reported, there was nothing to be found even though the hint pointed to one obvious hide. The CO had previously given me the ok to replace the cache so I left the small container that I had brought with me.

We then descended down to the saddle where we were planning on taking the creek down to Lower Portals. Unfortunately, it was deemed to wet to be safe so we continued on to Rum Jungle and down the South Ridge. It was a long, challenging day but well worth the effort.

Thanks for the cache

If anybody is intending to head up this mountain soon, let me know - hopefully we can get another ammo can up there soon. I hope to get there myself but that may not be soon enough.

This one may have succumbed to bushfire
I have not been here for a few years - wouldn't mind another visit.

I found this cache some years ago but on a trip up Logan's down SE today I came across the remnants of this cache. The area was decimated by bushfire late 2019 and this cache appears to have been a victim.

Out on a family through walking adventure for the weekend we had hiked in to Rum Jungle on Friday and spent the night. Our goal today was to do Barney East and Barney West peaks. Mr EMC had done this cache a couple of years ago. This time it was Mrs EMC and the two little chikins that were to find the cache. Chikinlittle (9) and Chikinlittler (8) have done some impressive hikes in their few years of their lives and we thought Barney would be a nice challenge for them. It took us 2 hours to climb up East Peak from Rum Jungle. We just took it nice and slowly and nice and carefully. We ensure the little chooks were always safe on any dangerous sections. Chikinlittler was complaining how cold he was and he was walking up wearing a big jumper despite it being quite a hot day (found out later he had a fever from the flu). The views from the top were amazing and it was quite warm (we were expecting it to be freezing and had packed in our down jackets). We had the place to ourselves for about 5 mins and then it was peak hour. People were popping up from all sorts of places and arriving up the top. Most of them had eyeballs hanging out of their heads to see two little kids up the top. We set off to find the cache and spent about 30 minutes looking. Despite a big search in quite a wide area we found nothing. We found the big round flat rock and spread out far and wide looking but to no avail. We surprised a poor lady who had escaped her group to do a pee and suddenly finds a family of 4 wandering around looking for a geocache. She jumped up like a stunned rabbit poor lady. Took us 1.5 hrs to walk back down to Rum Jungle. We had a break for 30 mins before heading on up West Peak. Thanks for placing this cache even though we didn't find it this time round.

Some spectacular views but what a walk, we are well and truly in pain today. Luckily there was this cache to reward us at the top too, thanks!

Part 1:

First find of the year! And certainly a memorable one to say the least. I packed a few things in today in around 15 hours on and around the slopes of barney. Basically up Logans ridge, East Peak, Rum Jungle, West peak, back to the jungle, then cut across to North Pinnacle, Leaning Peak, Mt Barney Creek, Mid/Lower Portals run back to the car near Yellow Pinch!

Started the slog about 5, it was already a bit warm! Planning on being up there as early as I could, I picked the ridge that looked the easiest on the map. After a small overland farm traverse I joined Logans which at the time I actually thought was Peasants as on the map it looks the easiest! The further I climbed the more I realised that this was definitely not the way the lay person... er...peasant would approach Barney. Thankfully for me, I quite enjoy a climb, and the views were much better this side (lots of cloud coming from the SW). Many false peaks later I made it to the Mountain gums and East trig about 2 hours after I started. By now, there was... well no view, just the occasional glimpse of some grey and green. Consuming breakfast, I continued to finding the cache, pretty easy really. Little did I know, the day had only just begun!

Heading down to the saddle I found where the views had been hiding; a few clouds had given way to expose the saddle and occasionally the western peak. I optimistically thought that “this will clear!” So after grabbing some information and another cache in the Rum Jungle, I pushed onto west peak. It was here that line of sight navigation really ceased for the day. Visibility was as poor as 6-7m in some parts, especially terrifying when you think that emergency service would have no chance of helping you from that snake I almost stepped on….

Part 2:

Finding that the Western Peak was not above the clouds, I descended and made it back almost to Rum Jungle where I found a Goanna in the middle of the track! Except, this one had two tails, but more importantly, no legs and a fat rabbit inside it… Passing back through Rum Jungle and part way up East peak, I veered off to the saddle for North Pinnacle. Here I considered my options (due to extremely poor visibility) but continued onward in a small (and the last) break in the weather. From the top of the North Pinnacle, I could see that my original idea of heading to north peak was a very dangerous idea in such thick fog, so I opted to take the more gradual sloping Leaning peak ridge. First glimpses of this impressive outcrop revealed that this too would be a very tricky way down, as it could not be safely traversed or avoided with cliffs on three sides (except the south side I had approached it from). After studying the geological significance of this feature (there may be an EC here!) I proceeded to see if there was a way down. Hmmm, a few things tried, however the fog really wasn’t helping. Eventually, I found a slippery gully to the west leading me well off track into Mt Barney creek. A couple of times I tried to climb out to skirt around the base of pinnacle and pick the ridge back up to get into the lower portals, but climbing was tough and visibility shocking, so I stuck with the safest option, just follow the creek down.

Once in Mt Barney creek, I was more than pleased that I had taken this route, it was just stunning! Waterfalls everywhere! Thankfully it was very muggy so continual showers and wading was very comfortable in perfect water temps and hot day. The falls became bigger and bigger, however, only one major portage was needed, but being granite, everything is pretty easy in a granite creek. Eventually reaching a fair bit higher up in the portals (Mid portals?). This too I was pretty happy about (the altered route down). Definitely a section of the portals that I think almost everyone misses out from being a long way from either upper or lower portals. By now the clouds had started to move revealing some of the land that I had planned on walking over… Boy, I’m glad I came down the way I did! A solid flow with many fantastic pools and cascades eroded into the granite bedrock (a few swims were had). A short lived monsoon rain settle the clouds further bringing about the sort of day that I had wanted to climb the mountain in! A portage was required just before the lower Portals campsite, giving me a great view of the CLEAR Mt Barney…. Hmm….

From here the trip was in comparison smooth sailing for the next couple of hours which involved collecting the info for the lower portals cache, a fairly boring run to the car park, a brilliant sunset over Barney, and a sore run back to the car in the dark. Then to turn around and cook dinner on top of that! What a day! Thanks for the cache, but I will definitely be doing the same trip again, this time on a clear day! TFTC!!!!

#4509 [10:58] This was a beautifull trip with friends - some of us had a goal to reach the top, I had a goal to reach the cache at the top And it was there!
We went up via Logan's ridge and down via SE ridge.
And a few stats - it took us car - car 7:45 hours, movement 3:45, total 11.71km, ascended 1146 m.
Thanks, it was awsome trip!

Found after a steep climb through the Logan ridge together with VKO and couple other friends. It took us a hell lot of work to get here, but finding the cache was about the same difficulty as all GPS-es was showing about 15m to the steep wall on north. After while we've spread the search circle and came up to this one.

Anyway, it was worth all the hassle and we have some very cool pictures of the cache, mountain views and wasted people . The only thing was that there were nearby forest fires which made the view bit hazy. Still, it was an awesome trip and experience and I think that my legs are still burning even a month later!

Thank you for this cache Rogainer!

Great one. Note it's near the 1m Dia flat rock not under.

