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Bushwalking Index Mihi Gorge
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Mihi Gorge
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
These photos and accompanying text are for the interest of armchair travellers only, and do not constitute comprehensive instructions for bushwalkers.
The trip to the Mihi Gorge is for very fit, very experienced and well prepared bushwalkers only. There is no maintained track once you reach Salisbury Waters, it is very strenuous, and bush craft, topographical maps and compass are required. If there is the possibility of needing to camp, sufficient appropriate equipment should be carried. Always carry a Personal Locator Beacon, and tell reliable people where you are going and how long your party will be away. Mobile phones do not work anywhere in the gorges for sure, and almost never even on top of the cliff line.
Confluence of the Mihi with Salisbury Waters, at a time when there was little or no flow in Mihi Creek.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
In the gorge system, it is normal for what water there is to be crystal clear during drought, and muddy when there is a lot of rain. Although there was little or no flow in the Mihi at this time, there was plenty of drinking water if you chose your source carefully.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
The rocks in the gorge are large and at times difficult to move past or over, shown here at the entry of the Mihi to Salisbury Waters.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
There are occasional sandy areas where a campsite could be scraped for a single tent if necessary, but tent sites at the confluence of the Mihi and Salisbury Waters are few and far between. It is a confused area of rocks, trees, and small patches of ground.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
This rainforest margins plant had beautiful red to pink flowers arranged like bunches of grapes, with glossy green leaves with a pronounced midrib and opposite "leaves".
It is Tulip Satinwood, or Deep Yellow Wood, Rhodosphaera Rhodanthema, which occurs from the Macleay River (Salisbury Waters eventually becomes the Macleay River after joining with the Gara) to Maryborough in southern Queensland. It has pale yellow timber valued for cabinet work, and grows to 15 metres high.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
Text below adapted from:
http://www.forestfarmers.com.au/Species/R-rhod.htm
Leaves: Alternate, pinnate, the rachis bearing six to twelve leaflets, mostly opposite, scarcely toothed but rather irregular, elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, 4-7 cm long and 1-2 cm broad, tapering to a blunt point at the tip, and often asymmetrical at the base. Glossy above dull beneath. Green both surfaces. Broken parts exude a milky sap. Leaf stalks swollen at the base, 3-8 cm long. Leaflet stalks 3-6 cm long.
Venation: Distinct, midrib raised both surfaces, small rusty tufts of hairs in the axils of most lateral and mid-veins on the underside.
Flowers: Bright red, in large panicles at the ends of the branchlets. Male and female flowers often on separate trees. Individual flowers 6-9 mm diameter when expanded, borne on stalklets about 2 mm long. Flowering period September to October.
Fruit: Drupe, dry, brown and shinning, globular, about 1 cm diameter in dense bunches, containing a single seed enclosed in a very hard woody layer. Seed flattened about 9 mm broad. Fruit ripe February to June but often retained on the tree until late Spring.
Habitat: Subtropical and dry rainforests along creeks in fringing rainforests.
Timber and uses: The sapwood is pale yellow with a heartwood of pleasing yellowish-bronze and a silky lustre. The timber is soft, fine grained and beautifully figured. Used for inlays, turning, furniture, panelling and cabinet work.
This female Tulip Satinwood shows the brown berries characteristic of the species.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
A yellow ground orchid.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
I set up my tent in the early afternoon in a protected area a hundred metres from the junction with Salisbury Waters, ready for an early start in the morning.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
This spot is a favourite of mine, and I have used it many times in the past. It is only suitable for one small tent, but it is beneath a Melaleuca tree, which gives good shade, ideal for hot conditions, and protects against frosts, so it is also ideal for cold conditions. Also Melaleucas don't often drop branches, another important consideration for a campsite - look up before you settle on a particular camp site.
Photo: Don Hitchcock January 2009
On the trip in 2009 there was very little water anywhere. I found a good pool close by the camp site with a small trickle of cool, clean water, and filled my five litre wine cask inner.
Photo: Don Hitchcock January 2009
In 2009 I came down a ridge into the Mihi a few hundred metres above the campsite. I saw movement in a pool, and thinking it was a duck, moved closer. It turned out to be a black snake, swimming in the pool! I have often seen snakes swim across water quickly in order to get away from me, but never have I seen a snake just idly swimming around. As soon as it noticed me, it moved to one end of the pool and disappeared.
