Conquering Cunningham’s Gap. If you live in the Ipswich area and are looking for an adventure this weekend, look no further than the Cunningham’s Gap National Park.
This park allows you to walk up two mountains, both of which are easy walks and contain stunning views. On the 15th of August 2020, I did my largest bush walk yet of 11km at Mt Mitchell. Mt Mitchell, one of two peaks on either side of Cunningham’s gap, is a great track walk.
At the peak, you can see other potential bushwalking sites, such as the Main Range, the Moogerah Peaks and Mt Barney! You’ll have great views of Main Range, the Moogerah Peaks and Mt Barney, which are all gorgeous tracks you can walk too!
Due to how long these walks take and the level of fitness required, these two mountains are going to be a 2-day adventure, and that’s exactly how I did it.
How to get to Cunningham’s Gap
From Ipswich, follow the Cunningham Highway towards Cunningham’s Gap for a little over an hour. At the top of the gap, turn right into a crest looking carpark adjoining the highway. Depending on when you go, the carpark can be full. There are opportunities to park alongside the road, just be sure to park outside the solid white lines, as you can get fined harshly.
The Mt Mitchell track leaves on the opposite side of the road, although if you get confused, there are directions specifying which mountain is which. Just be sure to be careful while crossing.
The track is clearly marked so no map is required; however, the Sunmap Cunninghams Gap sheet covers the area.
How to massacre Mt Mitchell
On Saturday, my family and I drove to Cunningham’s Gap to climb Mt Mitchell first. As it is the longest walk out of the two, we figured we would get it done first, before coming back to climb Mt Cordeaux on Sunday.
Mt Mitchell is a quite easy walk, I barely noticed I was walking on an incline until I could see the highway hundreds of meters below me. It has a fantastic view on the way up and at the end.
There is not a great deal of room at the summit, so do not bring your whole family along or it will get crowded. Although there are some sheer cliffs all around, so if your pesky sister is getting under your skin, you can always play the ‘push the sister down the cliff’ game, I’ve heard that’s a fun one.
If unfortunately, it rains and the track becomes wet, walking poles are certainly going to help. As the mud is super slippery unless you’re wearing hiking boots, you are going to stack it on the way down. Currently, there are a lot of weeds on the way up.
Hopefully, they will get taken care of soon, but all in all, Mt Mitchell is a nice hike.
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Loved reading about Conquering Cunningham’s Gap? This article was submitted by Xander Thorn, Avid Mountaineer. If you would like to share where you Venture | Explore | Conquer, contact us on submissions@dillydallymag.co
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