Thanks

Great day out with a great group
Thank you Rogainer for placing this cache

This was a welcome find after a hard slog up SE Ridge. thanks

Damn I loved The Flintstones. It was such a great cartoon for kids but it's funny how you don't understand a lot of it until you're an adult. It was like most cartoons I suppose, an element for kids and another for the big kids.
Still... It would be nice to see it back on the idiot box again one day.
Along with the name, it sure does have a stone age feel to it this mountain. On both sides of the East peak, there's nothing but rocks and of course the shrubs, trees and millions of native flowers.
It was a good hard slog up the south east ridge but once we entered the low level clouds then emerged at the summit it was all worth it. The last part of the climb up through the vertical sections was amazing, it's got to be my favorite type of climbing. The wind was howling today which blew the clouds away at various times and thankfully long enough for a few good photos.
Definitely another one of my favourite hikes of the area. A big thanx to my hiking buddys today.
Thanx again Rogainer, worthy of a favorite point. Cheers

Today was the day. Despite having done a bit of hiking and climbing hills around South East Queensland, I have never been up Barney. It is something that I have looked forward to for a long time - and now that the aches and pains have subsided somewhat, it lived up to my expectations and its reputation as a wild, rugged and big hill.

I joined K8nCo, Monkeymaker and The Green Geckos today for a hike up South East Ridge over East Peak and then down South (Peasants) ridge, before a little diversion to the top of Yellow Pinch on the way home. The plan to also tackle West Peak was sensibly aborted when we arrived at Rum Jungle, as it was probably an hour or so later than desirable and there was a forecast for rain and a possibly thunder storm. None of us wanted to be walking down the hill in the dark and the rain!

A 7 o'clock start was planned from the carpark, but we were all a little early and got away at about 10 minutes before the hour. The climb up to the Yellow Pinch gate was a nice warm up. Down the other side we go and suddenly K8nCo veers off down a side track - a little known and unmarked *"shortcut"* up to the South East Ridge.

Across the River, and the track is clear. Five hundred metres on and a very large tree across the track makes things difficult. I believe we lost the shortcut track here and ended up on another old track not heading where we wanted to go.

At the top of a hill a decision was made to head off this track, which had turned away to the North and climb up the ridge of a spur towards South East Ridge. The going was initially quite easy but the higher we got, the steeper it got, with some deep gullies between the spurs. We decided to contour left somewhat, crossing a few of these gullies. The climb down and back out of a few of these gullies was energy sapping. All of us were pleased when we finally joined the South Ridge track at about 500 m elevation. No doubt this was a short cut distance wise. Indeed, possibly time wise as well, as we did catch the couple who had left the car park 15 minutes before us (albeit carrying overnight packs!). The energy reserves certainly took a hit on this shortcut. *Memo to self* - beware K8nCo's shortcuts! The shortcut bought us out about 1.6k's and 800 m elevation from the cache. Now the climb really started!

The track was distinct and easy to follow. Just steep, steep and rough in places. We paced ourselves well, climbing steadily past the multitude of false peaks and rocky outcrops, passing an early starting group on the way and stopping occasionally to catch our breath.

A rope is now in place at the exposed granite slab, which made things easy. After the rope, we climbed up into the cloud for 1/2 an hour. The last 200 m of elevation is a fantastic rock scramble - most enjoyable! Pleasingly the clouds burnt off (mostly) by the time we hit the summit. It was exhilarating to emerge at the top about 150 metres from the cache. The wind had roaring and it was bitterly cold if exposed to the wind. After finding the cache, we found a nice grassy spot out of the wind for some lunch and a break. The cache was found in good condition, albeit hidden under a rock near the 1m diameter round rock referred to in the hint. Lots of muggles are finding the cache and signing the logbook.

Many thanks for placing and maintaining this cache, Rogainer. A tough but thoroughly enjoyable day, worthy of a Crooked favourite point.

Pete

#3,312

P.S. Am old enough to have watched a few Saturday morning cartoons of Fred and his Mate.

The ideas for an overnight had been thrown around for at least the last 6 months. With the onset of winter and cool walking weather, I was keen to set plans in motion. I contacted my T5 junkie friend Mr Seffnjarah and soon had a team with JD&Coke. We planned to take it "easy" by doing an overnight walk and give ourselves plenty of time.

I had done Summit Big 9 years ago with Mrs Eatmorchikin B.C. ... (before chikins) so I knew what I was in for. Barney was one of the hardest walks I've done and since then, I've been using it as a bit of a yardstick for comparing the difficulty of hiking trails.

Having set and agreed on a date, I started training and organising my pack. Training was a 20kg pack and reps of Mt Gravatt. It seemed tedious at the time but I was glad to have done it if for no other reason than to get some more miles on by boots which were still relatively new.

We camped at Barney Lodge the night before so we didn't have to get up at Jeff-o-clock. We had a leisurely start to the day and with our packs donned it was time to get into the groove. Having decided to do an overnight hike we had plenty of time and didn't push ourselves too hard on the walk in. We chose the south (peasants) ridge to go straight into the saddle. It was a nice cool morning, perfect hiking weather. Once we started the "up" the pace slowed. We now measured our progress in altitude rather than distance and took plenty of breaks.

Once at the saddle we had lunch and set up camp to nab the best tent sites. I emptied by pack so I could carry water for the trip up to west peak. It was here that Mr JD discovered he had left all 3 of his sleeping bags in his car. A little concerned about how he was going to survive the night in temperatures close to freezing point. Jeffs emergency pack came to the resuce with a sleeping bag space blanket. Conversation quickly changed to negotiating exactly how much said device would be worth at the top of Mt Barney.

West peak was fairly straight forward, quite open with no real path to follow.Once at the top we located the (new) cache relatively quickly and added our names to the list. We looked for the original cache but the area was quite changed since my last visit and I couldn't find what I was looking for.

Back down into the saddle and we had time to hunt the clues for Herbz's Barney Hut Multi. After a bit of navigation fail we consulted autie google for confirmation of what we were looking for and soon had all we needed.

Back at camp I took my leave for a rest while Jeff & JD hunted down purple dinosaurs.

Next morning Jeff was keen to get moving early but I forgot to set an alarm and had a slower start for the morning. Whilst we had been entertaining ideas of carrying packs up and over east peak for the trip back, we were happy to not bite off more than we could chew and decided to leave our packs at camp for the ascent on east peak. It had been quite windy all night and after meeting some windswept campers on east peak we were glad for having spent the night in the protected sadle. Quick sign of the log and back down to pack up camp. Had a quick photo op for the chikinlittle and chikinlittler travel bugs at purple dinosaur.

With our packs a little lighter with less food and water we set off for the trip back down. Again, perfect hiking weather with temperatures being slightly cool. Back down on the flat for the walk back out. Some things never change such as the walk out being twice as long as the walk in. Stopped off at Yellow Pinch to pick up JD&Cokes Summit to view. Back at the car park it was great to unload and stretch feet. Picked up the multi caches on the way out before heading our separate ways.

A hard walk but such a fantastic experience. Thanks Jeff and Paul for great company.