Photo: Don Hitchcock January 2009
A scree slope on the gorge wall, in the early morning.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
The sun just reaching the gorge wall. I like to leave just as the sun comes up, if I can, and I am often waiting to walk, packed up, until there is enough light. I've never been sorry to make an early start to a day, though sometimes sorry to make a late one.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
This is the only extensive flat area in the gorge where a number of tents could be set up.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
Burl on a eucalypt. A burl is caused by an injury to the tree where the growth of the tree changes causing a random swirling grain pattern, much prized by wood turners.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
There is usually no space to walk beside the creek, it is necessary to rock hop for much of the gorge. The rocks are smooth yet offer good traction for boots when dry.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
Despite the dry weather, there was plenty of good water in pools. There must have been flow in the sand of the creek bed to maintain this excellent water quality.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
The walls gradually became higher and steeper.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
The vegetation is a mix of Eucalyptus, Casuarina and dry rainforest, a type of rainforest which grows in protected environments such as this, where although there is not very much precipitation, there is plenty of water at depth, and little wind or sun to dessicate the environment.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
The lichens growing on large boulders show that the water level, even in flood, rarely reaches the top of these rocks. Mihi Creek has a very small catchment.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
Progress became slow, if steady, because of the confused jumble of large rocks.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
Some of the rocks were very large, and presumably had got there by falling from the gorge walls, since they were too large to have been moved by the small creek. It would not be wise to be in this area at such times.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
It was occasionally possible to get out of the creek bed on the inside of bends.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
A patch of Tulip Satinwood, or Deep Yellow Wood, Rhodosphaera Rhodanthema, met first near the campsite at the confluence of the Mihi and Salisbury Waters. It is a very attractive tree in flower.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
Some of the ridges looked climbable.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
This would have been a long pool in wetter times, as can be seen by the white deposit formed when green algae dry out when the pool disappears.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
The creek bed had fewer large rocks in this section, as the gorge walls pulled back temporarily.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
Casuarina fringed pools like this are a delight.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
It was sometimes possible to walk for a short time on grass on the creek banks.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
Then it was back to the creek bed.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
A distinctive cliff face nearly at the top of the gorge wall.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
This pond was a little murkier than most.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
Here the bedrock of the stream bed showed through.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
I kept a constant look out for ridges that might allow a walker access to the cliff line, but this one was definitely out.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
Lichen covered boulders in the stream bed, with occasional shrubs. It was obvious that the amount of water coming down the gorge was decreasing as the head of the gorge neared.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
I knew was definitely getting closer now, when this distinctive cliff face appeared, which is visible from the Salisbury Waters track when it parallels the Mihi Gorge. Rock climbers abseil down this face and then return via the gorge and the track.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
This pool was particularly murky, and seemed to be just a hollow in the rock surface, not fed by water seeping through the gravel of the stream bed.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
An orange cliff face appeared a little further on.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
The walls of the gorge were coming closer.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
This pool provided a temporary check. I had been worried about not having access to good water, but this pool showed there was still plenty. I traversed a ridge of gravel under the water on the left to get past it.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
Another pool appeared around the next bend.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
Further on, past the pool, a ridge of rock completely blocked the gorge.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
The left side of the rock wall, although dry, was very smooth rock, and I did not feel confident about scrambling up it with wet shoes. An unplanned sudden descent while climbing might have made things difficult for me, especially since I was by myself. I wished for a small ladder, which would have solved the problem immediately!
