The 6 Peaks Challenge in Glass House Mountains 2023

We all know that South East Queensland is chockas with great mountains to climb, but how about running up 6 in a single day? Ben was part of a group attempting the 6 Peaks Challenge in the Glass House Mountains, and it was a real dawn-till-dusk affair.

We acknowledge that this adventure is located on the traditional Country of the Jinibara and the Kabi Kabi peoples who have occupied and cared for the lands, waters, and their inhabitants for thousands of years. We pay our respects to them as the Traditional Custodians and recognise that sovereignty was never ceded.

So a couple weeks ago Chris Sneath posted in our UQ Mountain Club Facebook group that he wanted to attempt the 7 Peaks Challenge in the Glass House Mountains (in his words: ‘Anyone keen for jelly legs?’).

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It really wasn’t that surprising, that Facebook group constantly gets posts from people looking for other keen fellows to join them on crazy adventures, but I really had no idea what the 7-Peaks Challenge even was.

After some discussion, it turned out that Chris wanted to summit 7 of the Glass House Mountains in South-East Queensland, in a single day. That sounded like quite a challenge indeed, so I really didn’t need much convincing. On May 12th, 2018 Chris Sneath, Lucas Dubinski, Nabari Yoite, Robyn Davies and I left Brisbane around 4.30am for another crazy UQMC adventure.

Looking out over the Glass House Mountains – Photo by Lucas Dubinski

1. Mount Tibrogargan

Ascent: 364m
Time of day: 5:50am

We drove to Mount Tibro with two cars from Brisbane. Chris, Lucas and Nabari arrived earlier than Robyn and I because we got lost and my lights died halfway so I couldn’t see. Great start.

You can take two paths to get to the summit. Whilst Chris and co. got up from the left, Robyn and I started the ascent a bit later and went up the right side. Mount Tibro is probably one of the steepest and hardest mountains to summit in terms of physical strength required. We were all keen to see the sunrise at the top at 6:20am, so we went up fairly quickly in 27 minutes, but since we only left the car park around 5:55am we were two minutes late!

In any case, we got most of the sunrise and it was beautiful sitting there with hot chocolate watching it. On a side note, I had never met any of the fellas but Robyn before, so up there we also had time for an introduction.

Then we had to get moving again, it was getting cold and we still had six peaks ahead of us…

Read more:10 Highest Mountains to Climb In South East Queensland 2023

Still enjoyed sunrise! – Photo by Chris Sneath

2. Mount Tiberoowuccum

Ascent: 220m
Time of day: 7.30am

Next was Mount Tiberoowuccum. The carpark is just a little further down the road from Tibrogargan. We followed the Trachyte Circuit until we got to the 4WD track and turned right. Then we followed that track and got to the hiking trail on the right after about 10-15 minutes; from there it was pretty straightforward.

Once we were at the top, Chris suggested this amazing ‘shortcut’, which was pretty much taking a beeline back to the carpark. This would ‘save so much time’.

Turns out, it’s smartest to stick to the track, because we ended up bush-bashing through lantana for the next half hour or so. Moral of the story: if you don’t want to bring back an entire ecosystem in your shoes, stay on the path, it’s there for a reason.

Read more: Remember to leave no trace

3. Wild Horse Mountain

Ascent: 123m
Time of day: 9.30am

This was probably the easiest mountain to ascend, there’s a paved road all the way up! The peak is also close to the Bruce Highway, so it’s a nice stop for lunch if you’re on the way through. We didn’t spend much time at the summit, but we did enjoy the view we had looking at all the other Glass House Mountains to our west.

Somewhat ironically, the Glass House Mountains are made of stones. – Photo by Ben Wiesner

4. Mount Beerburrum

Ascent: 280m
Time of day: 10.15am

When we arrived at Mount Beerburrum car park, we expected another easy walk when we saw the path was paved. But this one is significantly steeper than Wild Horse and really gets to your calves. It’s also one of the shorter walks but it’s still very enjoyable. There’s a nice lookout at the top and we had a chat to some other keen walkers before we moved on to Mount Coochin.

Want more hikes like this? Check out our Top 5 Intermediate Hikes Near Brisbane

5. Mount Coochin

Ascent: 235m
Time of day: 11.30am

Mount Coochin lies north-east of the crossing between Old Gympie Rd and Lindeman Rd. The entrance to the car park was a bit hard to find because it’s part of a private property. Turn into 2672 Old Gympie Road and the car park is right there! From there you walk onto the trail and go left at the first intersection. A couple of minutes’ walking later and a path on the right leads up to the summit.

This one was fun because it technically has two summits (hence, for a while we considered calling it the 8 Peaks Challenge, but 7 just sounded nice).

t’s not very popular as a track, which is why it’s not as easily visible sometimes, but once we were at the top we could see the next peak a bit below. Naturally, we explored both peaks, which are quite remarkable due to the large boulders that shape them.

The rock formations in the Glass House Mountains are worth the effort. – Photo by Nabari Yoite

Until this point, our group had been a little quiet, but on the way down, out of nowhere, Chris (the group’s vegan) started a discussion on food security. For some reason we all got into it (probably because we were hungry). Once we got to the bottom, we cracked out our food because we only had 2 peaks to go and lots of time left.

Our little discussion kept going and we covered topics from sustainable land use to biodiversity, conservation to quantum physics, finishing on abortion. Don’t ask me why, it’s just what happens on these adventures. You talk about nothing and everything at the same time and it doesn’t matter if you know anything about the topic or not. The fact that I didn’t know most of the group only made it more interesting.

6. Mount Ngungun

Ascent: 253m
Time of day: 3.00pm

After a big lunch and sitting down for roughly an hour, we could really feel our legs. Luckily, Mount Ngungun has a clear path so we didn’t need to concentrate on finding it. As sunset was getting closer, there was also a considerable number of people on the track.

Number 6! – Photo by Ben Wiesner

It took us between 15-20 minutes to get up and we explored some interesting caves on the way. There was no time to be wasted at the summit though; we wanted to make it to the top of Beerwah for sunset.

What It’s Like to Hike In The Glass House Mountains

So yeah, that was our little adventure. I think it’s fair to say we all had heaps of fun and that this really is an adventure for everyone. Yeah, it’s challenging, but for most people it’s possible to ascend at least 3 peaks of the Glass House Mountains in a day.

These sorts of spontaneous trips are always very fulfilling because you weren’t expecting to do anything this fun on the weekend, but then get back feeling exhausted and happy.

We’ve already begun looking at the next trip idea: The Crowns Peak Challenge: Mount Barney, Mount Lindsey and Mount Maroon in one day. Sounds a lot more painful than this one if you ask me, but I’m already excited.

Glass House Mountains FAQs

What is the easiest hike in the Glass House Mountains?

Mt Ngungun is known as one of the easier hikes in the Glass House Mountains. The even and meandering path makes for a quick summit in under an hour.

How far from Brisbane are the Glass House Mountains?

The Glass House Mountains are just over an hour from Brisbane.

Can you camp in the Glass House Mountains?

There are no camping areas within Glass House Mountains National Park. Nearby Beerwah State Forest has a camping area at Coochin Creek.