Challenge accepted – Mt Halifax Summit
June 2021
Where is Mt Halifax?
Mount Halifax is in the Paluma Range National Park, roughly 45 mins north of Townsville. If you are heading north there is a left hand turn before Rollingstone Pub called Pace Rd. You drive all the way to the end of the road and the start of the track is there. Rollingston Pub is great for a feed on your way down, the meals here are huge!
Here is a link to a map of the climb Mount Halifax walking track map – Paluma Range National Park (des.qld.gov.au)
There is a book in a box on a tree where you sign in, before you enter the track. You also sign out when you return so they know everyone gets home. Beware of the parking signs too. We got a parking ticket once for parking in a no stopping zone. Which is the area closest to the track and not very well signed.
How long does it take to climb Mt Halifax?
We got to the top in about 3.5 hours and back down in just over 3 hours. Lawsons watch showed us at 1003m and having hiked 8.38km by the time we were at the top lookout.
The journey
We got to the start of the track at 6:20am. It was only just light enough to see where we were going.
We had three litres of water each and wore thick socks, long pants and long sleeve shirts. We also took gloves for climbing the ropes which I cannot recommend enough. For lunch we took cheese and bacon rolls for lunch and had nuts, lollies and jerky to keep us going. We also wore hats which weren’t needed as the track is completely covered, but they did help prevent the sweat falling in our eyes. Also recommend something to wipe the sweat off your face! And make sure you have insect repellent, I get attacked by mozzies and basically anything that can bite. I sprayed myself early with the proper deet spray and I had no unwanted bugs. I don’t think Laws put any on at all but he had one leech trying to get on him.
Waterfalls
This is my favourite track close to Townsville, even if you just go for a couple of hours. There are three swimming holes within half an hour walking on the track and it is so pretty. The water is so clear and turquoise blue. The track is signed well and is really well maintained, always see heaps of kids and old people on this one.
Gorge Falls
From Pace Rd entry gate to the Gorge Falls is about 1.7km of easy walking. The swimming hole is great and easily accessible. Takes maybe 20 mins of walking to get here.
Rope Falls
From there you can continue on the track to Rope Falls. You pass another swimming hole which has beautiful clear aqua water. Rope Falls is sweet, you can jump from the top of the falls, its only a couple of metres, or there is a rock up higher that people jump from too. There is ropes around this fall to help you climb up to the top of the rocks. Once you are at the top of Rope Falls, the river splits in two directions, if you follow the fluorescent tags on the trees you will see where the track goes straight up the middle of the streams. This is where the hike really begins.
Loops Falls
We hiked up a seriously steep incline not long after this. Definitely one to take your breath away. It then leveled out and we walked across and followed signs down to Loop Falls to have a look. There is a tree that hangs out over the rocks and a big swimming hole. Just like the whole area the water was clear and beautifully fresh looking.
We had to walk back onto the track from Loop Falls, we then started climbing up again. There are a few signs along the way and the trees are marked with fluro markers. But beware, we missed some at one stage and found ourselves lost in the bush with no tags to follow! Lucky we back tracked and found the right way to go pretty easily!
Flat Rock
We continued along through rainforest like bush land, over big boulders and around big trees. The track is well worn after this point so its easier to follow. We passed Flat Rock which is a long, reasonably flat section of rock with water running over it.
Time to hit the ropes!
Then we went over some big boulders and changing scenery and rivers beds. Before long you come to the rope section. The elevation is okay between Loop Falls and when the ropes begin, challenging but not completely breath taking. That comes again at the ropes!
Camp 1 – Mt Halifax
You climb up the first few ropes and again I can’t stress enough to take gloves! Then you make it to Camp 1! Its all sign posted and definitely a lot smaller than I was expecting it to be. You wouldn’t want more than a couple of people camping there.
Bridal Falls
From Camp 1 there is a sign that said Bridal Falls, we didn’t go down to this one as we were on a mission on the way up and too tired on the way down. But I am sure it is pretty.
From Camp 1 you continue climbing, you climb over many big rocks and there are more ropes to help pull yourself up on. It was quite slippery in places so be careful with your footing, there was also many loose rocks that slide down while we were climbing.
Camp 2 – Mt Halifax
It’s not very far to Camp 2, it was maybe half an hour and we were there. After this you start to see some views if you peak through the bush land, so beautiful. We had a Stella day, it was super clear and you could see out to the ocean and the islands.
Camp 3 – Mt Halifax
We then continued on to Camp 3, like Camp’s 1 and 2, it was a very small space with hardly any room but only about ten minutes from Camp 2! We then scrambled up some more rocks and ropes, getting that heart rate up there!
And then we got to Camp 3! Just as small as the first two with hardly any room if you were going to camp there.
The top of Mount Halifax!
At this stage we thought we still had about 3km’s to go as we had read that the track was 11km, but we were at the top before we knew it. We walked through a really awesome pine forest, the floor was scattered in pine needles, it was also nice and cool, could imagine it gets cold and the wind was pretty hectic for a bit but it did calm down once we got to the top.
We didn’t realise at the time, but the top is literally a small rock edge that you can sit on and take beautiful shots of the valley and the ocean and the world below.
Flying the drone on Mt Halifax – beware eagles!
I flew my drone here and got some awesome shots. Before long an eagle wanted my drone and my gosh he was a big one! I didn’t see him as I was watching the picture screen taking shots, next minute the screen started shaking and I looked up to see the eagle trying to get the drone. This freaked me out and I flew it straight down to us, it had obviously been damaged cause it wasn’t stabilising and I ended up crashing it into the side of the cliff and it fell down in front of us.
I went to jump down after it but Lawson, being the gentleman he is, risked his life instead – and we have agreed that this is the last time he will climb down a drastically high cliff face to rescue my drone. But none the less, he got it back, and I had to send it away for repairs so I am currently drone-less and its so sad! But I am over the moon to still have my love with me!
Echo Hill, False Crest and Camp 4 – Mt Halifax
But back to the climb. We then walked on a bit further cause we were sure if we were at the top or not, and we walked through Echo Hill and Flase Crest before coming across Camp 4, Camp 4 is by far the best camping spot, way more space and has a fire place built out of rocks. It is also sheltered and felt safer the the previous three camping spots.
Walk on to Paluma or go back down Mt Halifax?
From Camp 4 we saw that the you could continue walking to get to Paluma and it said there was a water source another 800m away. We had a bit of a rest and started the journey back.
The journey down
The journey back down felt like it took us a while, Laws hurt his knee so he was hobbling for a bit and we took a few more rests and lolly breaks. We also realised that we had kind of raced to the top and so it was okay to slow down a bit. The watch recorded the trip back down as about 3km, but 8km up, not sure why – but it has also done this before to me on hikes, if you know why please send me a message!
Overall we both loved the hike and definitely rate it highly, not one we will do again in a hurry cause it is such a big hike, but definitely one you should add to your to do list.
Tell me about your experience
ave you climbed this mountain before? If you have let me know how you went, you can message me on insta or through this site but I love hearing about peoples experiences and sharing in the pain!
Have you done Mt Halifax? How far up have you gotten? Let me know how you went, I love hearing how others went and sharing the pain of the climb! Drop me a line on insta or use the contact form on this site.
Want to explore other places nearby?
Check out my other posts for some more challenging climbs in the area.
Living on the edge at Windin Falls – Casventures
Walsh’s Pyramid – we climbed the worlds largest natural pyramid! – Casventures
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