Welcome to the Gold Creek Falls
This cache awaits you on the peak (770m) just before the Gold Creek Falls. This hike will amaze you with a stunning adventure through at least 6 shallow creeks on the way to the cache and the beautiful Gold Creek Falls. Despite that all creeks carry water all year around, all but one can be crossed on dry foot with some leaps of faith. This hike will furthermore lead you through several vegetations, including dry rainforest, wet rainforest, needleleaf forest and sections with firetrees.
Making it to the cache, and a little further to the Gold Creek Falls, will test your endurance since this is a 16 km (6 - 8 hours for most people) return hike along the very well marked and maintained Bullocky Tom's Trail.
The 6 main creeks along the trail will give you a great opportunity to cool down, although for most parts of the year it should be possible to easily cross most of them on dry foot. The pretty wide first one however, the Crystal Creek, will be more of a challenge if you are trying to insist on staying dry. So better be prepared and bring fast-drying, long sleeved clothes (against leeches that inhabit the upper half of the trail onwards of the lookout).
During the rainy season, some of the creeks might be challenging to cross, so choose wisely when to visit. Alternatively, this cache can be accessed from the North-West via a similarly long hike, starting at the Paluma Dam recreational area. When taking that route, please make extra sure to stay on the marked trails, as there are numerous open mine shafts in that general area (see other caches and park maps).
Additional waypoints for the location of creeks and interesting locations along the suggested trail are provided (e.g., aboriginal rock paintings, old shed, creek crossing with a rope).
The actual hide is a D/T: 1.5/1.5, but the way up earns you the stars.
After finding the cache on the peak, you may wander 200m further to visit Gold Creek Falls. A short permanently fixed rope is in place to climb down to its swimming hole, which is located after the first rapid of the falls just in front of the main drop of the falls down into the valley. After that, you may want to head back to the trail and then follow it a little further up hill to find a very beautiful little creek with a rope provided to cross it. A perfect picture opportunity!
Recommended gear
- Drinking water – But all creeks carry water all year around.
- Food to keep you happy
- Swimmers for a refreshing bath at the Gold Creek Falls waterhole
- Topographic map and provided waypoints (Optionally my tracked path from www.wikiloc.com)
- Personal Location Beacon - No phone reception along most sections of the hike
- First-aid & snake bite kit - I spotted two snakes while placing
- Torch in case the hike will be longer than expected
- Appropriate footwear
- Long sleeved clothing / gaiters against leeches & snakes
- Salt, lighter or flat blunt object to remove leeches
Dangers
- Snakes, spiders and ticks along the entire trail
- Leeches from the Bullocky Tom's Lookout and further up
- A few sections with Wait-A-While, but those are generally trimmed along this well maintained trail
- Although no stinging trees (gympie gympie) have been reported to my knowledge, they could be around
- Slippery and loose rocks, particularly near the creeks and in the rainy season
The cache is a white storm drainpipe.
Please leave no TBs in this remote cache!
Please check the website of the Queensland Department of Environment and Science for Park Alerts in the Paluma Range National Park before attempting this hike. All standard rules and regulations must be complied within the National Park.
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Achievement Badge
Once you have found the cache you may display this achievement badge on your profile using the following HTML code:
<a href="http://coord.info//GC9ZNZJ"><img src="https://img.geocaching.com:443/fa2e0114-2554-416b-a978-d68a5cf21c55.jpg" /></a>
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