Long Barrabool Ridge 18/4/09

Long Barrabool ridge was expected to be a day walk but became an unexpected overnight walk (the first time this has happened for me). Four of us left Brisbane at 5am and drove up to Cleared Ridge. We walked along the ridge towards the high point on the south of Upper Portals and descended along the track system to the campsite opposite Barney Gorge. From here we crossed the creek and ascended Midget Ridge. We didn't summit Bippoh until 11:30 am and even then I knew there would be some night walking but we were still ascending West Peak until 1pm when we had lunch. A traverse was made when it was clear that the lovely slabs that exist in this area allowed a traverse around to the ridge to Barrabool. The vegetation was very thick and this added to our time to get to Barrabool.

At the saddle I ascended 5 minutes to get water from the top of Barrabool Creek. We then ascended over Barrabool and past the campsite where we picked up rubbish after people who probably camped up here over Easter. It was getting late in the afternoon and I should have decided on the shorter ridge but enjoyed the long ridge so much on a previous occasion I led us down that way again. There are several interesting crags and caves to use when descending or ascending this ridge and it was great to see and use these again.

Near the base of Long Barrabool Ridge it was getting dark and we found a nice slabby descent off the ridge into the creek that led to some cliff initially but a way was found down in the dark into the creek. As only three of the four had a decent head lamp or torch, the going was slow and by 9pm we all came to the realisation that getting home this night was impossible. We decided to make for the Barrabool Camp site and slept (if you could call it sleep) under the stars without tent, sleeping bag or thermorest. The next day we had a slow rock hop up Barney Ck on account on how full of water it was and it took a good four hors to get back to the cars.

It was an adventure and enough communication was made to people to prevent concerns arising from those closest to us.