Devils Thumb aka Manjal Jimalji Trail

 

The Devils Thumb also known as the Manjal Jimalji Trail is located just north of Mossman, highlights of this track include the coral fern patch and the summit of the Devils Thumb itself. 

The walk is 10.6km return reaching an altitude of 1172m with a decline down to the Devils Thumb.

Guide provided by Queensland Government

The walk to the summit took me 4hrs and 20mins, Which I started at 10pm and arrived at the Devils Thumb 2:20am. I found the walk itself quite laborious up until the coral fern patch. The best way to break the walk up I found was in rises of 250m in altitude which fell on about 1km of walking for every 250m risen.  Except for 500m to 750m above sea level this was over 500m of walking which made it quite strenuous.

Coral Fern patch

The coral fern patch has nice views and open space in some places which is nice to sit down and have a break. Walking along in parts of the Coral Fern sometimes felt like being on a trampoline walking on masses of dead ferns giving a bounce affect to each step. Passing the ferns and continuing along the path, you will get to a large set of rocks which you one have to squeeze a few meters into before two then use the vines running up the side of the rock the help you pull/climb up and over the rocks. The walk then continues through slightly open rain forest all the way to the Devils Thumb. About 10meters below the devils thumb  there is a small open area perfect for camping, this is where I set up camp for the night, so I could get up when the sun was rising. I was very fortunate the morning I was up as all the fog cleared early in the morning and only started blowing back across closing the view when I was heading back down.

Pictures from the walk below.