As we started the climb up to West peak, it was also time to negotiate the price on the survival bag - just how much was a warm night's sleep worth to JD? Unfortunately I had let slip earlier in the trip that I usually only bought my camping kit when it was on sale, so JD was very reluctant to accept at face value the price tag still on the packet. No point me trying to hustle a real estate salesman. In the end my conscience got the better of me and I told him how much it had really cost me and we agreed on the price. I think Mr Chikin would have paid three times that himself to avoid being the spooner/ee. With the deal done, we concentrated on the climb up to the peak. With the cache found we headed back down to the campsite where we were joined soon after by a group of 10 or so young blokes who were also camping the night so were thankful we had reserved our tent sites before we headed up. They headed off for a climb of their own to West peak while we looked around for a couple of other caches up here. We returned to start cooking dinner and had a chat with the other group as the wind started to gradually pick up in the trees above our heads, from a southerly change moving in. By the time we went to bed, rather early I might add after the day's efforts, the wind was fairly howling and the rustling of the branches quite deafening. Luckily the earplugs I always carry to block out any snorring from my fellow campers also blocked out the roaring of the wind, but I still had a fitful night's sleep as the temperatures dropped. I awoke around 6 am to find that things must have gone well overnight for the Brokeback Mountain twins as they slept in for another hour or so before finally emerging. We headed off up towards the summit of East peak around 8am just as a party from the other group were heading back down. It was certainly busy up here today as we passed about a dozen or more other people who had also camped out overnight at various places around the mountain. The wind this morning hadn't let up and was cold and biting as we climbed our way to the summit and at one point a gust almost blew Mr Chikin right over. As we approached GZ we had a chat with some a couple of groups of campers who had stayed overnight almost on GZ. We managed to locate the cache while they were occupied with their packing. As we thumbed through the logbook we noted that despite not being found for 11 months by other cachers, the logbook had been signed numerous times by muggle visitors to the summit. We added our names before heading back to the campsite to start our own packing for the trip back down the mountain to our waiting cars. TFTC

After successfully completing my first overnight hike a couple of weeks ago along the Stretcher Track, I had recovered enough to join Eatmorchikin and JD&Coke for another overnight adventure, this time to the top of Mt Barney. We stayed overnight at Mt Barney Lodge on Friday night with the intention of getting a nice early start on the mountain on Saturday morning. This didn't quite happen as we didn't head off until just before 8 am. It was a nice fine day so there was bright sunshine highlighting the formidable peaks we were to climb. JD and Mr Chikin had been up the mountain previously so they knew what was in store on the way up. This was my first time on the mountain so was oblivious to what awaited us. The long walk in to the start of the climb was over fairly gentle terrain so lulled me into a false sense of ease. The start of the climb was a little steeper but still comfortable with the heavy overnight packs we were lugging. As we turned a sharp bend in the track, the steep climb started in earnest. We had plenty of rest stops on the way up, as we still had plenty of time up our sleeve despite the latish start, and took each opportunity to admire the views on the way up. With the heavy rains the week before the tracks we could hear the creeks flowing freely at the bottom and up near the saddle, just about as freely as the sweat that was flowing from my exertions of the climb. With relief we seemed to be nearing the saddle but a short steep drop had to be negotiated before we reached the camp site at Rum Jungle. The packs were quickly dropped to bring us much anticipated relief from our aching shoulders, not used to carrying such a heavy load on a hike. It was still only mid afternoon so, with no one else around, we decided to set up our campsite to reserve the best spots, before heading up to West peak. This was where things got a little strange. JD & Mr Chikin had decided to share a tent, allegedly with the intentions of saving weight in their packs. A little odd I thought, but I was happy to bear the extra weight of carrying my own 1 man tent to ensure some privacy and my own personal space. With the tents erected we started to set up our bedding. After rifling around in his bag for a while he suddenly went quiet - he had just realised that he had "accidentally" left his sleeping bag back at the car (this, despite the fact that he had brought along THREE of them so he could chose the right one for the expected weather conditions). With overnight temperatures expected in the low single figures, I was quick to declare that mine was definitely a 1 man tent and was not going to participate in any spooning to share my body warmth. It looked like it was down to JD and Mr Chikin to decide who was going to be spooner and spoonee. As I left the Brokeback Mountain twins to their deliberations, I unpacked a few more things from my pack, whereupon I discovered an emergency survival bag that I had acquired a few weeks earlier. The happy dance from Mr Chikin would have won the finals of Dancing With The Stars, such was his relief.

Great way to end a tough day. Came up via Logan's with through packs. Camping out tonight, looking forward to a beautiful sunset. TFTC

Having just done the other peek we were a little bit leg weery but fully intended getting up this one as well,and like I said about the other peek the end result makes it all worth while,awesome 360 degree views,could see marroon, mt warning even,mt.lindsay and so much more,I think the view is slightly better from here,and glad we made the effort,couldn't stay to long,still a long way back to the car.TFTC.Rogainer.

Relogging this under individual account, previously a member of Gaz'n'Kab account.

Previously logged under a team account. Re-logging with my individual account.

*..continued from above*
So, here I am on the tiny ledge. In control and nearly ready to head up some more. We're not going down for sure and it's probably not far anyways. My legs are burning, my hands are shaking. I can feel the cold wind sucking the warmth from my left side. And out to the left is a very steep slope, a deep blue sky and the shadow of Mount Barney laid across the landscape. I stand up, steadying myself against the face of the mountain and follow the group up the next slippery slope of rock.

Generally we hike on, largely on autopilot. Up, up, heave, up, step, up. Though it's not too long before the latest summit comes closer and we crest it. Again, for what feels like the hundredth time, not the top. But above it is.. sky. There's a gentle slope before us, maybe a dozen metres more elevation. Such a surreal feeling being able to see north for the first time. But another two hundred metres of walking and we're not stopping until we're at the toppest top.

While all morning we'd been alone, it was strange that now we could hear voices. Evidence that there is more than one way up here. Many of them, I believe. For the first time that made any sense in a while, GPSr's were checked and the summit is definitely where we need to be. As we got there I spied a boulder about two metres across. I reckoned it was the highest point. It was my goal. The cliffs around me, the group spread out behind me, I didn't care for I wanted to touch that rock. I got to it and hugged it. For a moment I sat on it, at the highest point for a long way in most directions. Maybe the air felt thin, maybe my body was screaming for oxygen, but as I sat and collected myself, the world just felt a little bit brighter.

There's a lesson for me on this rock. So often you hear about conquering or taming mountains just by getting to the top. I disagree. You merely visit mountain summits. You get there once, you may not get to the next one. Or even this one again. I had felt fear on this climb and rightly so. People have died here. People haven't made it. But I get the chance to visit. Fortunate to have the health, the wealth, the support and the geographic proximity to sit on this slightly uncomfortable rock in a slightly improbable location. This is the feeling of insignificance, of gratitude and of freedom that makes climbing a mountain and visiting a summit truly worthwhile.

Towards the geocache the others headed. Only a few metres away. Somewhere here another group passed us. We discussed routes up and the described in only a very few words why I will never come up via 'Mezzanine'. At GZ nothing was difficult, an ammo box was produced six hours and twenty-six minutes after leaving the carpark. A grassy patch would be our site for lunch. One of the best views in the great south-east, some sunshine and a sense of accomplishment if I don't think about all the descent ahead of us.

