A Dream Come True: Minyon Falls Rainforest Hike

View of the falls from the lookout point

Joining the SCU Outdoor Adventure Club was a fantastic choice and is a perfect match for my adventurous self. Our last trip was to visit the Nightcap National Park an hour north of Lismore, and hike to Minyon falls. It was an 8 kilometer loop, down to the waterfall and up the other side of the cliff. When we arrived, it was pouring rain, and when I said that, I mean it. We were in the middle of a sub-tropical rainforest (tropical rainforests are more north like in Cairns), and the sound and feel of the constant flow of raindrops made it all the more exhilarating. Our hike started off by looking at the waterfall from a lookout about a kilometer away. In the fog, it looked like an impressionism painting of a rainforest in Thailand. At 100 meters (328 ft) tall, the waterfall looks majestic from a distance, but has extreme force at the base. As we started our hike, rain in full swing, we had to trek uphill a while before reaching the top of the waterfall where it curved straight down into the air and down to the ground below. It was still so foggy all you could see where the tops of the forest of palm trees and the water crashing at the bottom. It didn’t seem like a lot of water at all at the top. It was more of a creek or stream that just dropped off suddenly, yet sounded like it was a wide, powerful river falling over a cliff. As we were walking, one of the three club leaders let us know that by the end of the hike we will have a few leeches on us. I’m usually not a baby about insects, as I have dealt with all my friends’ and roommates’ huntsman (baby tarantulas) and cockroaches in their rooms, but for some reason, leeches just aren’t my thing. With no choice but to keep on going, soaking wet at this point, we crossed a few creeks by rock jumping which reminded me of when Emily and I would spend hours in the creek by our Brookfield house. FUN!

The hike itself wasn’t physically challenging for me, but it had an element of being mentally challenging because it felt like an obstacle course. Boulders blocked the natural trail and we literally had to help each other by boosting each person to the next slippery rock. Well I have long legs and I’ve never been more grateful for them, so I could be more independent and somehow climb up them. I forgot to mention…by this point, I had 6 leeches on me and a few had managed to get in my sock and stay there a while to make me bleed when I removed them. I learned that leeches like warm parts of your body, and ironically within an hour I was freezing because of the rain and lack of sun during the hike. It didn’t matter either way, another 7 leeches managed to find their way on my legs on the second part of the hike. We reached a stream that we needed to cross in order to get to the path that led to the base of the waterfall. The cool water rushed beneath us and we leapt from rock to rock, and came to a halt when there was nothing but a fallen log that stretched from half way across the stream to the edge. We had to either strategically balance and walk across the six inch wide surface, or do what I do! Fall in. Always. Fall in. If you’re already wet from head to toe, it makes the most sense and gets you to your destination quickly. And while you’re at it, splash around in the water a bit to get off any leeches that may still be clinging on for dear life. I laughed at the fact that I packed an extra pair of socks in case mine got wet. The spare socks were also soaked because the drawstring bag I brought may look water-resistant, but is so NOT.

When we finally got to the water hole at the bottom of the falls, we were a little tired, very hungry, and extremely excited to see the spectacular sight looking upwards at the powerful stream of water. We attempted to find a dry place to sit (the rain let up for a while), yet the waterfall sprayed constant frigid water all around us. As I sat with my back towards the waterfall because the spray was too forceful to face, I opened my very sad looking PB&J sandwich. It was soaked, as was the rest of the food. One of the girls was showing off her very dry sandwich, waving it in the air, and within 10 seconds it was soaked from the waterfall’s spray. Lesson learned! Only apples remain an option for rainy waterfall hikes. Food woes aside, I wanted to take in every sound and feeling this grand piece of nature was emitting. Unlike an ocean, which has a patterned sound…waves rolling in, crashing, silence, waves rolling in, etc., a waterfall has a constant sound. There was so much pressure under the waterfall yet it seemed calm and steady. It reminded me of a situation of tough love…firm, assertive and unwavering, yet with trust and unexplained harmony. We stayed there a while, letting the force of nature make us feel very, very small. Feeling insignificant once in a while is refreshing.

As we made our way up, I led the group for whatever reason they assigned me that role, and made the two kilometer trek through the rainforest. On the way up, the path was laid out nicely (that is after we climb back down those boulders that people were boosted up on, and across the creek that I gracefully (hah) crossed). That trail was the one that people go down if they want to see the falls without enduring the five hour hike. We made it back to the top with a few more leeches in stow and each with drenched clothes from the rain that picked up again. Surprisingly, we did the hike in 3.5 hours which they gave credit to my “far too energetic self” leading the group on the way back.