Conondale Range Great Walk

Queensland specific bushwalking discussion.
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Queensland specific bushwalking discussion. Please avoid publishing details of access to sensitive areas with no tracks.

Conondale Range Great Walk

Postby jetjackson » Tue 26 Oct, 2010 9:58 am

So has anyone got out to do this new great walk in the Conondale range yet? They pitch it as a 4 day - 56 k hike. However I think 4 days is a bit much for 56k's and looking at the map http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/parks/great-walks-conondale-range/pdf/conondale-gw-info-sheet.pdf ... I think it would be better to turn it into a 3 day hike by driving in and parking at the parking point just north of Wongai walkers camp. Then walking to the Tallowood walkers camp the first night. Summer falls walkers camp the second night and then back to the car on the 3rd day.

Will buy the topo map this week to get an idea of the elevation profile of the walk. That will dictate whether it is achievable in 3 days.
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Re: Conondale Range Great Walk

Postby cams » Tue 26 Oct, 2010 1:47 pm

My brother and I did this a couple of months ago. We did it as designed as 4 days. The first and last days are short days. However, we also thought they were the nicest walking. We probably spent a few hours at Booloumba Falls and the Breadknife exploring the area. This was probably the highlight of the whole walk, along with Summer Falls and Mt. Allen.

Day 2 was the longest and least interesting. Mostly on steep maintenance roads with no views. Some nice rainforest type foliage though. Take care watching for signs for the tracks entering and leaving the roads as we missed one and ended up taking the long way around one section of road.

Day 3 was a mix of old logging roads and walking track. Good day and a really nice camp site at Summer Falls but still no real views along the way.

All the campsites were well constructed with nicely isolated camp sites. Alot of the wood treatment on the platforms was still sticky though from being in the shade constantly I guess. The water tanks were all fairly empty but with all this rain lately I'm sure they'll have plenty in them. There are a number of places to fill up at creeks aswell. There are photos and more details on my blog. http://seqldhiking.typepad.com/hiking-i ... -walk.html
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Re: Conondale Range Great Walk

Postby Hikerman » Wed 08 Dec, 2010 12:33 am

My wife and i have just completed it last month.
A truly wonderful hike. The first couple of days are all uphill and the last couple are mostly downhill.
We did it over four days and three nights. You start and finish at Booloumba day use area.
We didnt see another person for three days. Fantastic.
Good luck.
(if youve already done it, hope you enjoyed it)
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Re: Conondale Range Great Walk

Postby dannnnn » Thu 12 May, 2011 10:08 pm

myself and the girlfriend did this walk over easter

we only had 3 days so we cut out the talowood walker's camp and instead walked from wongai to summer falls via the forestry trail. we thought it was a great walk and even though it was easter we didn't see very many people. great facilities and well constructed.. yet you feel in the middle of nowhere. loved it.
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Conondale Range Great Walk

Postby ULWalkingPhil » Thu 12 May, 2011 11:58 pm

I was told that this walk is closed due to all the rain, is this not true?
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Re: Conondale Range Great Walk

Postby dannnnn » Fri 13 May, 2011 11:28 am

it was not closed over easter
small sections of the track were muddy, but it did not make the track impassable
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Re: Conondale Range Great Walk

Postby cameron » Fri 13 May, 2011 8:45 pm

hey,

i did this walk this week. i walked it in 2 days which, providing you start early enough, have a lightish pack and are reasonably fit, is enjoyable enough. i was alone and was in the mood to just walk all day. if i took the wife along i would allow 3 days, to lay around the swimming holes a bit more and take more time in the morning. i kept a track of times, maybe its helpful for others planning. the times include 5 minute-ish rests every hour or so.

booloumba creek day use area- wongai walkers camp(11km): 3hrs 15 minutes.
wongai walkers camp-tallowwood walkers camp(17km): 4hours
tallowwood walkers camp-summer falls walkers camp(15km):4hrs10min
summer falls walkers camp-booloumba creek day use area(12km inc firetower sidetrip): 3hrs35min

i didnt see anyone along the track. between wongai and tallowwood camps was my least favourite bit as it follows a firetrail for a fair bit of it. on the whole i would recomend this walk far more than the sunny coast great walk. this one has more of a real bushwalk feel, rather than walking beside roads and through high usage car access areas like the sunny coast walk does. i saw 2 red bellied black snakes on the track, so keep an eye out or wear gaiters( my wife makes me wear them when i walk alone.....i had them in my pack until i saw the first snake:). enjoy.

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Re: Conondale Range Great Walk

Postby Major Icehole » Wed 28 Sep, 2011 8:02 pm

Did this walk this past weekend with the Mrs. Started late on Saturday about 11:30 and finished Tuesday morning about the same time. We thought three nights was just about perfect pace for the two of us as we were able to start about 7:30 and have a nice amount of time to relax around camp each arvo. We do wish we started a little earlier and could have had more time to play around the Breadknife area while the sun was still high.

We had spectacular weather and saw no one from the buloomba falls until summer falls. We were the only people using the campgrounds each night. An unexpected luxury. Like others we thought the second day was a bit boring. That was mitigated by the fact that we saw three carpet pythons (four total on the weekend) and lots of big monitors.

The camp sites are mostly in great nick, as previously noted the tap on the tanks at two sites are a bit wonky. We had to open the blue valves to get water. The water at tallowwood is pretty yellow but still tasty. I picked up a small handful of rubbish at each site mostly very small bits of packaging. Overall quite pleased to see people mostly respecting the place.

Found a nice micro fibre towel at one campsite. If you lost one recently pm me with the details and I'll get it back to you.
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Re: Conondale Range Great Walk

Postby Ticklebelly » Thu 29 Sep, 2011 6:19 am

I am putting a group together to do the walk second weekend in November. All the posts have been useful, thanks. We will be a group of 8 and will do a standard 3 night plan. I'll put up a report when we finish.

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