Chances are I'll be back to Fred's Mate. Maybe even the East Peak again. It's doable. It's challenging. It's rewarding. No words will do this place justice. A logbook was signed to make it official and when lunch was done, we put packs back on and headed for the Rum Jungle. Thanks for this geocache, adventure and great story to tell, Rogainer

*..continued from above*
So I sit, breathing my way through panic on this tiny ledge, feeling so far from those bikes and wondering how much farther up is left. The group is getting tired and with good reason. While the track isn't hard to find, it is incessantly, unrelentless and daunting in its continul and steep gradient. As we break out of the bush area, above the tree line and more onto the slopes, it is a somewhat rewarding climb. Moments are captured peering across the valley, to Mount Ernest and Mount Lindesay. A disagreement breaks out about what that hill is, which later comes into view as Mount Warning. A cool southerly breeze is blowing. Too cool. I assumed upon leaving the bikes that the effort of climbing would warm me up. But we're on the southern side, there is no sun here. I have no warm clothes and that breeze is crisp. We stop a lot of times, for a breather, for a drink or for a bite. Every single one makes me feel colder again. It is actually uncomfortably cold. Unusual for such an intense climb.

But onwards we go. The joy of being above the tree line is you have a good view above you, for what's coming. You have a damn good view down into the steep gullies and over the edges as well, but looking upwards, you can see the summit. Because nothing makes a destination feel father away than when you can't see it. So we have an aiming point. Good, happy, onwards.

Only, that presented a small problem. As the summit came slowly into view with our painful persistence, it would simply reveal hidden behind it, the next summit up. That's a pretty great way to destroy morale, but hey a short break, some choice words aimed at the mountain and we'll be fine for the next stretch. Upwards towards the summit. Ernest dipped below the horizon as we climbed ever higher. This section steeper and rockier than the last. And honestly, had anyone looked at the elevation and eyeballed what lay ahead, we'd have worked out that like last time, the summit was simply hiding another summit. Evidently on the seventh day when to good guy rested, the bad guy created this mountain. And he built the south-east ridge like a massive staircase.

Honestly, I don't recall how many false summits/ridges we saw, got excited about and were thoroughly disappointed in. Maybe three, maybe seventeen. But each gave way to a steeper section. Each was as cold as the last. And each was rockier than the one before it. More and more sections appeared that were just a rock slab. Tilted to some disgusting angle. And lots felt as if either side of them was a sheer cliff. At each I'd think to myself, and likely out loud that while going up was touch and sucked, going back seemed worse. Going down where you can hardly see where you're putting your feet is way scarier. And there's no geocache down there. And when considering going down, I'm not interested in this ridge. At least the south ridge is promised to be easier. If it's not, I may just die on the summit.
*continued below..*

It's a cold Saturday morning. I don't know how far we're yet to ascend, but we've come up a long way since we left our bikes at the base of the ridge. The five of us had taken turns in the lead following the track and at this rocky face, it was me again. I left a small, dirt-covered platform and began up the slope looking like a cat on a screen door a few metres. A tiny handhold here, and a foothold there, not much else. To my right, nothing. Small grasses then the blue expanse of sky. Below that tiny ledge, a dozen perpendicular rock faces like the one I'm on. Above, probably an equally small ledge to take a break on. And at that moment, primitive instinct takes over and I begin to freeze. My muscles refuse to respond to my command and my lizard brain is in panic mode. Why the heck am I here!? I push through a few more metres and collapse onto the narrow ledge above. I sit, huddled against the rock, my back to a tiny tree and try even trick I have to calm down and regain conscious control of my personal situation. I'm ok, really. As are the others. But gee, do I realise how perilously close this climb is to the edge of what I deem to be 'ok'.

Many, many times I have driven up the Mount Lindesay Highway and peered at Mount Barney, with the resounding thought of 'nope, not for me'. And I believed that, and I was ok with that. Some mountains are just a bit too far for some capabilities. But then, dated for right in the middle of the tolerable climbing season (also called winter), an idea was hatched to tackle Barney. I was hesitant, but if you're going to try and going to fail, best do it with trusted friends. The plan was to stay Friday night at Flanagans Reserve to have us in position for a very early morning start. Indeed, we found ourselves at the carpark of Yellow Pinch at sunrise. While winter is cooler, the hours of daylight are reduced - ever the tradeoff.

Gathered in the group was both Herbz, Pprime, myself and Gaz of Gaz'n'Kab. Back at the campsite was Kab of Gaz'n'Kab and Net88; both happy to come for a weekend of camping, but neither interested in going a kilometre up on foot. Can't blame them. Herbz had the idea to begin this particular hike using bikes. We all thought he was nuts, but we did as we were told and retrieved bikes from boots and roof bars, did the usual pre-hike preparation routine and saddled up. In theory the beginning of the track was long and relatively level. Which had a poor start. In the first eight hundred metres is an eighty metre ridge. First up for the day, this was rough. But the other side of said hill had me scooting downwards at 20 kilometres per hour. The next three kilometres were, as promised, relatively easy going although slightly uphill on the bikes. This placed us at the base of the South-East Ridge.

Please don't get me wrong here, I am a big advocate for never taking the same route there and back again, prefering a circuit. But I did not choose to avoid the easier, definitely beginners-route up the South Ridge. It had been decided to stash the bikes in the bush here (chained to a tree just in case) and head up this slightly more difficult route. And so, I follow along (noting I am promised we'll come back the easy way). And the up begins nearly immediately. Less than a kilometre later, we were walking at 1.4km/h. Yes, there is a decimal in there. And that would be the average for our entire ascent.
*continued below..*

Many moons ago a few of us thought it would be a great idea to tackle this mountain... A small group of us including Team Herbz, Captain Terror, Pprime (P`) and Net88 camped the night at Flanagans Reserve the night before and enjoyed a nice relaxing night around the fire in this beautiful area We woke up nice and early to tackle this one, when a certain Kab realised she didn't pack the ole' walking pants... Hmmmm, one does not simply climb Mt Barney in Jeans The new smaller group of Herbz, Captain Terror, Pprime (P`) and Gaz headed off in the cars and set off for the carpark. As we made our way closer, we saw a spectacular sight of Mt Barney at Sunrise, and were suddenly a little daunted about this climb. We made our way to the carpark, and set off on the trusty bicycles, making our way along the good quality, although quite hilly at the start, track We continued along until we reached the turnoff for the South-East ridge, and stashed the bikes in the bush, and looked HOLY!!! BUGGER!!! THAT IS STEEP! Alright, we can do this Up, Up, Up we went... A really can not explain what happened between here and the top of the mountain, but it wasn't good. Every 100m we would gain a LOT of elevation, and look up, and sure enough we were not any closer. Now this happened a lot... A mean ike everytime we were sure we were getting closer, we would see a new peak through the trees. Talk about groundhog day! To top off this great feeling, Gaz start cramping... Badly... It wasn't pretty. I wasn't sure I was actually going to make it, but when there is really no other option, there is only one way to go... We powered through the pain, and made our way to the top! Well, what we thought was the top Admittedly, we could actually see the real top from here, and were very happy to be this close! We had gone up some pretty steep inclines, rock scrambles, and negotiated cliff faces with ropes, all to reach this point Woo Hoo!! We set off to reach this cache first up, and soon made our way here, and what a fantastic spot!!! A nice grassy spot for us to enjoy the sunshine, and check out the spectacular views [^] We happily passed around the logbook, and added our names to the logbook, before setting off down to the saddle, and back down Peasants Ridge



TFTC Rogainer, a fav point from us!!!



