JoelWhere: Far North Queensland, roughly 20 minutes north-west of Mossman.
How to Get There: Continue heading north on the Captain Cook Highway through Mossman and it turns into Mossman-Daintree Road. Continue for roughly five minutes and you’ll “veer left” – though it is basically straight – onto Miallo Bamboo Creek Road. Continue for a few minutes, turn left onto Whyanbeel Road which you’ll follow until another left onto Karnak Road. Private property emerges on your left and a car park on the right. You’ll see the sign for Devil’s Thumb – your journey begins!
The Waterfall: After roughly 1.25km, you’ll reach a large fallen tree at eye level, and there will be an unmarked trail veering left – this is your ticket. Other at the 1.5km mark, there will be a more official track veering left (more discitnct) that will take you to the creek, and then you’ll need to rock hop downstream for approxiamtely 200m.
What To Expect: Swimming, difficult hiking, leeches, rough slope trails, rock hopping, views, falls, goat track, vague directions.
Extras: Obviously the hike to the Devil’s Thumb continues up the mountain. It’s a tough hike – make sure you are prepared!
**Please excuse all the photos – we hope to make it clear on how to reach the falls 🙂
Ultimate Aussie Bucketlist Experience
There is no doubt that this isn’t your average hike. It’s basically all uphill and it is a goat track! We were contantly fighting off leeches and checking for ticks. It had rained recently and sections of the track were a bit slippery.
It’s funny (or not funny haha), how those who enjoy hiking actually find pleasure and excitement in these difficult treks – but hey, that’s why we keep doing it.
After crossing through private property, we met face to face with a creek crossing. Seeing a fallen tree – I thought it was an amazing idea to try to hang from it and shuffle to the otherside – all good until… my phone dropped out of my pocket and SPLASH – in the creek! Luckily it still worked after we recovered it.
Onwards! We found the beginning of the track on the other side of the river (we just took our shoes off for ease), and headed up, and up, and up.
After 1km, we seen the marker and knew we didn’t have much more to go to reach Karnak Falls turnoff.
Now at roughly 1.25km, you’ll reach a large fallen tree blocking the path (under and forward for The Devil’s Thumb), this is where you actually want to veer left and not duck under. The path isn’t very clear – but clear enough. Follow for a little more and then you’ll reach a few smaller fallen trees – now guess what… head left and head down, down and down.
Keep following it down to the river, and thirty metres or so, you have reached Karnak Falls! Chances are you’ll have it to yourself.
If you’ve read this far, I now ask you the question:
Do you now try The Devil’s Thumb?
