Overnight Hike - LOWER PORTALS - Mount Barney National Park, Queensland, Australia

Recent hike & overnight camp out at the Lower Portals, Mount Barney National Park 🏞

Dates: Monday 26th & Tuesday 27th December 2022

Weather Forecast was for scattered showers but fortunately didn't end up raining hardly at all and we had a fantastic time camping out for the night at the Lower Portals Camp Site which is only like 400m from the swimming hole ⛺️

Something to note: My fitness is quite low and I have a bad knee (ACL injury).

The trail to the swimming hole is listed as being Moderate on All Trails. For me it was quite difficult and arduous as there is a lot of ups and downs along the way. Quite a few steep uphill and downhill sections. Since we were camping and took cooking & camera gear with me as well I ended up carriying a 15kg pack. 🎒😅 This left the legs & knees feeling quite sore the following day. Definitely have to give my pack an overhaul to try and reduce the weight of what I carry next time. The trail was clean and well maintained, however it looks like due to rain alot of sections of the trail were heavily eroded which has created a few large potholes here and there. A couple of beautiful creek crossings which weren't too bad - didn't even have to take the boots off. 🥾

Plenty of spots to fill up the water bottle from the creek. Although the creek looked quite clean, I still took a Sawyer Mini Water Filter with me which was super effective & used it heaps while we were there for drinking & cooking. Mine cost me under $50.00 Highly recommend picking one up. Filters out any harmful bacteria like cholera, E.Coli, gardia, Cryptosporidium. By the time I'd filtered water to drink it tasted like bottled water. Such a great bit of gear to carry with you and is nice and light weight. 💧💦

This seems to be quite a popular spot. Both days, there were quite a few day trippers heading out for a swim. There were also two other campers at the site the night we camped. A lot have asked about how much it cost & how to book. It cost $7.00 per night, and is easy to book online at the following National Parks Website. 🌲

CHECKING AVAILABILITY is a MUST as it is popular on weekends 📆

https://qpws.usedirect.com/QPWS/Defau...

The creek is absolutely beautiful & is a great spot for a swim - Super refreshing. ❤️
There were also quite a few that had kids with them. Would recommend it as a family freindly spot. Just a few things to keep in mind - Not much shade along the trail, so don't forget to slip, slop, slap 🧢👒☀️

I really enjoyed this hike/camp & look forward to the next one 👍🏻