Mt Exmouth via Burbie Canyon, Warrumbungle National Park NSW
A long walk with excellent views from the summit over the whole of the Warrumbungles, although you might find the highlight are the huge numbers of fabulous grass trees in the final 200 vertical metres.
Mt Exmouth (1206m) is the highest point in Warrumbungle National Park, and I’ll admit to a spot of peak bagging in doing this walk. Nevertheless, I’d read that the views from the summit were excellent, and they were, although a bit hazy on an overcast day. Unexpectedly though, another feature of this walk stole the show, and that was the preponderance of fabulous grass trees on the final ascent to the summit. I’ve never seen so many in my life, and they were fine specimens indeed. So I’d recommend this walk even just for these, but the views will be an added bonus.
Burbie Canyon Not as many wildflowers out as I’d expected, but these ones were quite nice. Burbie Canyon Much of the walk was along Burbie Fire Trail so I thought I would take a picture of this just so you know what you are up for. Not so exciting but then the lower section of the alternative West Spirey Creek Track were not all that exciting either. It made for fast walking at least. One of three new wildflowers I saw on the walk, (as in, new to me). Wildflowers I’ve not seen before. The first of many grass trees on the final ascent to the summit.
Prepare for an overwhelming number of grass tree photos…
Lots of grass trees. So many grass trees! And still more grass trees. I particularly liked this grass tree, which looks like it is wearing a fur coat. One of my favourite grass tree shots with Sophia demonstrating scale, and hence the advanced age of these wonderful plants.
Up onto the summit area here…
I liked this long line of grass trees as we approached the summit.
A very bushy grass tree. Note sure what what that distant mountain is, but it looked a little volcanic, and could have been in this area given that it was moulder by volcanic forces many centuries ago. A panorama from the summit. Grass tree ‘spears’ on the summit. Possibly my favourite shot from the summit of Mt Exmouth (1206m), combining the views with many grass trees in flower, the signature characteristics of this walk, at least in 2019.
A noisy friarbird. A noisy friarbird on grass tree flower spears. Lots of grass trees at the summit. View from the summit. The view from the summit of Mt Exmouth (1206m). Bluff Mountain in the centre, which we climbed the next day. Not sure what these flowers are, but I liked the aesthetic. This is Belougery Split Rock, which is actually not on the walk, but you can start from this car park along Burbie Fire Trail, missing out Burbie Canyon. Not recommended, but I just wanted to include this picture. There’s a walk around the base of this small mountain and you can visit the summit also. One for next time.
Track Notes
We started the walk at Burbie Canyon, which is a nice 1km section of the ephemeral Burbie Creek, although we then had a long slog up Burbie Fire Trail to where the track begins the final ascent to the summit. NPWS info on the walk actuals refers to a start at Split Rock Car Park, but you’re better off walking through the canyon as it’s (probably) more scenic than the start of Burbie Fire Trail, and also 1km shorter each way.
An alternative is to leave from Pincham Car Park, also the start of the Grand High Tops Circuit, which we did the following day. You walk up a section of West Spirey Creek, and there are eventually views of the big cliff face on Bluff Mountain. (We descended down this track, and I think descending is better for the Grand High Tops Circuit). There’s then a link track to join the Mt Exmouth route at (kind of) the end of Burbie Fire Trail. I can’t tell you what this section is like.
Here are some maps and basic info on the walking options in the park. Ignore the ‘you are here’ marker on the map, as we took this photo at the Split Rock Car Park.
The sign at Split Rock car park, which is not where we started from.
