Walsh’s Pyramid – the worlds largest natural pyramid!

Posted On November 4, 2021

This image shows the tip of Walsh's Pyramid, the aerial shot was taken with a drone. You can faintly see two people on the top of the Pyramid in a section of rock, the surrounding area is thick bushland. You can see fields in the distance behind the Pyramid.

How to get to Walsh’s Pyramid

Walsh’s Pyramid is roughly 25 minutes south of Cairns, or 3.5 hours north of Townsville. You take Moss Access Rd straight off the Bruce Highway and the parking for the walking track is about a minute up the road on the left. It is very easy to access, there is a sign on the Bruce Highway that points to the walking trail and then there is a large sign outlining the track in the car park (as below).

There are three pictures in this photo. The first shows the top of Walsh's Pyramid with the mountains in the background. The second shows the sign that is at the start of the walking track. The third picture shows the walking track with a marker with the number one on it, marking the start of the track.

Walsh’s Pyramid is inside Wooroonooran National Park, same National Park you will find Windin Falls and Bartle Frere (which is on the list of things to climb). You can read more about it on the Queensland Parks and Forest site here Walshs Pyramid walking track.

Climbing Walsh’s Pyramid

The climb is 6.2km return, 884m elevation, super steep, and depending on your fitness levels, its generally listed as taking 7 hours to complete the climb. We did the climb in 4.5hrs, that included a 45 minute break at the top and we rested for 6/7 minutes every hour cause Lawson researched the best way to rest when hiking and this is what he found, so we tried it, and we felt pretty good I guess. We made pretty good time, we weren’t in a hurry, just cruising up so it could definitely be done a lot quicker.

There are four photos in this picture. They all show a hand with a watch. The first one shows the first marker and the watch reads 22:05 minutes. The second shows the second marker and reads 58:46 minutes. The third shows the third marker and reads 2hrs 3mins 51 seconds. The fourth shows the final time of 4hrs 29 minutes and 24 seconds.

The track and the WASPS

The walking track is really well marked and well maintained. You just follow the track from the car park and its really hard find yourself off track. There are also orange markers along the way. We had no issues, the only dampener in our trek was the wasps. Now I am not blaming Lawson, but he was walking in front and woke up the wasps. So then when I passed their nest, five of the attacked me and I screamed the loudest I think I’ve ever screamed in my life. It literally hurt so much, the sharpest little stings!! This happened on the way up about one kilometre from the top.

Tip for those allergic to insect stings

I use to be allergic to bees when I was younger but haven’t been stung in years so I wasn’t sure how I would react. But I also had also taken an antihistamine before the climb so I think that helped because it was manageable. My arm and leg were slightly swollen, hard, and hot, for the rest of the trek. And the two following days.

There are three images in this photo. The first shows the track which is made of rocks and trees. The second shows a females leg with two large swollen areas from wasp stings. The third photo shows the track between boulders and trees, some of the bushland has been burnt in this area.

I really thought this climb was great. We did a lot of rock scrambling and the scenery changed a lot. A lot of the rocks were covered in pine needles and were quite slippery so be weary your step. We wore gloves which helped, I would recommend you wear them. Especially after the third checkpoint cause we were grabbing a lot more things after that cause it is pretty steep and slippery!

There are three images. The first shows a female looking out off a mountain. She is facing away from the camera with her hands in the sky. The second photo shows a male and female smiling and red in the face, you can see the fields behind them and they appear to be elevated. The third photo shows a male on top of a mountain with the fields behind him.

Views from the top of Walsh’s Pyramid

At the top you have the most amazing views, basically 360 degrees and heaps of cool rocks to climb onto and enjoy the view from. Lots of good drone photo opportunities up there, the mountains look beautiful in front of the valley.

Message in a bottle

So it seems to have become a bit of a thing that we will find a message in a bottle on our treks. This trek was no exception. This message was hidden under a rock and a part of Geocache. Geocache is an explorer website where they register geo-locations and people go on adventures and find them. Pretty cool and maybe something we will dip our toes in for the future if we need some inspiration! The little booklet was filled in many times since 2013, but I think the last entry was 2018. But we updated it with a 2021 entry! We need to remember to pack a pen on our trips – we had to use some burnt tree, lucky Laws is so inventive.

When is best to climb Walsh’s Pyramid?

One other thing I will say is it was so hot! We took three litres of water each and drank it all, easily. There are no refill places so you just have to make do. I wouldn’t recommend this climb too late in the summer months cause we were depleted when we got back. Nothing a beer didn’t fix, but just be ready for the heat to smack you about. Best time to climb is probably between April and October, provided there isn’t much rain about. We did this climb in October 2021.