Harry's Hut

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THE GIBBOUS moon shone brightly when I got up about half an hour before the first light of dawn. I headed out to the canoe landing to take a couple of long exposure shots of the moonlit lake before going to the jetty where I watched and photographed the colourful breaking dawn over the mirror smooth lake. The sky was initially completely clear before a bank of mist hovered in over the lake from the mist, adding depth to the everglade forest. Clouds began to pass overhead as the sky brightened capturing the first rays of sunlight before it rose over the horison and rose above the Cooloola Sandmass.

The lake remained mirror smooth as I alternated between the jetty and the canoe landing to capture the sunrise. The sun disappeared behind the cloud before it had a chance to shine over the lake, so having finished breakfast, I packed up my camp to start today's hike.

I returned along the everglade track to the firebreak track, which I followed heading uphill towards Harry's Hut Road which I had followed to the start of the Baronia Track yesterday. The forest was beautiful this morning now under completly overcast sky. I followed the track up to the junction where I come off the overgrown track yesterday, and continued along the firebreak following the Cooloola Wilderness Trail up towards Harry's Hut, aiming to reach the point where I had turned around when I had done the day walk to Harry's Hut from Wandi Waterhole some weeks ago.

I was making good progress along the road when I reached another sign showing the Cooloola Wilderness Trail diverting along a narrow side track. I briefly hesitated deciding whether to take this track, or continue along the firebreak. Looking at the map the firebreak turned back to the left only reaching Harry's Hut Road several kilometres back from where the signposted track would come out, so I decided to take the track.

Initially the track was in good condition, but it descended into quite a swampy area and became quite overgrown. Fortunately it was still easy to follow, so I continued avoiding the boggy bits. This part of the track seemed to be very infrequently used. I successfully passed the boggy section and rose over a very small rise only for it to descend into a long section of shin deep water quickly filling my boots. Fortunately the track remained reasonably wide and easy to navigate as I waded through the black water feeling my way ahead of me with my walking pole. Progress was slow though as the track passed the roogs of the everglade trees making it quite slippery.

After about ten minutes I reached the end of the water and the track rose up onto a gradual ascent. Thankfully I was out of the water but the track became very overgrown. Progress became very slow with having to navigate my way around several fallen trees and some very prickly vines. I progress slowly keeping my wits about me. Fortunately the sun had come out so I was able to use that to help me maintain direction. The rough track continued rising until I eventually reached its end at Harry's Hut Road.

The gravel road was very easy to follow compared to the rough track I had come off. It descended to a small stream, then reached another junction where the Cooloola Wilderness Trail headed off to the left. Looking at the map the distance was about the same as the road - perhaps further, so to save having to negotiate more overgrown track, I kept to the road following it another kilometre before reaching the other junction of the track, then shortly afterwards reaching the start of the Harry's Hut area.

The hut itself was a deteriorating corrugated iron cottage and shed fenced off. It was built in 1957 to support the logging industry around here at the time. It was set about ten metres back from the Noosa River.

I headed to the mirror smooth river spanning wide between the hut and the far bank. A track started at the front of the hut heading upstream. I followed this track initially reaching a large rest area with a small jetty along the river for the tour groups to land. Passing through the rest area I continued passing a couple more small jetties servicing the camping ground on the other side of the track, with small clearings hidden away in the bush for people to set up their tents in privacy.

I continued following the track stopping at each small jetty looking over the river until reaching the last of the clearings where I had reached the day I had hiked from Wandi Waterhole. I have now completed all the Cooloola Wilderness Trail (apart from the closed section crossing Kin Kin Creek, but there were no plans to reopen it anytime soon).

I rested here for a few minutes before starting the long hike back along the four wheel drive road back to Gympie - Kin Kin Road. I stayed on the road initially going through the everglade forest until returning to the junction of the overgrown track from Fig Tree Point, where it turned into regular eucalypt forest. The cloud had by now cleared with the sun shining bright. The road rose to follow a low ridge where the forest became quite thin with gnarly trees. The occasional vehicle passed me with day trippers exploring Harry's Hut.

After a few kilometres I reached the Baronia Track entrance. The trip back from Harry's Hut had been a lot quicker than yesterday's and this morning's slog along the rough tracks. I rested here briefly before continuing along the road as the sky once more covered in cloud.

I continued following the road, out of the native forest into the the long straight through the pines. Here a car stopped with the driver asking if this was the right way to Harry's Hut. It certainly was so I told him what to look for when he got there. I continued hiking along the road and headed up the climb to the junction of Cooloola Way - the climb was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

Upon reaching the top of the hill I continued along the road heading towards its end as the cloud continued to thicken. After another hour, with about 1800 metres to go the guy who stopped for directions reached me again and offered me a lift over the remaining distance. Pretty tired now, I accepted, and we talked about what we had each found around Harry's Hut.