Hiking Pages Pinnacle: Why wait till the weekend?

2am wake ups, misplaced torches and a midweek start all combined to make Pages Pinnacle one of the most enjoyable sunrise hikes I've done!

Hiking Pages Pinnacle Springbrook Gold Coast Hinterland Queensland

Just perfect, the view is even better in reality. Enjoying the sunrise from the Pages Pinnacle

Sometimes the best laid plans go unfulfilled...

After an amazing afternoon climbing at Candy Mountain on Mt Tibrogargan I couldn’t wait to get back out on the crag for a full weekend of climbing at Brooyar. Unfortunately the universe had other ideas and after an amazing few weeks of clear skies decided to give QLD some much needed rain.

Plans were cancelled, tears were shed (mainly mine!) and I was left to ponder what to do with a weekend inside (umm indoor climbing, Deadpool 2 and some baking of course!!!)

Come Wednesday and I was starting to get a little antsy, I hadn’t been on a proper hike in weeks and with weekend time limited I had a great idea, lets go for a sunrise hike before work!

It had to be somewhere close so I could still make it to work in time, but challenging enough that it was worth getting up at 2:30 am on a Thursday morning.

The Adventure

Pages Pinnacle had been on my radar for a while and it seemed to fit our needs perfectly. The only problem was we hadn’t been there before so had no idea of the route. A quick call to a friend didn’t prove reassuring after he said he’d gone twice and been lost both times but luckily, after our experience at Cordeaux, we were prepared and had Wikiloc ready to go!

So at 3:00am with coffee in hand and Amy Shark for company we began the journey from Brisbane to the beautiful Gold Coast hinterland. We arrived in absolute darkness, although nearly full the moon didn’t offer much to light our way and with my head torch safely tucked away at a friends house I had resorted to using a hand held torch for the hike.

The car read 6 degrees so it was with much motivating self talk we dragged ourselves from the car and out into the park. The hike in was easy to follow along the fire trail, and with the consistent uphill gradient, we soon warmed up and forgot the cold.

Trail notes said to turn left at the cairns but when we got there we checked Wikiloc and it said to keep going, so trusting in technology we continued another half a kilometre uphill before finding a path to our left through the open bush land.

On our way back down in the light of day we realised that although we got there easily enough and on trail, if we had turned left at the cairns we would have cut off a big uphill section, so keep an eye out for the tree with PP carved into it if you want to save some glute burn!

After the unrelenting upward trajection of the fire trail it was a welcome relief to traverse the soft earth through the grass and gum trees to the ridge line that defines Pages Pinnacle.

It was at this point that I began wishing I had my headlamp. I love ridges, but with one hand holding the torch it probably proved more challenging than it should have!

As the sky began to lighten we sat and snuggled on the ridge trying to keep warm while discussing our plans for the coming week, Fraser Island here we come!

With the sky now light enough for us to see without torches we continued along the ridge line to the cliff edge and the anticipated view of the Hinze Damn. Nature even seemed to be playing along with us this time providing a backdrop of clouds perfectly positioned to show off the changing colours of the sky and a symphony of bird calls accompanying the glowing sky.

Eventually it was time to head back along the path to the cars and into work. A slightly surreal start to the day but one I’m eager to repeat as soon as we work out our next destination!