Australian Mountain Peaks
Cache Name: AMP044 – Bluff Knoll
Peak ID: 44
Elevation: 1099m
State: WA
Location: Stirling Range, Western Australia
Coordinates: 34°22′32″S 118°15′22″E
Cache Size: 380ml plastic container
Bluff Knoll is the highest peak of the Stirling Range in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. It is the second-highest in Western Australia behind Mount Meharry in Karijini National Park in the Hamersley Range.
The mountain is often shrouded in a mist that curls around the peaks and floats into the gullies.
Climbing Bluff Knoll, a round trip of about 6 kilometres, takes three to four hours and can be achieved by anyone with a reasonable level of fitness. The view from the summit encompasses the Stirling and Porongurup mountain ranges, as well as the coast near Albany. The lower slopes are dominated by young Eucalypts which can catch fire following lightning strikes such as one that set the forest alight in 2010.
The Stirling Range was formed as Australia broke away from Antarctica. When both the continents began to separate a rift gradually opened. In the first stage of rifting, it began to open in the west, then later the eastern section began to open. The two continents pivoted slightly at a point in the west, which squeezed the sediments at the western end of the break against the Yilgarn block, which forced the sediments up to form the range. The sedimentary rocks that were folded up are 1.2 billion years old. The rocks on the range are mostly sedimentary such as sandstone, quartzite, slate and shale.
The peak was given its name by Governor James Stirling as the highest point in the Stirling Range.