May Newsletter 2026

The May newsletter rounds up recent walks, bikepacking, waterfall swims, upcoming North Queensland adventures, club history, safety tips, trail care, outdoor reflections, community news, and ways to get involved this month.

Hello bushwalkers!

It has been a full and varied month for the Club, with social walks, navigation practice, trail maintenance, coastal camping, creek exploring, bikepacking, waterfalls, and swims all making an appearance, and plenty of laughs along the way. As always, feel free to scroll through to the sections that interest you most - especially the 🔗Upcoming Walks - and keep an eye on the Events Calendar for more trips as they are added.

Previous trip reports

The Trails and Ales walk on Castle Hill, Friday 27 March, was another success, with a few familiar faces turning up, and the weather played along this time. We walked the Ladies Track up, spent some time at the Jenkin Post lookout having a chat and a drink, then walked down the road back to the cars.

The Learn to Lead at Wallaman Escarpment was on Saturday morning, 28 March. We had 5 of us attend. There would have been another couple, but they got lost on the drive there... which is pretty funny, considering they were going to attend a navigation course.

After the Wallaman Walk, the group headed to Wallaman Falls Lookout, had lunch, and parted ways, with Luen and Adrian heading down to Lookout Canyon in the afternoon. We followed an intermittent stream that comes off the escarpment near the Herbert River Valley Lookout and, from there, contoured around and down the stream. Surprisingly, there was pink tape there, following a similar route, though a walkable one rather than rappelling, as we did. Luen noted that the pink tape wasn't there last time Luen was in the area.

Weekly Trail Maintenance with Wilfred is one of the quiet but important ways our club gives back to the bush. Week after week, Wilfred and others put in volunteer time clearing vegetation, removing fallen trees, checking routes, and helping keep local tracks walkable, usable, and safer for everyone. It is a long-standing part of bushwalking club culture across Australia, and we are lucky to have members like Wilfred (& co.) who have been doing this practical, behind-the-scenes work for decades. If you would like to lend a hand and give back to the places we enjoy, get in touch with Wilfred Karnoll.

Friday 3 April 2026 to Sunday 5 April 2026, Wilfred led a terrific Easter long weekend trip to Paradise Beach and Castle Rock at Cape Cleveland, with eight members joining across the weekend and six continuing through to Sunday. The group enjoyed coastal camping, a climb up via the saddle to Castle Rock for lunch and sweeping views, a swim in the wild surf afterwards, and a relaxed evening of spotlighting that turned up a microbat and fireflies. Wilfred's local knowledge, including the handy freshwater creek near camp, once again made all the difference, and although the sunrise was hidden behind a cloud bank, the trip was full of good company, beachside moments, and the kind of remote coastal adventure that makes this part of North Queensland so special.

The Original Scramble Track, on Castle Hill - Friday 10 April 2026, was a successful short adventure, with the group following one of the hill's historic summit routes. It was a steep, rough, and satisfying little outing through the gully between the bluffs, past faded white arrows and the old rusty ladder, giving walkers a taste of Castle Hill's lesser-known past. There was the usual mix of scrambling, route finding, and cheerful encouragement on the steeper sections, making it a fun after-work adventure close to town.

Little Birthday to Big Birthday - creek adventure Saturday 11 April 2026. The planned Little Birthday-to-Big Birthday creek adventure was unfortunately cancelled after most participants withdrew. It is always a shame to cancel a walk, but it is also a normal part of club life, especially when numbers change close to the day. The route remains a good future option for an introductory Paluma creek adventure, with rainforest, rock hopping, creek travel, slippery granite, and possible swims between the Little Birthday and Big Birthday Creek systems.

Wednesday 14th Wilfred's Regular Mt Stuart Fitness Walk continued with three walkers joining him for the early morning climb. As usual, the group headed steadily up the bitumen towards the summit, getting in a solid pre-dawn fitness session and a bit of mountain time before the day properly began. They also spotted four cyclists heading up the road, two of whom somehow knew Wilfred by name - proof that even before sunrise, the Townsville outdoor community is a small world and that Wilfred is a local legend!

Bikepacking Hervey Range Saturday 18 April 2026 to Sunday 19 April 2026.
Three riders took on the full 120 km ride from Townsville, while four others drove out to camp and joined in for shorter riding options. Along the way, the Townsville group explored old roads with a mix of gravel, overgrown sections, creek crossings, and varied terrain, stopped at Herveys Range Heritage Tea Rooms for a second coffee and a thickshake, and cooled off with a swim in Keelbottom Creek before rolling into camp. Some of the car-camping group then rode the last 15 km out from the campsite to meet them on the way in. Camp that night was a beauty, with another swim, good company, and a fire under the trees, while the next morning started misty before the sun came out for another lovely day of riding. On day two, we continued the roughly 30 km to Mingela, where we were picked up rather than riding the dangerous stretch of the Charters Towers Highway back toward Townsville.

