We made it! Up Pulpit Rock!
Monday, 11 June, 2023
They say it takes 4 to 5 hours to complete. We took 9 hours. A very long day. (Never give up)
Only maybe 1% of people were our age or better and they were the wirey, biker, fitness types. The track has had lots of work done on it over the years, with rocks set to make stairs….ish. The track goes up and down, it’s not just all up on the way to the top. It has lakes and wooden bridges, paths, etc along the way. The top is 600 meters up, but you really 1000 up and 400 down to get there. And the same in reverse on the way back down.
Why climb Pulpit Rock? The next day with sore legs I asked myself this, the view is definitely spectacular, but we’ve seen better with no hiking needed. It’s the entire experience. Standing on the edge with a 604 meter sheer drop to the water below. Another off the bucket list.
The site is very popular, the lower car park has spaces for 1,000 plus cars. We got there early and started our hike at 7am, so we got into the upper carpark, a big carpark with special spaces for motorhomes and lots of buses, etc.
I was surprised at how noisy it was, with people talking all the way and how busy the track and site is and we did it on a Monday, it’s even busier on the weekends.
I didn’t pack well, I took a pair of long hiking pants and a rain jacket and only one bottle of water, I thought it may rain and get cold and windy up the top. Our packs were way too heavy and the water ran out way early. The weather was 24 deg hot and very sunny. When I got back to the base camp I drank 3 bottles of Powerade and a bottle of water and they didn’t touch the sides. Followed up by an about 6 glasses of water back at the Motorhome.
Pulpit Rock
The View
The Track
The good parts have stone stairs, lots of spots are one person wide only. In some areas to get up the height they need, they’ve made each step narrow and very high, not great for the knees and muscles.
