Tallest peak in Queensland

Mount Battle Frere is the highest peak in Queensland with an elevation of 5,285 ft. It is located in the more northern part of Queensland and is an easy drive from Cairns.

In order to summit you climb through a rainforest. After lots of research and reading reviews I already knew it was going to be a tough hike. If you don’t already get the All Trails app. It s great app to have if your a hiker, beginner or seasoned. I read the app reviews and it was really all over the place. Collectively it read that it was a harder hike and challenged you mentally and physically. Also read 15km return. Then I went to instagram and went to photos where people posted about the hike and read what people had to say about it. And I felt like from all of these outlets I had a pretty good idea of what to expect.

Left Cairns pretty early in the morning around 530 as you want to always get an early start to any hike, especially when you are hiking in the extreme heat, and humidity. On arrival of the hike the signs all read 15km return, its recommended. to stay the night as it is a hard hike and often takes people all day to reach the summit. Which I read online, but I also read that a lot of people were doing it in a day! I mean I am no advanced hiker, but I am also not a beginner.

So I turn on my watch to hiking, obviously have to track the hike. I found it a great way to gage how far I have been and how far I have to go. At least so I thought. In order to reach the summer you hike through the rainforest. Which you think sounds great but really it is so humid and the bugs are insane! Actually I should say leeches, the leeches were insane.

Hiking through a rainforest has a vast range of terrain. I mean it started out fairly flat with some small incline, and a few small stream crossing but the further you get the more dramatic it became. At one point when I was crossing a river, a Fast flowing river the rocks we so slippery I ended up just slipping in. I actually did the splits and slowing fell in the water, it was very well executed!

Sites read that after km 3 things started to get harder. And boy were they right. And when you thought it couldn’t get any harder it did. At one point I had to put my phone away because we were climbing a mix of tree roots and rocks straight up. It was not easy, of and did I mention the humidity!

At one point my watch was reading 6km and I was getting excited as I knew the summer should be around the corner. That’s the one tough thing about hiking in a rainforest you are unable to gage how high you are. After a while the km markers along the trail weren’t matching the my watching and 8km. 9km appeared and still were at the summit!! I was get hangry and frustrated. Yes I had food and plenty of water but I mentally expected to be there by then.

Eventually we hit the bunker house, I nice sheltered space to eat in that was so close to the summit, A great spot to rest, and refuel. Here near the summit we were just in the clouds, its supposed to be a stunning views and we were in the clouds. To be honest I have always had the most stunning summits so having one where I can’t see anything is still a good track record. And If we did had a gorgeous view I would have been complaining about the heat more then I already did. I also want to mention we didn’t see anybody at this point. I always like seeing people on trails, gives you a sense of security.

The last bit left included some boulder climbing, which we really were doing all along, but these were different. These were huge and you even had to jump from boulder to boulder with 10ft drops between them. Oh and we were in the clouds and these boulders were slippery. This is where I called it quits, We had already reached the summit and all that was let was to find the sign that said summit. And a photo a wasn’t willing to risk.

At this point I started the descent, which was much faster but still very difficult. Instead of falling into the river I just walked through it. I actually forgot how many river crossing there was. Two big ones, and about 5 other smaller ones. The trail seem to go on forever, like I said being in the rainforest its hard to gage where you are at during your climb. After all said and done it was about 19km round trip and took just over 9 hours. Probably on of the more difficult hikes I’ve done in terms of physical and mental abilities.

Next time- bring more water, ran out in the last 1 hour. Ultimately I am so proud I finished this with little complaining! Nothing like finishing and doing something difficult to boost your confidence for the next hike. But I definitely took some time off hiking after this one!

xo Nic