Walsh's Pyramid

On 11/9/23 we set off to hike Walsh's Pyramid with our new friend Maya. The sign at the bottom informed us that this was a level 5 difficulty and to plan for it to take 4-6 hours.

The day before we had planned to get there early in the mooring to beat the humidity of the day, now we were grateful we'd planned ahead as we didn't want to get stuck up there in the dark.

So with backpacks on our backs we set off for the 6.2km return trip.

We hadn't reached the first km yet when we stopped for a break, the going was tough and I was setting a fast pace.

After a few moments rest we pushed on, only to come to the first km mark just a little father along.

Continuing on we stopped again when it started to sprinkle on us, thinking that it might start raining at any second we pulled out the ponchos, only to immediately put them back, as they trapped our body heat in and were just too hot.

At one of our stops the sprinkle turned slightly harder but at that point we welcomed the cold relief. As we waited to catch our breaths I phoned Dad and sorted out my car rego while Kookaburra phoned and placed an order for her hat. I'm pretty sure we had service all the way up that mountain.

Begging someone else to take the lead as I tend to set too fast a pace uphill without even thinking about it, we continued on. Unfortunately Kookaburra steered us wrong and we ended up veering off the path, down a trail that slowly petered out. We had to retrace our steps until we came upon the little orange arrows pointing the way.

Just before the 2km marker we came upon a steep slope that was one giant rock, with the rain being as constant as it was we didn't want to risk slipping on it.

Kookaburra and Maya were entertaining thoughts of turning back when I volunteered to find away up, there was no way I was calling it quits. I don't think I've ever not completed a hike and I don't plan to start now.

Finding a way around the rock was a challenge and I loved it. Unfortunately it wasn't too hard and I was soon at the top. Convincing the others that it was easy and talking them through it, we continued on our way.

Sometimes voicing our disbelief that people actually race up and down it in the Great Pyramid Race.

The sign had said that the last 700m were the hardest and steepest, a little way after the 2km mark Kookaburra and Maya we're exclaiming over it being no different and were very optimistic about reaching the top soon. I just rolled my eyes and kept my mouth shut, sure that we hadn't made it that far yet.

At what I'm now thinking was the start of the last 700m we passed a group going down and asked them if we were close, they just laughed and said we had a while to go and recommended we find a staff to help ourselves.

The going defiantly got steeper from there, while climbing up we found ourselves immersed in a cloud and our view when there was a break in the tree line obscured by it. Hoping that when we did reach the top we'd be able to see we struggled on.

When we finally made it to the 3km marker we were overjoyed, we were so close to being there just 100m left.

Those 100m were the longest ones I have ever walked, it felt like it had to be at least 300m, we were so sure of it we decided that when we walked down to record it on a walking app.

But in the end we finally made it. Only to wonder if we actually did make it, at the top there were just two paths that split off, one going to the right, the other to the left. No sign post, no railing, just two splitting paths.

I decided to take the right while Kookaburra and Maya took the left. A few steps in and my path ended at a giant bolder. I couldn't see over it but figured it must have a great view on top. It didn't hurt that there didn't appear to be an easy way up and I'm always up for a climbing challenge.

After calling out to make sure the other two were occupied and Kookaburra wouldn't stumble upon me  doing something that she would consider dangerous, I started up it. Using a crack in the rock and a bendy sapling I finally got up after a few failed attempts.

I was right the view was magnificent. The mountain across from us had a few small waterfall that I could see. After admiring the view for a minute I noticed the wind picking up, I started to think about finding a way down when the wind grew strong enough that I flattened myself against the rock to keep from losing my balance. Sliding my way back to where I'd gotten up, I slide down using the sapling and crack once again.

Once safely down I hurried over to the others to see what they'd found. Their spot had two look outs, one facing the same mountain mine had and the other facing towards Cairns, although we couldn't actually see the city.

We stayed up there awhile just resting and talking. Eventually though we had to make the hike back down.

Going down was way easier then going up, it had stopped raining and the sun was out soaking up the water so the rocks were less slippery, we didn't have many problems.

Unfortunately once we reached the 3km marker it reminded me that we'd wanted to recorded how far that last 100m was. Since none of us wanted to hike back up there to record we had to leave it a mystery.

With the rain having lifted and the sun beaming down on the earth we started to feel the humidity and half wished for the rain back.

We made it back down in 2hrs which meant we took around 5hrs in total.

After that we all treated ourselves to ice cream for our efforts.