Australia — The Hike to Mitchell Falls

OK. I’m relentless. Once I get ambulatory, I don’t slow down except to take a photograph, which happens with frequency. Or…step behind a tree because I drink too much coffee to keep up my crazy pace.

Couple things to know: My camera backpack and tripod add about 28 pounds to my body.

So, that brings us to Mitchell Falls. My guide and I drove to the trailhead from the Mitchell Falls Wilderness Lodge early in the morning, arriving around 7:30 am. Proper hiking boots, water wicking socks and plenty of hydration. We were headed to one of the Kimberly Region of Western Australia’s top attractions, which like most top Australian attractions, is in the middle of a pristine wilderness. Most people hike in and take a helicopter out. But not us. The last chopper leaves the park at 3 pm, long before the sun sets, and I didn’t want to be rushed for photography reasons. My guide, by the way, was accustomed to leading hikes with “elder” individuals as a “leisurely” pace.

Off we go. Along the way we pass through lovely woodlands of livistona palm trees and lots of fragrant eucalyptus. My guide shows me mermaid aboriginal rock art and rock art behind a waterfall called Little Mertons Waterfall. After shooting images for an hour, we swim in the pool at the foot of the falls, following the cooling off traditions that began thousands of years ago with the local Wunambai people that first inhabited this plateau. The water felt perfectly cool, not cold. I indulged as long as I journalistically needed, then we had to move on. We had several miles still to go.

We next hiked right over Big Mertens Falls. Now, for all the American travelers reading this, note: no hand rails, no handicap access, no safety rails. And, Big Mertons falls several hundred feet over a sheer  cliff that I precariously, and probably insanely, dangled myself from to get the shot you see above.

The rest of the hike went at a furiously pace so that we could see Mitchell Falls, the main attraction. My guide had a secret place to show me. We hiked through two rivers and up cliffs to a lookout spot that was absolutely perfect and remote and offered almost a birds-eye view of the massive and I must note, stunning falls. The only problem was my guide had misadvised me about the way the falls would be lit in the late afternoon. They were in complete shadow. Yikes! Sometimes this happens in travel journalism. When it does it’s not good for photography. I took a few shots to make my guide feel like she’d done good, while inside I fumed at her misinformation. Oh, well. In the end, I actually like the drama of Big Mertons and the delicacy of Little Mertons better. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself.

On the way out, since the light had dipped low and we couldn't stop to shoot in order to get out of the part before dark, we rushed out at such a pace, that my guide had to stop several times to catch her breath. 

My digs: Mitchell Falls Wilderness Lodge, aptouring.com.au