Mackay Highlands Great Walk, QLD, AU

  •   Category Weight
  • Pack, tent, & sleeping
    2.62 kg
  • Cooking, hydration, & miscellaneous
    1.02 kg
  • Nutrition - fluids & food
    2.2 kg
  • Clothing & footwear - worn & in dry bag
    1.71 kg
  • Electronics
    0.7 kg
  • Health & toiletries
    0.35 kg
  • Total 8.61
    kg
    • oz
    • lb
    • g
    • kg
  • Consumable 2.47 kg
  • Worn 1.33 kg
  • Base Weight 4.8 kg

LighterPack lists:

Summer overnight fastpacking, Queensland: https://lighterpack.com/r/20dykn

Winter overnight fastpacking, Queensland: https://lighterpack.com/r/sh62

Winter through-hike South Australia: https://lighterpack.com/r/8nknls

Winter through-hike Queensland: https://lighterpack.com/r/fp9xd5

Fastpacking the Mackay Great Highlands Walk in July (mid-winter). Will cover 114kms over three days, passing through three NPs / SFs:

Day 1, 21.2km: Drive 430km to Eungella, trail head at Pine Grove (Eungella NP). Run/hike 10km to Ferny Flat campground (Eungella NP), then 11.2km to Crediton Hall Campground. Make camp (Crediton SF). Day 2, 46.7km: Run/hike 19.5km to Denham Range, then 16.2km to Moonlight Dam. Make camp (Homevale NP). Day 3, 48.7km: Run/hike 37.5km back to Crediton Hall. Make camp (Crediton SF). Day 4, 19.5km: Run/hike 9.5km to Ferny Flat, then 10km back to Pine Grove trail head. (Might be a shorter option back to Pine Grove by following The Diggings Road further along?) Drive 430km home.

Bit of a gear / load-out test for my winter trip on the Heysen Trail, probably in mid-September (whenever my ZPacks gear arrives and flights are cheapest!). LighterPack for that trip here: https://lighterpack.com/r/8nknls

Weather forecasts are near useless as they are taken from the Mackay Racecourse 80kms away down the bottom of the range! The humidity and temperatures up on the range in the rainforest will be significantly different, so hard to know exactly how cold & wet it shall get. For my last attempt at this trip BOM forecast very little to zero rain, but I arrived to fog and misting rain that worsened to torrential downpours; it didn't stop and I reached my second campground to find it flooded up to over my shoes. It was also way colder than I expected during the day, though about right at night. Fingers crossed the second time will be drier! :D