This was our planned route, starting from the Cotswold Trail Head.
Mount Maroon is 964m above sea level. It was given this name in 1820 by European Explorers. However, the Yuggera people, who are the traditional custodians of this area, call it "Wahlmoorum", meaning Sand Goanna.
(Source for this info: Scenic Rim Council)
It is one of 7 peaks in the Mt. Barney National Park, which is located in the Macpherson Range, 12 kilometres west of Rathdowney. It's about 2 hours drive south west of Brisbane City.
A couple of mates from work said they did it in a single day driving to and from home. We thought we'd need to save it for a weekend away trip, but I know they're no fitter than us, so we thought we'd give it a go.
This hike starts off easy enough but there is a descent rock scramble to get to the top.
The weather forecast was not the best but looked like - as long as we didn't muck around too much - we could get up and down before it turned too nasty.
Down low on the hike the path is protected by the mountain and the trees were fine but once we were at the top the 360 degree view showed the forecast was correct and the rain was closing in.
Luckily we only had to deal with wind, because while the clouds threatened they never spilled over.
It would have been so easy to stay at the top and soak up the view. The clouds and the land formations looked amazing!
And there were so many gorgeous rocky outcrops to check out. However, we were mindful of the weather, so we snapped a few photos and got moving again quickly.
Source: Strava map and data of hike.
Source: Strava elevation guide. Needless to say, it was a tough hike! 