Gaz'n'Kab

Right. Down. It's not a pretty track down to the saddle - or maybe it is because I am not sure we were actually on it, but down we trended, sliding in a few spots and traversing many metres sideways at other times. It was afternoon now. The legs were very very tired, the knees weren't happy and were keen to tell me about it.

This is a very strange mountain. As we traveled down, we could see the bottom of the saddle loom up in front of us. Then we'd get to that bottom, peer over the edge, and there'd be more downward mountain to get to the bottom.

switch. repeat.



It's some 300+m descent to the saddle. I mean, that's a decent mountain in it's own right. And we are a km above the bikes we used to get to the base early this morning.

switch. repeat.

and again.

We lost any semblance of track at one stage, and it became a bit of a bush bash. Herbz was out front, encouraging us, or mocking us - I really couldn't tell any more - and then we emerged.

FLATNESS!

Oh. my. god. that feels good.

There's a creek here - rather well flowing one all things considered for where we were. And the remains of a hut (so I am told). This was the point of collapse for me. Movement was not an option for some time. The creek is cold, fresh, clear water. Relaxing to listen to. And to slurp. A very pretty little spot. I am in some level of pain at this point, so I admit, we left the Herbz unattended for a moment. It was just a moment, I swear sigh, seems I'm coming back one day.

Nearby there is a Purple Dinosaur - please see [url=http://coord.info/GCGMXK]Purple Dinosaur Mountain[/Url] for details of the cache we nabbed here.

Then we headed downhill. It was the Peasant's Pathway, apparently the easy one. OK then![xx(] Starting already in pain and very tired makes it tougher, but still this would rate on any other hike. We sent the Herbz back early on as he'd left his sunnies, or a GPSr, or an ammo box or something behind (hmmmm, a second period of time unmonitored), but down was order of the moment for us. We stepped, some slithering, although not a lot, a few largish steps. One section of scrabbly rock in reverse - one slight incorrect detour (oops), and down we continued to trend.

We'd come a long way up, so it stood to reason a lot of this down had to occur. The afternoon was wearing on, but the distance to the waypoint I'd marked where the bikes were steadily got less. The elevation above the bikes also reduced until we were there again. With some slight trepidation I kitted the bike up and mounted ... and wow, was that easy. Seated, downhill enough that peddling really wasn't needed. This was wonderful. "Thankyou Herbz" - as promised, it was true. We scooted along as darkness settled in, screamed past the fitter hikers that had passed us early on (eat my dust dudes) to the bottom of the last mountain. I didn't push it, I dismounted and the knee somewhat freed up meant it wasn't a tough trundle to the top, back over the fence - one bit to go.

The last final, nerve racking, brakes on lock the whole way, teeth shattering scream-inducing slide down that last hill - thankfully in the rapidly deepening darkness so I couldn't see anything anyway. With thankful sighs I pulled the bike to a rest along side the car - and in due course managed to extract my behind from the seat long enough to re-pack the car, return to campsite Flanagan where the gals had a roaring bushfire and hot soup awaiting ... and the celebrations of victory could truly kick into gear.

This mountain is not for the faint of heart. It has challenged me - but I can say ... DONESKI!

Thanks for placing this cache, Rogainer. Found in good condition.
{Overall find #4058} - of course a new favourite - the whole day has certainly been memorable.
Check out [url=http://www.facebook.com/groups/303346609684914/]The online home of geocaching in South East Queensland on Facebook[/url]

We were starting to doubt our eyes ... I mean like a Groundhog day inspired by Satan himself we seemed to keep ending up at the bottom of the thing). There was a section where we wanted rope - some under-helpful person had put some mangy twine there for us, but it didn't help me. The moist rock faces mixed with overly tired arms and exhausted leg muscles inspired me to make use of the rope Mr Herbz kindly placed there for us. Approaching lunchtime we crested the top ... once again ...



Holy Mary Mother of God. Save me; this Barney is the spawn of Satan. The illegitimate lovechild of a groundhog on crack and Beelzebub. That's not a mountain, it's a vertical cliff face. No, it's leaning over, it's leering at me, poking its tongue out at me. Sneering. Surely the remains of this path-thing we wanted to be following will go around and up the easy side? NOPE. THIS is the easy side. Oh myyy. Captain Terror was looking pale - err, paler than usual - and I know Gaz looked like I was feeling. Time to close my eyes and just go forward. I mean, we'd long since agreed that going back down what we'd already climbed wasn't going to happen. We will die up here if that's the only way down. Well, after I'd BBQ'd Gaz.



Right; that looks just as impossible as the first look. But while erosion may be helping us a bit, it's not going to make the difference in time. Off we go. The path disappeared kind of behind the cliff face to start with, and the straight upness was, well, less straight, but definitely upness. It was wet and slippery in a few places. The view behind us was, well, let's just say it encouraged us to not go that direction. The sun was still largely ashamed to show its face, but the wind was less ferociously trying to rip us off the small patch of ground we were clinging to with a full frontal. That was nice. We were hearing voices. The ghostly lilt of a girl's voice, some laughter. Maybe the rattling of chains. We were no longer focussed on the top, we couldn't see it anyway without standing up, and that wasn't happening. We could sense the top though. It called to me, mocking me mostly. We clambered, slithered, panted, cried a little, gritted teeth, and tried not to think of looming death some thousand metres below. We summitted ... again ... yes, yet again. There was no need to look, it wasn't the top. Are those voices getting louder?

Thankfully this time there was no mountain in front of us, we could see over the top, just over there. We were in no danger of heading there just yet, but this time for sure we could see it. 100m or so to the cache, yes there's a cache up here, we remembered it. Whilst waiting for oxygen to arrive, two fellows, humans, arrived first. Nice day for a walk apparently. They'd decided on taking the easy way up this year - being Winter Solstice apparently this is a thing - word is the Mezzanine track will never ever be blessed with my foot prints, or belly prints. And off they went.

And yes, we followed soon after, picking our way across till suddenly ... an Ammo box. A cache. We'd made it! How cool is this? A lovely little grassy patch very nearby became the place of collapsement, a brew followed, some lunch. Signing it. Photos. Stories. We survived. I've been to Fred's Mate. And I survived!

Oh right. Down. That's still gotta happen.[xx(][xx(][xx(]

Having refreshed over luncheon, a casual stroll westerly ensued to the true highest point. A bit exposed and muggle-infested, but noteworthy.

Yes, Down. Must happen unless camping the night. And the day is wearing on - shortest day of the year and all.