Brent led a fantastic Top of Jourama Falls walk on Sunday 26 April, with 17 walkers, including 11 visitors. The group took the alternative off-track route to the lookout bush track due to the landslide on the normal track, paused at the outcrop for views and conversation, then continued up towards the top of the falls through the classic wet-season regrowth. The upper cascades and pools were looking spectacular, with flowing waterfalls, smooth granite, clear swimming holes, and plenty of space for lunch, exploring, and cooling off. Cherry had warned everyone about Gympie Gympie at the start of the day, which naturally led to jokes about the "Gympie Gympie Club" - and, unfortunately, one walker may have earned unofficial membership later on. The day finished with a quicker descent, thanks to Cherry helping guide the group down, followed by the important post-walk pilgrimage to Frosty Mango for ice cream and more talking. Thanks to Brent for leading, Cherry for helping, and everyone who joined such a fun, social day out.

Castle Hill picnic this evening with Luen and Cockatoo Creek tomorrow with Molly.

Quotes of the Month

"Walking is a way of knowing a place with your body."
- Rebecca Solnit

Maps and satellite imagery give information. Walking gives comprehension. Every rock hop, every muddy climb, every scratch from lawyer vine, and every sting by gympie gympie becomes data your muscles remember.

Other quotes from club members this month:

"We got lost on the way there"
- Molly, on the way to a navigation course at Wallaman Falls.

"Push me up!"
- Janet, on the original scramble track, Castle Hill.

"Gympie Gympie Club" warning
- Cherry, Jourama Falls

Appreciation to Ian

Ian Wallace was one of those committee members who quietly worked away in the background. Not only did Ian lead many club hikes during his time with the club, but he was also instrumental in our document and policy updates, namely our recent Child Protection and Risk Management Policy. For those that don't know, we now allow children 12 and over to join the club on a walk at the discretion of the walk leader.

Upcoming Walks

Hilltop Happy Hour - Greet & Meet Picnic, Castle Hill

Friday, 1 May 2026
Leaders: Luen | Grade 2 | RSVP: [email protected].
Join Luen for a relaxed Friday after-work wander up the Blue Spot, also known as the White Arrow Track, on Castle Hill. This easy social outing is a chance to meet the Bushwalking Club, stretch the legs, share some food, and enjoy a quiet hilltop sip and nibble before strolling back down the road to the cars. Bring a plate to share, something to drink, and a head torch for the walk back down.

Cockatoo Creek

Saturday, 2 May 2026
Leader: Molly | Intro/intermediate creek walk | RSVP: [email protected].
Molly will lead a half-day introductory creek-hopping walk in the Alligator Creek area, suitable for people with intermediate fitness who are keen to try a mix of on-track and off-track walking. Expect uneven ground, rock hopping, creek travel, and a relaxed but adventurous morning in classic North Queensland terrain. This is a good opportunity for newer walkers to build confidence in off-track creek-style walking without committing to a full-day Grade 5 outing. Please RSVP directly to Molly by email for meeting details.

Frances Creek Gorge

Saturday, 9 May 2026
Leader: Luen | Grade 5 | RSVP: [email protected].
Frances Creek Gorge is a remote, full-day off-track adventure in the Paluma Range area, suited to fit and experienced bushwalkers only. The walk explores a beautiful granite creek system with sandy creek flats, slabby rock, cascades, waterfalls, and a small gorge near the junction of Frances Creek and Flagstone Creek. Expect off-track travel, route finding, rock hopping, slippery surfaces, wet feet, and possible scrambling through remote terrain. Pending access on landholder permission and conditions, with final logistics provided once you RSVP directly to Luen.

Mt Stuart Road fitness walk

Tuesday, 12 May 2026, and Tuesday mornings
Leader: Wilfred | RSVP: [email protected].
Wilfred's regular Tuesday morning Mt Stuart fitness walk is a steady pre-dawn climb up the bitumen road to the 584 m summit and back, covering about 15 km return. The group usually walks uphill for around 1.5 hours, has a short rest at the top, and then returns downhill. This is a simple but solid fitness session for members wanting to build endurance and leg strength, with sunrise views over Gurrumbilbarra as a reward. Bring water, a head torch, and a small bag if you would like to help collect rubbish along the way.

Echo Creek and K-Traverse, Paluma

Sunday, 17 May 2026
Leader: Cherry | Grade 4 | RSVP: [email protected].
Cherry will lead a lush rainforest creek adventure into Echo Creek and the K-Traverse area of Paluma Range National Park. The plan is to walk in via the old K-Traverse logging road, drop into the headwaters of Echo Creek, and follow the creek downstream before rejoining the K Track and returning to the cars. Expect creek walking, rock hopping, sandy sections, shallow pools, slippery rocks, scratched shins, and wet feet. This is a great introductory creek-style walk for those already comfortable with uneven terrain and some off-track movement.

