Mt Bowen climb - Hinchinbrook Island

[srforum112]

Hi everyone

A group of us is planning to climb Mt Bowen in June. QPWS advised the climb via Ramsay Bay may have a number of trees over the river bed after Cyclone Yasi, but they didn't know the extent as no rangers have climbed to the summit.

Just wandering if anyone has walked up to the summit of Mt Bowen on Hinchinbrook Island recently and would be happy to share their experience and the climb conditions.

Thanks
Sonja

[nq111]

No, but walking in the general area there are trees down everywhere. Many are now buried under scrub regrowth, grass and vines - constant tripping-over type conditions.

Go for it - but if it hasn't been well walked since the cyclone allow plenty of time.

[srforum112]

Thanks for the information
I walked the trail in 2009 and it will be interesting to see the changes to the island since Yasi

[shardie]

A group of four of us are looking to take a week off in October & do Hinchinbrook & Bartle Frere..................so I'll be interested to hear how the trip goes.

[VRC]

Four of us went up there last July: we were the first since Yasi. There were indeed a lot of trees accross and they brought the lawyer vines down with them. On our way up, it took us 1.5 hours to do the last 500m to the saddle where we camped. My legs were rather raw and bleeding in places: stupid me was wearing shorts! There is not much room to camp at the saddle: four was fine, more would be difficult. Our leader told QPWS so hopefully they passed on the info.
I can't remember at what time we arrived at the saddle but there was still a fair bit of daylight and we considered going to the summit of Mt Bowen but decided to leave it for the second day so as not to rush it too much. We strayed away from the main creek a couple of time so we could have arrived earlier.

On the second day we had time to get to Mt Bowen summit (starting a day break) and were back down at the Ramsay Bay campsite by about 4 or 4.30pm including a couple of swims in the pools. We found the creekbed less slippery than the day before but I think we walked more in the bit that was dry on that second day.

For my wife and I the views at the top (from the saddle to Mt Bowen) made the whole Hinchinbrrok Island trip worthwhile despite the hardship to get there. We weren't that impressed by the Thorsborn trail otherwise.

Enjoy your trip.

[shardie]

There's a guy called Frank who will share his GPS files of Hinchinbrock and has covered a variety of topics (on Hinchinbrook) in his site ourhikingblog.com.au

[Skid]

A group of four of us are looking to take a week off in October & do Hinchinbrook & Bartle Frere..................so I'll be interested to hear how the trip goes.

Hey Shardie, I plan to climb Bowen in September, will be happy to answer any questions you may have (for your trip the following month).
I was going to send you a private messag but the PM link appears to be disabled (for me at least)
Let me know if are interested.
Cheers

[jackhinde]

my brother was up there last week for 4 days. apparently still a mess due to the cyclone.

[Mi_Ke_El]

Hi everyone

A group of us is planning to climb Mt Bowen in June. QPWS advised the climb via Ramsay Bay may have a number of trees over the river bed after Cyclone Yasi, but they didn't know the extent as no rangers have climbed to the summit.

Just wandering if anyone has walked up to the summit of Mt Bowen on Hinchinbrook Island recently and would be happy to share their experience and the climb conditions.

Thanks
Sonja

Hey, Hope it went well, wondering if you made the summit and if it went off without a hitch. would like to hear details. Cheers

[brissifirey]

Hi four of us did the walk early August, first up, a great walk I would recommended it to everyone, Quite warm, bugs not too bad. We had permission to climb Bowen but after speaking to a few people who had attempted it a few days earlier they said it was still very over grown and difficult and very little water.

[Skid]

Well, we climbed Bowen last week.
Ascent via Pinapple peak, descent via Warrawilla creek.
The upper reaches of the creeks on both sides of the north saddle are tough going. Cyclone Yasi has trashed the rainforest canopy and dumped it all around the remaining standing trees. With the extra light getting to the forrest floor, the lawyer vine has taken off.
The lower sections of Warrawilla creek are ok, with not much change since before the cyclone.
If you attempt this climb, my $0.02 of advice is.....
- be prepared for tough/slow going either side of the saddle
- allow plenty of time (in the worse sections, west of the saddle we were progressing at less than 100m per hour)
- carry secatuers (we cut off a lot of lawyer vine at the base, but there is still plenty left)
- wear gaiters
- consider how much water you need to carry (we carried enough water to enable us to spend two nights on the saddle, well worth it in my opinion)
Hope this helps.
Enjoy!

[gustavo]

A group of four of us are looking to take a week off in October & do Hinchinbrook & Bartle Frere..................so I'll be interested to hear how the trip goes.

Hi Shardie, when exactly are you planning Hinchinbrook in October? Doesn't seem I can PM you...

[pandew]

Does anyone have a GPS track up/down Mt Bowen? I can't seem to find a map any decent labels eg Pineapple peak/ Warrawilla creek.
Will exchange for beer…?

[Skid]

Pandew, my friend MAY have some waypoints he can share (they are on his GPS but I'm unsure if he can download them).
I'll send him an email and ask him....

I've posted some notes on a Bowen trip on another thread here.
If you are going up/down Warrawilla it is pretty straight forward, (just avoid taking any side creeks on your left on the way up).
If going via Pineapple Peak it is a bit trickier (we found it a lot trickier getting around 'the wart').

I'll let you know if my mate can get the waypoints from his GPS.

When are you planning to go?

[pandew]

Thanks, yeah any help would be great! I'm going in late July with a mate of mine who has done this one previously (from talking to him I believe he went up and down via Warrawilla). I wouldn't mind trying the alternate route up one way and down the other, but not sure what is what... maps I have don't have these creeks labelled.

Let us know how you get on. I can certainly help with any technical assistance with regards to downloading data etc.

Thanks for the reply. If i do manage to traverse this route I will certainly be logging with my Motion X setup, will post when back.

pete

[brennan]

I would love a good map for the Mt Bowen Climb..does any one have one they could share with me?

[Skid]

Brennan,
I don't have a map handy (I'm at work at the moment). The "Hillock Point" toppo map covers the area. The 'easiest' route is up Warrawilla creek (the creek that feeds into the lagoon at the north end of Little Ramsay Bay), avoid taking any creek branches off to the left (as you are heading up) as they end in dead ends. At the top of the creek is the north saddle and a small camp site. From the north saddle head south and follow the ridgeline (slightly west of the ridgeline in places).
When are you planning to go?

[creelprice]

Hi Skid,

we are thinking about going up Mt Bowen next month - any advice on where to get some more info on this hike / the condition.

Cheers

Creel