The mountain that just keeps on giving. OK. A log entry then. It was sometime late last year that I decided my 'big mountain climb' this year would be Barney. It's a biggie, so I'd need to work my way up to it. Do a few longer walks, do some climbs, make sure I use the Hiking season (aka Winter) to full effect. Umm. Well, when Gaz (of Gaz'n'Kab) told me he had talked Herbz's and Captain Terror into doing it this weekend - it is June people - well, I'd done a few hikes earlier in the year! I'm keen as mustard. Famous last words indeed.

We camped at nearby Flanagans overnight before hand, and so were bright eyed, caffeinated, and raring to go in the Yellow Pinch carpark by about dawn. On to bikes we got, because Herbz told us we'd thank him for it, and off we peddled .... for about 25m. That first hill from the carpark is a killer. Wow is this gonna be a long day. OK, so a half hour later we'd successfully pushed our bikes to the gate up the hill and over or through it. So, puffing, a little warmer now, and somewhat scared of the rough road downhill I am about to hurtle down in the dim morning light - I boarded my potential obituary highlight and holding my breath let go of the brake lever and tried not to close my eyes.

Some days or was it seconds later I settled into the rhythm and was soon on less vertical terrain (actually I now realize slightly uphill), and peddling away trying to remain upright on the sandy bits. It took us an hour to get to the base of the mountain. 3.74kms in and the heart is pounding, the bikes are packed away safely, and we turn our eyes uphill.



Right; that looks daunting, but I'm up for it, off we go. It's a decent old climb, not quiet hands and knees and ropes, but not far short of it. A path to follow, we didn't have too much trouble following it. Being on the southern side of the mountain there was more shadow than sunlight, and the wind was a bit chilly, but as we emerged above the treeline the view behind us of Mt Lindesay and Mt Ernest were pretty spectacular. A distant nose stuck in the air I predicted to some derision was Mt Warning (later proven correct). The clear skies made the views rather gorgeous ... we had many pauses for the cause as we steadily climbed, so the views were regularly inspected. The top swam into view through the bushie impedances, and after a few hours we breached the edge and ... largely collapsed panting and clearing the tears out of our eyes. And then we looked up - there is more mountain. This is not the top, this is just the ridgeline?



Right; that looks daunting, but I am probably still up for it. And after a bit if a break, off we go. It's a decent old clamber. Somewhat steeper than the first half, a few spots of hands and even knees. A couple of little rocky climbs to scramble up. The sun was still trying to hide from us, and the wind was finding it easier to get to us, and was bringing friends. Looking down on little ol' Ernest was cute. Can see where the dotted line up it's ridgeline on my GPSr would be in real life. It's a distraction. This Barney is getting personal with me in places. So after a few hours we scrambled up over the edge onto the t .... oh no ... more mountain? This Barney is not just mean, it's being rude. We looked at the new mountain in front of us.



Right; that looks daunting. After a while the heart rate returned to triple figures, packs went back on, and back to clambering we went. More hands and knees, more rock scrambles. This is really really steep. And the cold breath of Antarctic-inspired wind blowing onto us while the sun played peek-a-boo behind the mountain in front of us (and is that the top?

We have often looked and talked about these Mt. Barney caches over the last few years but never seemed to get around to doing anything about getting up there and finding them. So when I (Mr Herbz) was invited to join a group of muggle hikers who were heading up this way, I jumped at the chance.

An early start saw the larger group head up the longer but less hard south ridge (Peasants). While a smaller
group decided to go up the more direct but harder South-East ridge. I foolishly decided to join the smaller group consisting of mainly much younger and fitter guys than me. A cracking pace was set and we soon found the terrain getting steeper, and steeper, and steeper. Boy this route just doesn't let up...after a few short stops at the various viewpoints we continued our punishing ascent.

Although there was a some light cloud cover which obscured the views somewhat, the sun showed it's face occasionally to reveal some spectacular vistas as we got higher. The cloud cover did however keep the mercury to a respectable level. Goodness knows how much more sweat and blood would have been shed had the sky been clear. Did I mention how steep this route is?

Pushing on we came across a few slightly hairy clamber sections to negotiate as we approached the east peak at 1400m, and, finally the summit was made....and there was much merriment and high fives all round.

Several of the muggle group were intrigued by this Geocaching thing, and I stood back after arriving a GZ to let them make the find. Think we may have a couple of new members. Ammo can located and logbook signed (all in good order), we re-hid the cache and joined the rest of the group for the descent to Rum Jungle. Here we met up with the other group who came up Peasants and grabbed some well earned lunch.

While eating we eyed up the West Peak contemplating if we should go for it. But time was marching on, my dodgy knee was complaining a bit too, so decided to leave this for the next time when I bring Mrs Herbz up here.

After finding the cache at Rum Jungle, we headed back down Peasants to make a nice circuit. I like circuits.

An awesome, spectacular day. Very happy to have found this cache. Thanks Rogainer. An FP goes without saying (although I just did). TFTC.

Popped up for a quick solo visit today.
https://www.strava.com/activities/245672984


Cache all good, but I did remove 3 cans of tuna (not a good idea to leave food in caches - especially these remote ones)

Found @1:05:00 PM.

These caches on Mt Barney had been on my to do list for a number of years and when a friend (non cacher) invited me to climb Mt Barney and camp in the saddle overnight I jumped at the chance.
Well that was 4 months ago and this was the weekend. I drove up on Friday and arrived at Mt Barney lodge campground around lunch time picking up a few new caches around Rathdowney on the way. A climb up the hill from Yellow Pinch carpark to do the multi and stretch the legs before the following day and I was all set for the challenges ahead.

4 of us set out at 7:10am from the car park and made the long walk to the start of the south ridge. From here the climb gets progressively harder with only a couple of trick spots on the way to Rum Jungle. We dropped our large packs off here and took the bare minimum on our way up to the East peak.
Probably took about 1.5 hours to make the climb up with a bite to eat mid ascent. Picked up a book that someone had left on a rock in a plastic bag (Take a walk in SE Qld) and gave it to a fellow traveller as I already had a copy.

Another 20 minutes or so we made the summit and soaked in the view. Looked across at the west peak and tried to pick a path that we would tackle later. Then we set off to find the all important cache which was exactly where it was described. Couldn't believe someone was only here a few days earlier.

Signed the log and headed back to the saddle.



Thanks to Rogainer for the cache

I've been up Barney 3 times now but this is the first for a Cache. Who knew they eventually existed??? LoL!
I was traveling with my muggle friend from the Uk, Nicola.
Logan's Ridge was the track of choice and what a climb it was with fantastic views until we hit the cloud.
I said "it should be over there", she immediately said the famous "Found it". Turned out to be an easy one as it was sitting on top of a rock, in clear sight!
It's now slightly hidden! Easy if you are looking.
Right then. On our way down South east track. And a swim on our way out.
Thanks for this Cache. Great fun. West Peak next time!

On the way up here from rum jungle an easy find. All in good condition

Tftc

Georode

Found on Sunday with Puff'nPuffin +their son Luke
Great climb with the cache a great bonus
Thanks Rogainer

What an adventure today turned out to be for me! I hadn't planned to visit Mt Barney this weekend, but got caught up into the trip when Brother Colin and teamdfl and stairman1 were talking about it during our climb with some others up Mt Maroon two days ago. It just looked so tantalizing, and yet so difficult, but I knew it was likely to be my one opportunity to give it a go, especially with these particular friends, so asked to join them. BC and I have done quite a few hikes up mountains over the last year, and he was aware of my skills, and teamdfl had a fair idea as well, so approval was given. Woohooo!!!