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
It should have been possible to get up what was obviously a waterfall in wet weather, but it was wet and very slippery with algae, and I decided to try again on another trip.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
This rock on the right of the rock wall barring my path seemed to be covered in rock orchids.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
I returned to the camp site near the entry of the Mihi to Salisbury Waters, and determined to try to go straight up the ridge to the main track instead of following Salisbury Waters upstream. I had a good night's sleep, disturbed only by mopokes calling to each other, a mournful but strangely comforting sound, and set off before six.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
Going straight up the spine of the ridge from the confluence was not feasible, so I came a little up the Mihi and scrambled to the main ridge from there.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
The ridge was steep, but quite straightforward to climb.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
I was able to bypass what looked like a rock climb.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
There was soon a vista down Salisbury Waters Gorge.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
The ridge became narrower and well defined, and easier to climb.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
A rock on the ridge provided a good place for a rest, a cup of coffee and to admire the view.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
The top was in sight.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
It was an easy climb to the lookout from this point.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
The familiar view from the lookout, at the end of a short path to the main track leading to Dangars Falls.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
On the way back along the Salisbury Waters track, the path parallels the Mihi Gorge, with views into it, and here I zoomed in to try to see some of the places I had reached. I think I got within five hundred metres of the base of Mihi Falls.
Photo: Don Hitchcock September 2003
Mihi Gorge Second Try
On my next trip to Mihi Gorge a few months later, I left late in the afternoon from Dangars Falls. By this time the weather had provided a lot of rain, and I was delighted that Dangars Falls was so spectacular. In full drought the falls is just a damp patch on the rocks.
I had not worked out yet what that implied for Mihi Gorge...
Photo: Don Hitchcock December 2003
From the ridge between Salisbury Waters and Mihi Gorge there was a good if distant view of Mihi Falls, which has a number of drops which change direction before it reaches the floor of the gorge. It is quite rare that you can actually see the falls from this point, and once again I had not thought of the implications.
Photo: Don Hitchcock December 2003
There is a delightful little campsite on a gravel bank not far downstream from the place where the track meets Salisbury Waters. It has to be levelled again for a tent space each time there is a flood, but there is usually plenty of wood washed down the river for a fire.
Photo: Don Hitchcock December 2003
The clouds were beautiful as the sun went down.
Photo: Don Hitchcock December 2003
Next morning I found a cicada on the ground, then two cicadas mating.
Photo: Don Hitchcock December 2003
Mihi Creek, looking downstream towards the confluence with Salisbury Waters.
Photo: Don Hitchcock December 2003
A yellow ground orchid, carpeting the grass with bursts of sunshine.
Photo: Don Hitchcock December 2003
Purple spotted ground orchids.
Photo: Don Hitchcock December 2003
I got to the view of the reddish scree slope fairly quickly, though it was a much wetter trip this time, often I had to wade or swim through deep pools.
Photo: Don Hitchcock December 2003
At the rock wall that defeated me last time, there was now, instead of a dry gravel surface, a deep pool which I had to swim. The water was quite muddy, but because of the water level I was able to get to a small ledge on the rock wall. However I could not change into dry shoes on it to climb the rock, and I had to swim back.
Photo: Don Hitchcock December 2003
The small trickle was a decent waterfall this time, and there was no chance of getting up it safely. I should have taken my courage in both hands and gone up it the previous trip, slippery as it was.
Photo: Don Hitchcock December 2003
Returning downstream I set up my tent on a lovely little campsite just big enough for one or two tents at the bottom of a ridge on the true right of the Mihi Creek, and which has a pool nearby which has good water in it, even in drought. The clean water was welcome, since the main stream was so muddy.
Photo: Don Hitchcock December 2003
In the morning I decided to see if I could get up the ridge, and although steep it presented no problems. However it comes out onto private property, so permission would be required to follow the top of the cliff line around the head of the gorge.
Photo: Don Hitchcock December 2003
There is a side track to a view of Mihi Falls from the main track back to Dangars Falls.
Photo: Don Hitchcock December 2003
Mihi Falls with a lot of water coming over, more than I have ever seen.
This photograph was taken from the main track to Salisbury Waters.
Photo: Don Hitchcock January 2010
Mihi Falls from the view point opposite the falls, on a side track.
Photo: Don Hitchcock January 2010
A Melaleuca sp. in flower on the track.
Photo: Don Hitchcock December 2003
Dangars Falls again, this time from the lookout on the true left of Salisbury Waters.
Photo: Don Hitchcock December 2003
Bushwalking Index Anyone (e.g. students, libraries, government agencies such as tourist bureaus, the general public) may use, print and publish the photographs taken by me and presented on this bushwalking file for any legitimate non-commercial purpose, at no cost, and without asking permission. However a note such as "Photo: Don Hitchcock" somewhere in the document would be appreciated if it is to be published.