When searching for information about the Mount Beerburrum walk, I found conflicting information about the difficulty of reaching the summit. It seemed that almost anyone could do it, but the time to get there was hard to guess. Some said 20 minutes, others 1.5 hours! But you’ll want something more precise if you’re planning to go up there for a stunning sunset or at the end of another hike (the Yu-Yan-Man track is nearby).
Summary
Distance: 3.5 km
Time: 1-1.5hrs
Difficulty: medium
What’s difficult at Mount Beerburrum
First of all, there is nothing technical at all on the Mount Beerburrum walk. It’s one of the easiest summit walks in the Glasshouse Mountains. There’s no scrambling or climbing, no need to use your hands. You hardly have to look at where you put your foot: the path is on a large asphalt road.
The difficulty comes from the angle. It’s quite steep. The steepest walk without scrambling that I’ve done is the Pyramid in Girraween National Park. Mount Beerburrum walking track is not as steep as this.
I read comments about people needing to do it backwards to use different muscles because their calves were burning on the way to Mount Beerburrum summit. There are a few benches along the path for those who need a break.
I’m used to hiking, including steep paths, and although I was tired, I didn’t feel pain in my calves the first time I went up Mount Beerburrum and didn’t need breaks. Of course, we were out of breath, and our heart rates went up. But we actually found it rather easy, and we reached the summit a lot quicker than we expected. The second time, we weren’t as fit and although we could do it without breaks, our calves were burning almost from the start of the climb.
I was fine going up but felt my knees on the way down. When going down a steep path like the one on Mount Beerburrum, I highly recommend doing small quick steps to reduce the pressure on the knee joints. If you have sore knees, I’d suggest not doing the Mount Beerburrum walk.
Why Mount Beerburrum is a good sunset walk
You’ll get a 360-degree view from the top of Mount Beerburrum. The sun gets down near the beautiful other mounts of the Glasshouse Mountains. It’s stunning. But when you walk up a mount to watch the sunset, you have to think about going down in the dark.
We were very comfortable doing the Mount Beerburrum walk at sunset. As the steep path is made of asphalt, it’s not dangerous to go down the mount with low light.
We only needed light for that last part in the forest, from the base of the mount to the car park. If you don’t feel comfortable being in the forest with low light, then you can continue on the larger road from the base of Mount Beerburrum to the main road. There’s a footpath on the side of the road a bit away from the cars so even at night it is comfortable. It’s not shorter than the path in the forest, but you don’t have to be as careful.
How long does it take to do Mount Beerburrum?
As mentioned above, there’s no straightforward answer. But I’ll help you figure out how long it should take you, depending on a few things. It took us one hour to complete the walk, but a few things could have made it longer or shorter!
Where do you start the Mount Beerburrum walk?
Most people will start the walk from the car park near the Beeburrum post office. From there, it’s a 1.2-kilometre easy walk through the forest to reach the base of Mount Beerburrum. It took us less than 15 minutes to go up to the base of Mount Beerburrum.
The 600-meter steep path starts at the base of Mount Beerburrum. From there, it took us another 15 minutes to reach the summit.
If you’re adding Mount Beerburrum to the end of your Yu-Yan-Man hike, you will start from the base of Mount Beerburrum. I believe some people time their Mount Beerburrum walk from the base and back.
A steep walk takes longer in hot weather
We completed the return walk from the post office in less than one hour. But we were hiking at the end of a cool winter day. We only had to pause to remove our jackets on the way up.
It will be a very different story if you do this hike on a hot summer day. You’ll surely walk slower but will also likely need breaks to drink water.
Where is Mount Beerburrum walk?
Mount Beerburrum is in the Glasshouse Mountains, in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. It takes around one hour to drive there from Brisbane. As it’s a short hike, you’ll probably want to do something else in the region before walking up Mount Beerburrum. Check out this list of walks in the Glasshouse Mountains to find inspiration; there are some short and easy ones that will be a good warm-up for the Beeburrum Walk.
Have you done the Mount Beerburrum walk at sunset? Share your experience in the comments below!
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