Reaching the summit of West Peak and returning to Rum Jungle had taken us about 5 and 1/2 hours, so a serious discussion was had as to whether we'd get East Peak done as well, before we ran out of time for the descent to the car park before dark. The others were dead keen, and although I was the slowest and thought I was already exhausted, there was no way I was going to be left behind, so we set off. Brother Colin set a cracking pace which really pushed me to my limits, and he copped rather a lot of choice words , then we took a wrong path which got very scrubby and difficult to push through , so this ascent was certainly the make-or-break moment for me, but somehow I made it. Not happily, I'll admit, but I made it. (Perhaps it was the anger I felt that kept me moving upwards!) So very pleased to reach the summit and sign that logbook after BC made the find. A few happy snaps were taken, then a check of the clocks said it was 2:15pm, which gave us about 3 or so hours of daylight left, so we turned around and headed back down. A short rest and refuel at Rum Jungle gave us just enough energy to make it back to the car, arriving at 5:15pm, just as dark was closing in. Phew!

Now that I'm writing this log 4 days later I still can't believe that I did it [^] Mt Barney was on my hit list of mountains that need to be climbed but I really was not expecting to get it done so soon. TFTC, Rogainer. It's a pleasure to claim it, so a favourite point from me. And thanks BC, teamdfl and stairman1 for helping me get there. A grand day out indeed!

A BIG day of caching is planned for today. IolatheK, TeamDFL, Stairman1 and myself have plans to find the 3 caches on the summit(s) of Mt Barney today.

We started walking at Yellowpinch at 0730AM and headed up Pheasants ridge track. We had to set a cracking pace to achieve our aim of two summits and return to Yellowpinch before sunset. Approximately 3 hours later we arrived at Rum Jungle camp site and after a short rest and a search we found the cache. Then it was onto the West Peak for the cache there. A little over 2 hours later we returned to Rum Jungle. Now to head to this summit, East Peak. A short discussion on whether we had time to do this peak as well was had and we decided to go for it.

We took the wrong track from Rum Jungle and was soon heading a little off course. Another hiker called to us and let us know where we should of been. A short bush bash later we were on the right track. With time getting, on the fast pace was continued with a few words said from one member of the group. Approximately an hour later we were on the summit.

This cache took a little searching but we found it eventually. Time 1415. WOW. AMAZING. I am soooo tired. Now to get back to Yellowpinch. We arrived back at the car about 1715 after a speedy descent. We are all exhausted but thrilled to have achieved such a huge achievement today.

Anyone attempting to repeat this hike will need to be very fit and be prepared to hike fast. We think we covered close to 20km today with a change in elevation of over 1100m to the first summit, drop 200m then climb back up 200m and finally descend the 1100m back to the car park. A tough day but so worth it.

An amazing day. A hard day. A great bunch of friends. A favourite point for sure.

Thanks for the cache.

Out with Brother Colin, IolantheK and Stairman. Having tackled the west peak and returned we departed Rum Jungle around 12:30 for the assault on the east peak. We had no time to dilly dally if we wanted to be off the mountain before dark.

A cracking pace was set by BC(off in the wrong direction) [:p], but some heckling from the back of the pack and assistance from some passing traffic we were soon on track. We passed a bunch of hikers on the way who had climbed up the eastern ridge straight to the top [^]. We found another couple near the top who were relaxing with some red wine .

Quick chat with both groups, but no time to waste. We had a reasonably quick find at GZ. Logs were scribbled and the cache was replaced. Now we just have to get back to the car. It's only 3.5 crowlometres away . A tad more by foot. I was very extremely happy that we had made the push earlier to get back to the car just as it was getting dark. I did not want to be coming down that mountain in the dark.

An excellent job by all to make it through 19km and around 1800m of vertical climb today. A grand day out indeed. What's next?

Quite an early start this morning. Four of us Teamdfl, IolantheK, Brother Colin and I, are about to get the last of the caches up here. After leaving Summit Big about half an hour ago we are back at Purple Dinosaur. Do we still have enough time before dark for this one? Bit of discussion and a lets do it!! Right lets ignore the obvious red marker and head off in another direction. I have heard somewhere that sometimes the direct approach works. (well not this time) What we followed soon became not much of a track at all.Oops! All is not lost though as a welcome voice from about 20 metres away let us know where we should have been. Back on track again and following all sorts of either yellow or blue tape and various chalk marks we soon popped out at the summit. We have had to set ourselves quite a quick pace in order to get back in daylight. (managed with about 10 minutes of it left.)
All very tired now we spread ouit to look for the cache. brother colin soon had his hands on it and we signed the log. With only a very short break and a couple of photo shots it was off again for a quick descent. This time we avoided our small detour and reached Purple Dinosaur again and had a short rest. Then back to the car. A very welcome sight I must admit.
Quite some hike today.
Thanks Rogainer for giving us a reason to visit this great area.
Easy favourite point

Wow, I can't believe I actually have bagged this cache and I guess, just as importantly - this mountain! It's been on my 'bucket list' for some time but I did think I would be a fitter when I actually did it.

But the opportunity came up to do this climb now so I had to have a go. We came here to invest three Venturer Scouts on the top of the East Peak but as I'm not as young as I used to be and carrying a few extra kilos I gave myself plenty of time climb to Rum Jungle campsite by leaving a few hours before everyone else. Got there in 6 hours!

We found Purple Dinosaur Mountain Cache then spent a very windy and cold night on the mountain before heading up to the East Peak to invest the three Venturers. Scout uniforms were worn and flags, poles etc were carried - it was an awesome experience for all.

We found the cache - something Venturers like doing - held our ceremony, then back to Rum Jungle to pack up camp and head down the mountain. I found some of the rocky parts a bit challenging (short leg syndrome) on the way down - glad I someone else with me to tell me where to place my feet - going up was no problem, though.

Thanks Rogainer - I really enjoyed my visit to this cache - and thanks for the info

Got to the top of East Peak in about 5 hours. Back down in just over 8 hours. I was not left wanting any more. That was about my limit - both in physical exersion and in the technical. I don't mind scrambling, but hate exposed rock faces. The good news is Peasants has none. I felt pretty safe the whole time, but still had a few thrills along the way.

It took me a while to find the cache as the rock has thick scrub on almost all sides. I got down and had a look initially from one side and was dissapointed to see an empty hole. But I got around the other side and came up with the goods.

The cache was in good condition, but damp. I think this was just condensation and not rain getting in. I drained it out and ensured the log was wrapped up tight.

Thanks for the cache, Rogainer. It was a memorable one.

While the geoson was taking in the views, I did a obligatory dash into the bush. Equipped with some added comments from the CO, I knew pretty well what to look for.

Approached the GZ from North and went through the area's N + W + S sides, but left the Eastern aspect for the next eager hunter. Nothing meeting the CO's description could be found by poking around. If it's there, it must be well covered, or on the Eastern side of the GZ.
Given that the cache at the campsite is still all good, this one might as well be, but just didn't present itself.

