A little outside of the township of Boonah, a uniquely shaped mountain nests quietly at the foot of Main Range National Park. This is the perfect place to test out your wild explorer spirit and lose yourself to the amazing creations of mother nature.
I would strongly recommend that you go with someone who knows their way as I found the track to be easily confusing even though I have been there before.
There are 3 ways to ascend this mountain, the Palm Gorge, the Waterfall Gorge and the Southeast Ridge Track, they all starts at the small carpark at the bottom of the mountain. I have not done South East Ridge track yet, but going up via the Waterfall Gorge track and coming down from Palm Gorge seems to be a rather popular hiker's route.
You probably have seen the amazing photo from the lookout overlooking Lake Moogerah. Going up the Waterfall Gorge will lead you to the closest point to that lookout. Starting from the bottom carpark, the climb immediately begins along a wide fire trail. Shortly after you starts the hike, I will see a sign post that directs you to veer off the main firetrail towards the start of the Waterfall Gorge Track and South East Ridge Track. This part of the track is worn and clear to follow. Keep following the track and go toward the direction that the second sign post says, and shortly after that, there is a trail that leads to be steep downhill which will take you down to the official start point of the Waterfall Gorge Track. Finding the start of this downhill track can be a little tricky, so going with someone who know where they are going is essential if you are here for the first time.
Follow the bottom of the winding gorge going up, you would need to scramble up some big boulders during this process, they should not be too hard if you take your time as there are always roots or other rocks that you could hold on to which helps you to move up. You would be going through this beautiful gorge comprises towering palm trees and beautifully shaped rocks, and of course that amazing scenery afterwards to reward you for the hard work! About two thirds of your way up this gorge, there is a turn off point to the left hand side and you would follow the bottom of a cliff for a short while before the track starts to go steeply uphill again. At this point, you are not too far from reaching the end of the Waterfall Gorge Track.
Eventually, the track leads you out of the gorge, and if you follow the obviously worn path, you will reach the 'the slab rock' lookout which greets you with the blissful view of Lake Moogerah. However, I goes to a track that goes off to the right and this takes you to just on top of the gorge that you came out of, and shows you another lookout filled with amazing views of the mountains (that I cannot name) which you couldn't see clearly at the beginning of the track.
Turn back to the main track and follow it until you reach the Moogerah Lake Lookout. Before you reach the rock, you will see the track goes towards left, this is the track that you would need to follow to reach the Mount Greville Summit. Having been there twice, I have not made it to the summit yet, so I hope to do that next time.
Coming down from the summit, there is a track that takes you to the start point of the Palm Gorge Track which would lead you downhill all the way back to the carpark where you have started. If you would like to not go to the summit, but use the South East Ridge Track to go down, you would need to return to the point where you have just came out of the Waterfall Gorge Track, and turn right from there and follow that track. This will take you to a wide rocky lookout, and as the track becomes really not obvious at this point, hopefully, you could follow the rock cairns that other people have laid until you reach a rather big rock cairn (similar to the one on top of Mount Maroon) that marks the entrance of the track downhill. Personally, I have not done this track, so I couldn't offer any description of this downhill track.
The last stretch of the Palm Gorge Track is slightly tricky as the track become nearly invisible, but go towards left-ish direction and you would be able to reach a dirt track which takes you back to the main firetrail.
Hopefully, you will enjoy this offtrack hike and it leads you to discover these scenery through your own eyes!