Running River / Puzzle Creek day walk with pack swims

Sunday, 24 May 2026
Leader: Wilfred | Grade 5 | RSVP: [email protected].
Wilfred will lead an adventurous Grade 5 day walk into the Running River and Puzzle Creek area, starting from private property where access permission has been arranged. The route includes rough track, gorge terrain, creek travel, rock hopping, waterfalls, pack swims, and a visit to Saint Peter's Gate, a striking rock formation near Puzzle Creek. This is a proper North Queensland adventure day, suited to experienced bushwalkers who are confident on uneven terrain, comfortable with exposure in places, and prepared to carry their gear through swims. Please RSVP directly to Wilfred to register.

The Quartz Bikepacking Route

Saturday, 30 May to Sunday, 31 May 2026
Leaders: Luen and Jodie | Grade 5 | RSVP: [email protected].
Luen and Jodie will lead an overnight bikepacking trip taking in part of the Quartz Bikepacking Route through Mingela, Ravenswood, and surrounding outback roads. This self-supported ride covers about 185 km over two days, with mixed bitumen, gravel, dirt roads, sandy or water crossings, and rougher adventurous sections. Day one is the bigger ride at about 118 km, followed by a shorter but still adventurous second day of about 67 km. Riders will need a suitable gravel, adventure, touring, or mountain bike, bikepacking gear, plenty of water capacity, food, navigation, lights, repair gear, and a self-sufficient mindset. RSVP directly to Luen for drop-off arrangements, camping details, and final logistics.

Overnighter in Paluma with Cherry

Saturday, 6 June to Sunday, 7 June 2026
Leader: Cherry | Grade TBA | RSVP: [email protected].
Cherry is planning a Paluma Range overnighter for the weekend of 6-7 June, with details still to be confirmed. The current idea is a DCK Hut base camp, with possible walking options around Bullocky Tom's Track, Foxlee's Track, or nearby routes depending on conditions, group interest, and logistics. This will be a great chance for an overnight club trip in the rainforest, with more details to come once the route is finalised.

and many more trips to come...

Let's Walk Townsville

A Gentler Way to Get Started.
If you've been seeing our bushwalking events pop up but aren't quite ready to take the leap, Cherry's Let's Walk Townsville group might be the perfect stepping stone.

These walks are more social and cruisy in nature - a great way to build fitness, confidence and consistency without the pressure of off-track terrain or big elevation days. They're ideal if you're easing back into activity, building toward longer hikes, or simply after good company and a steady pace.

Every strong bushwalker starts somewhere. Sometimes that "somewhere" is just putting one foot in front of the other with a friendly crew.

Throwback to Our Club History

This month's archive gem takes us back to May 1966, when the Townsville Bushwalking Club joined forces with the Townsville Camera Club for a combined weekend at Running River.

Twenty-three participants turned up - 14 bushwalkers and 9 camera club members - for camping, swimming, photography and a classic North Queensland campfire evening. Tents were pitched on the broad sandy beach, brave souls swam in the cool pool, and stories of "more rigorous" bushwalks were shared around a blazing fire.

Sunday morning delivered a special reward when one member climbed the hill before breakfast and spotted a platypus in the pool - a lucky stroke indeed.

The partnership between walkers and photographers made for a memorable meet. Cameras clicked at Puzzle Creek and Peters Gate, and despite rough country and creek crossings, the Camera Club members kept pace admirably. It is a lovely reminder that the Club has always been about more than just kilometres - it is about shared experiences, collaboration and bringing different outdoor communities together.

Nearly 60 years later, the spirit feels familiar: campfires, wildlife sightings, creek crossings and good company. Take a moment to explore the historic trip reports on the website - they show just how long this Club has been building adventure and friendships across North Queensland.

Emergency+ App - Know Your Location Under Pressure

If you need to call 000 in a remote area, one of the first things you will be asked for is your latitude and longitude (or what3words). Under stress, finding that information on a GPS unit - especially if it is set to UTM - is not always straightforward.

The free Emergency+ app, developed by Australian emergency services, solves this problem. It uses your phone's built-in GPS to display your exact location on the front screen - no menus, no digging around.

Importantly, the location function does not rely on phone coverage. As long as your phone has sky access for GPS, it can determine your coordinates (you will still need network or satellite capability to make the call).

Download it here: https://www.emergencyplus.com.au/

It takes two minutes to install and could make a critical difference one day.

The Club's Birthday

This year marks the Club's 66th birthday. Founded in May 1960, the Club has a long history of hiking, exploring, and building friendships across North Queensland. We will have a think about what celebration we will have. Any ideas, pass them along to the committee. Early thoughts are a celebratory weekend of walking, maybe camping out or similar elsewhere.