Otherwise a fantactic trip! Went up on Sat afternoon and camped at Rum Jungle, did a leisurely walk to the summit on Sun, and then descended back to the car on Mon. A great trip, and truly fantastic views!
TFTH, Rogainer!

** Coordinates Changed From **
S 28° 16.832 E 152° 41.911
Distance From Old: 153.9 feet
Relocated

Decided on a maintenance visit.
Up SE ridge in 2hr 45 mins, down S ridge.
All up, a tad over 6 hours.

Pa freak came along for the ride - although I am not sure he really enjoyed SE ridge...

This is the second time up the mountain for me - the last time was via the Peasants Route when Rogainer placed the cache - which pre-dated my caching days. Today we arrived with the weather clearing to replace what had gone missing. After a barefoot effort through the creek, we opted to go the SE Ridge to take us straight to the top of the east peak. I heard this route was more difficult than the south ridge but not as bad as some of the other options. So, up we climbed and soon went past a large group heading in the same direction. It was about here that we hit the first bit of the climb that got the pulse racing - a narrow razorback with steep drops on both sides. I'm not the best when it comes to standing above steep cliffs - but this was successfully negotiated. After a brief side trip, we came to a point with a good view of the top - and doubt's began to surface again - how do we get up that? But climb it we did - mostly with me studying the ground at my feet (don't look down) and Paul kindly pointing out the 300 m drop after we'd gone past it - the last photo below says it all.

The clouds were still clinging to the top of the mountain and the wind was blowing so we placed the cache (which I had no hesitation in signing - I'd done the hard work and it has been found before) and headed for the saddle below for a spot of lunch.

We had extended discussions on the way up and down about why Parks and Wildlife would want to ban caching in National Parks (and why anyone would want to remove this cache). I doubt I'd be making the effort to get up here without it - and I'm sure there are many others who's thinking is similar. As to environmental damage from the old hide - there was none that I could see (after all its only a handful of people who visit). Certainly nothing like that done by the those camping up here - which is still very minimal.

Thanks to Rogainer for a great day out. There's still that west peak to get to...

After I received an email from Queensland parks about this cache, I responded requesting a meeting with them (the ump has the paper trail). As I have not heard back from them in quite sometime, I think I will just replace the cache - but probably not until January.

Cache has been removed by Qld Parks and wildlife.
I will disable this for now, I will see if I can arrange a suitable spot for cache, but more than likely will have to archive it.

found at the high point of an Anzac day walk. Swapped TBs - John can be "the ranger" for a while.

After looking around for ages we gave up. Fairly obvious where it was suppose to be. After sitting and watching the view we were coming back and found the geocache out in the open. A lot of people have found it by accident and written in it. I looked at the log and some people took the cache back down to the saddle then realized what it was and gave it to other ppl to bring back up and guess where it was. I moved it back to where the coordinates and hint lead to. Even thou it was left right out in the open everything is still dry.

Added Trackable item. Cheers for the great cache. It made it fantastic for a marker to lead us up the peak.

Found it on Monday 28/01/07 by accident

Great cache in a fantastic spot. The views were magnificent and the team was well proud of the effort. We camped at the Old Hut Site in the Saddle overnight, which was a fantastic experience. Lots of water and hiking experience required if you intend to lug up camping gear on this walk.

The cache was in good condition, and the trouble one of the team members went to by carrying a 6-pack of XXXX was much savoured and enjoyed on top of the East Peak!

Well done, and thanks for the fun.

Rogainer mentioned to me that he was planning a maintenance trip to Fred’s Mate as there had been a DNF. Initially I was busy that day but managed to swap a bit of diving around to make the 20th free. Rogainer & I wanted to try the South East Ridge line as the climb looked more interesting and descend on the normal south track. The climb up was great we walked the first section in the bush by traversing directly up hill after crossing the creek meeting up with the track proper at the saddle. Upon reaching the summit a 5 minute search eventually found the cache in its location, Rogainer having confirmed it was still in its spot whilst I looked elsewhere. A nice climb and a great spot to look at the surrounding countryside. We then continued down to PDM…

I decided on a maintenance trip to check up on this cache.
Dragged Dtay with me as he had not been up this mountain before.
We left Yellowpinch at 6:10am and decided to ascend the SE ridge which I had not done before. We left the main track a little early - going over a hill we didn't really need to, but hey we had fun! It was a great climb - got to the top & I let Dtay have a look for the cache. He found it in under 5 minutes in precisely the spot I had left it. Cache was fine, but as I had brought a replacement cache with me incase it was missing, I decided to upgrade the container - transferred log book and items to a new 1 litre sistema container and returned it to the same spot.

We descended through the saddle (stopping at the creek for a while and PDM cache) and back down the south ridge - returning to the cars in a tad over 6 hours.

Spent a good half hour looking for this cache, but to no avail. Found about 4 perfect hiding spots for a cache in the region outlined in the hints, but they were all empty. Decided to give up the search as the footing was very dangerous and there was no room for error. The views were non existant due to the clouds, but they soon cleared up and the views were worth the climb.

What IF we went up the South East Ridge and then back down the South Ridge was the option I was presented. Arriving at Yellow Pinch in a fog we were unable to see the mountain and little did I know what I had let myself in for.

Going for this cache was to become one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life. IF skillfully guided me up the track as we were rewarded with some of the most spectacular views of the mountains I have experienced. Just like the walking guides say you have to scramble, you need to hang on, you need to climb and you just have to trust yourself to pull through, and in my case sometimes just keep looking where your going and not where you have come from.

Thanks Rogainer for placing the cache.

I’m stoked, what a brilliant day.


[This entry was edited by ruzzelz on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 at 7:35:53 PM.]

Rated: for Overall Experience

Hmmm, who can I Ruzzelz up to tackle this climb with me ?
So it was that Ruzzelz and myself set off for an early morning jaunt up Mt Barney [:o]
Actually, it was more like I was dragged up there by Ruzzelz who was so eager to tackle this cache I couldn't say no to tagging along
Climbing the SE ridge is one of my favourite walks in Queensland [^]
Very nice of someone to place this cache to give the November geotrekkers a target to aim for
I dropped an elephant into the cache. I also grabbed the Riding Around geocoin to take for a ride.

Found in the company of WitchPig. An enjoyable walk which challenged my legs dispite regularly walking up many of the smaller mountains in the area. Barney is something special. Total time for the trip up and back 6.5 hours including tome spent looking for Purple Dinosaur Mountain and lunch on the top. We only had to refer to the topo map once and enjoyed very clear views from the top. Thanks rogainer for placing a cache here as it was good to be able to log it.

No swaps made on this trip.

09:10hrs What a climb and what a fantstic view. An easy find after a sweaty, decent climb. I had the wonderful company of Onward Bound for the journey and his trusty Topo map which we had to refer to after leaving Rum Jungle. We enjoyed the view so much we stayed at the top for a good 40-50 minutes talking to another chap that happend to find his way to the survey marker as well. TFTC Rogainer. TNLN.

Yabba Dabba Doo!