Slip Sliding Away on Mt Sorrow Ridge Hike

Our map described this hike as steep and challenging, and suggested that you allow at least 6-8 hours, don't start any later than 10 AM, let someone know when you are leaving. This sounded like fun. But when we went to let the gal at the lodge desk know we were going, they made us fill out an unsettling form including next of kin to notify if we did not return. The hike is just out of Cape Tribulation, where the rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef, from the top you can look east and see the reef and west and see Mt. Sorrow, on a clear day, that is.

It had rained a some point every day on our trip, and we were in the rain forest after all, so it was damp, muddy, slippery and slow going. But it was a wonderland of diversity. I would love to go back with a guide who could identify some things for us. I try to touch as little as possible here, first of all not to disturb anything, but secondly there are a bazillion venomous things here. I gave up early on not touching, since I needed the roots and branches to pull myself up and to keep from slipping down. At one point I saw a humongous blueish purple worm or snake, it was under a ledge right in from of my face as we were climbing up a steep part, using exposed roots and rocks as a ladder. When we got to the top, we were in a cloud and there was nothing to see, but almost immediately the cloud thinned out and we could see Cape Tribulation beach and the reef, but only for a moment. Here are some pictures, but it was much more beautiful than these pictures show.

This is a leach on my shoe. We had bunches of them.

Right after we past the steepest, slippiest part (which a guide Ellen talked to at breakfast had described as the “Stairway to Hell”) it started raining pretty hard. The hike was challenging, but not scary, since there were no steep dropoffs. It took us 2 hrs 45 to get to the top and 3hrs to get down. We were covered in mud and sweat when we returned.