The hidden cost of noise on the trail

Here's some fascinating research on how human presence, especially the sound of people talking (or playing music) while hiking, can affect birds in ways most of us would never notice. In a French field experiment on blue tits and great tits, researchers simulated hikers by walking through forest plots while playing a recorded human conversation. The punchline is a bit sobering: disturbance during breeding was linked to lower levels of maternally transferred antibodies in nestlings (particularly in great tits), which can affect early growth and survival. It is a good reminder that "low impact" is not just where we put our feet, but also how we move through the bush - including volume, group size, and lingering around nesting areas during breeding season.

Editorial (easy to read): https://academic.oup.com/conphys/article/8/1/coaa058/5880275
Main research article: https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.210930
7NEWS Townsville clip from Dr Jodie Rummer's interview: https://twitter.com/7NewsTownsville/status/1549673238221193217?t=O7bbXH8A3dOFi_V8WaXasQ&s=19

Community Heatmaps

Komoot has recently introduced Community Heatmaps, allowing users to see where others are hiking, biking, and running based on millions of anonymous activities. Available as a map layer in their route planner, the heatmap highlights well-used routes in darker magenta and lesser-used paths in lighter pink, helping you quickly understand how people move through an area. Tools like this are incredibly useful when planning trips, particularly in unfamiliar places, such as holidays overseas, as they reveal popular routes, hidden trails, and potential alternatives away from crowds. Other platforms offering similar heatmaps include Strava, AllTrails, Suunto, Garmin, Trailforks, RideWithGPS, and Wanderstories, many of which also allow you to filter by activity, such as hiking or cycling. For those who have not seen it, Wanderstories also has a powerful free mapping tool for planning remote and off-track adventures - worth exploring at https://studio.wanderstories.space/app.

Quiz Answers

Answers to the quiz in the last newsletter and walk notice:

Quiz 1 - Junction markers - So how many are there? Nearly fifty junction markers! Wilfred said, and the lines and numbers are compass bearings for navigation.

Quiz 2 - Mount Cook memorial plaque - Overlooks the strait between Maggie and Pallarenda, in line with the airport runway; note that location and bearing does have significance.

Quiz 3 - The Club's birthday is 1960, May.

Quiz 4 - The minimum age to join us for Club walks is 12 years or older. There's currently no maximum age limit, for better or worse!

Quiz 5 - How many lifetime members does our Club have?
Honorary Life Members
Flight Sergeant Alan Davey 17^th January 1962
Alistair Darveniza (age 8 days) 17^th April 1974
Harry Kershaw 20^th May 1979 , granted this distinction on his 70^th birthday.
Alan Watson 2^nd March 1988
If this interests you, have a read of a bit more history.

Thanks to all those who sent in their answers!

Doco of the month

This month's documentary pick is the Franklin, a film on one of Australia's most significant environmental battles - the fight to save the remote Franklin River from being dammed for hydroelectric development. It is a powerful reminder of how wild places can shape national identity, and how ordinary people, persistent advocacy, and a love of country can alter the course of history.

Climate change, retreating ice, and the loss of alpine huts

A sobering recent example from New Zealand is the removal of Murchison Hut, a shelter that had served alpinists since 1977. As the climate warms and glaciers shrink, the ice that once supported surrounding rock is disappearing, leaving slopes unstable and hut sites literally cracking apart. In this case, the hut had buckled badly, opened to the weather, and become too dangerous to use or dismantle safely. It is a stark reminder that climate change is not some abstract future problem - it is already reshaping mountain landscapes, reducing snow and ice, destabilising terrain, and even erasing the infrastructure people once relied on in alpine environments.

Why treating your water is important

After a few hard-earned lessons involving Giardia, missed flights, and one very memorable trek in India, Luen has put together a practical Wanderstories article on why treating your water matters in the outdoors. Clear creek water is not always clean, and even remote-looking streams can carry bacteria, parasites, viruses, or contaminants from animals, people, campsites, farming, or old mining areas. This article covers what can go wrong, how to choose better water sources, and the main ways to treat water when hiking, bikepacking, canyoning, or paddling. It is a good reminder for anyone heading into North Queensland's creeks, waterfalls, and backcountry areas: a filter, tablets, or backup treatment method can save your trip.

Call for Trip Leaders and Ideas

Have a favourite route, hidden waterfall, or new ridge that you've been itching to share? Share your bush wanderings on our Facebook group or send us a photo for the next newsletter. We are always keen to support member-led walks and fresh ideas for the calendar. If you are interested in leading a trip, get in touch and help shape the season ahead. Please email the Club at [email protected].

Keep up to date with our trips via our newsletter, Facebook page or the Club's events calendar page.

Tread lightly,
Luen Warneke
Townsville Bushwalking Club