Map is owned by and used with courtesy of Queensland Government.  Please visit that site for more detailed information on hiking in this region.

Today I’m out with my hiking group from meetup.com.  Meetup.com is a great way to find hiking groups in your area and they often go to many interesting places.  The downside of meetup.com groups is they tend to attract larger groups of walkers and can be more about being social than the experience of being out in nature.

This time we headed into the Green Mountains section of the Lamington National Park to do one of the many circuits.  This is also where I began the Gold Coast Hinterland Great! Walk only three weeks earlier.  The hikes start at the same location and use about a kilometre of the same trail before splitting off and going their respective directions.

The West Canungra Creek circuit has a Class 4 rating but I believe this is only when it is wetter.  Because it was pretty dry and the streams were down,  the crossings were easier and the rating should only be a Class 3.

The circuit is 13.9km long and meanders down towards Canunga Creek.  It then heads along the stream, with several crossings towards to “Yerralahla” (blue pool).  There were plentiful small waterfalls, downed trees, rocky outcrops and stream beds along the way.

About half way around the circuit, the track forks, eventually meeting up again a couple of kilometres along.  At the fork I decided to take my leave of the group to get a bit of time to myself in nature.  As I walked I came across a pair of large waterfalls.

Yanbacoochie Falls…

Elabana Falls…

I met up with the group again when the trails reconnected.  We continued our way back along towards the end of the circuit, crossing a treetop walk on the way back.

Overall an interesting walk and talk, I got to speak at length to a guy from Chile about South America, the starting place of my big adventure next year…

Next week, I wrap up the Glass House Mountains and do a couple of short walks at Mount Coot-tha.

The Trail Wanderer.