Mount Warning

Last weekend, Mark and I finally got around to doing something that I've been told to do for a year - hiking Mount Warning.  The extinct volcano sits in far New South Wales, just beneath the Queensland border, shooting up from lush rainforest and cane fields.  Mount Warning is very near Cape Byron, the most easterly point in Australia.  Because of it's easterly position, and it's height (it rises 1157 meters, or 3796 feet about sea level) Mount Warning is the first place on mainland Australia to catch the sun's rays.

We weren't quite brave enough to do hike by torch (American translation: flashlight) in order to catch the sun rise, but the two-hour assent was just as stunning after the sun had risen.  The steep mountainside was littered with massive boulders, and trickling creeks just waiting for a good rain.  Trees that are hundreds of years old towered over ferns that were taller than my five and a half feet.  I like to think that I'm not often at a loss for words, but I just kept saying "It looks like Jurassic Park!"  It is certainly a landscape completely different from anything in the states.  

To local aboriginals, the mountain, know as "Wollumbin," or "cloud catcher," is sacred, and only selected individuals are supposed to reach the summit.   Despite this, Mount Warning has become a popular treck for Australians and tourists alike.  The mountain is steep, but the path is well cared for, and accessible.  As it wound around the mountain we went from baking in the sun to freezing cold, depending on how the wind was blowing.  

Luckily, when we did reach the top there was nothing above us but Aussie blue sky, and the sun heated us right up.  From the summit you can see out to the ocean, and look over all the other mountains and plateaus that make up the area.  A plaque at the top says that when early explorers reached the summit, they were so fascinated by the views that they stayed overnight without food or water.  I was still very keen on my sandwich, but the views were stunning, especially when you think about those early explorers, who came from relatively flat England, and would never had enjoyed a bird's eye view before.

Now, you're probably thinking "the climb wasn't too bad, the sun was out, no deadly Aussie animals - so why the forbidding name?"  The "warning" actually has nothing to do with the mountain itself.  In 1770, Captain Cook, the original Aussie explorer, named the mountain, which he spotted from sea.  The giant that stands so clearly above the rest of the horizon was a perfect warning sign for the dangerous reefs that Cook had encountered in the ocean just off the New South Wales Coast.  Hence the (badsass) name!

We made it!

View over the Hinderland and out to sea