In seeking out our weekend vistas, we find ourselves with another weekend gone and another Glass House Mountain nailed. This time one of the babies of the collection – Mt Beerburrum.
Located on the outskirts of the township of Beerburrum, Mt Beerburrum is pretty easy to find. The lookout is well signed and an unsealed road will take you to a carpark from which your trail begins.
Admittedly, Mt Beerburrum is one of the easier walks, but it is still a good outing. When I say ‘easier’, I should probably define what I actually mean by ‘easier’.
At 280m high, Mt Beerburrum is one of the smaller peaks of the Glass House Mountains. The walk to the summit is 700m, which is not a long walk. Add to this the fact that the path is a 1.5 meter wide concrete one, pretty much all the way to the summit, and it probably is easy on a scale of things compared to some of the other Glass House Mountains that we have climbed. Having said that, boy is it steep… I would guesstimate the incline at 45 degrees all the way up… give or take a few degrees. Or at least it felt that way!
A few years back my personal trainer had made me run up Mt Beerburrum as part of my fitness regime (read ‘torture program’). It was obviously in the days when I was a lot fitter as I don’t remember it to be as steep, or as long or as steep for as long a time… I found myself wondering how on earth I actually ran up it at all and if oxygen deprivation had altered my memory of it as on this visit I was finding the ‘walk’ challenging. My cherry babe’s legs are also almost twice as long as mine, so I would have to take two steps to his one. The hidden meaning in this statement is that I would be puffing and panting while he was barely exerting a breath… it can be very discouraging at times…
However, it really only takes a 15 or so minutes to get to the top, and I was able to use my puffing and panting as an excuse to stop, look back and admire the developing view.
I did actually expend quite a bit of thought on the poor buggers who had the privilege of lugging bags of concrete and gravel all the way to the top to create the path in the first place! It’s amazing the thought processes you go through when you find your brain oxygen deprived…
At the top there is a fire tower that you can climb to the first level of for a better vantage point. And the views, as with all the Glass House Mountains, is pretty amazing.
It doesn’t seem to matter how many Glass House Mountains I climb, I never tire of the views. Hazy silhouettes, crop tapestries, the varying configurations – they are always different and always beautiful.
And there were a few runners, so it can be done. Maybe my memory of my run is accurate, if albeit a distant one.
Enjoy the walk! While Mt Beerburrum is amply paved, I would probably think twice before taking grandma up in her wheelchair. However, take your time and appreciate a more relaxed pace and it is a walk that even the more fitness challenged can enjoy.
This story was written by Petra Frieser – Pebbles + Pomegranate Seeds
