Karnak Falls


Karnak Falls will not be found on any map, nor will any instructions guiding you on you the way to these huge falls.

Tips: Wear long trousers and sleeve shirt, there are absolute swarms of mosquitoes on different sections of this walk.
Take plenty of water, it may not seem that hot but the humidity will continuously make you thirsty. I filled my Camelbak up in the creek the water is pristine.
If you have anything you wont want wet take a dry bag to put it in, this walk will have you crossing the creek backwards and forwards non stop and you are sure to fall in or have to cross a deep point at one stage.
Boots, take a good pair of hiking boots (I used army boots), the rocks are extremely slippery along the way and you will want something to grip and protect your ankles.

Strangler vine takes control
Karnak Falls are a 2.58km walk from the starting point of Devils Thumb Walk (Manjal Jimalji Trail), from Mossman, travel north on the Mossman–Daintree Road. About 8 km north of Mossman the Mossman–Daintree Road veers to the right while Miallo Road continues straight ahead. Follow Miallo Road for 3 km then turn left into Whyanbeel Road. Travel a further 4 km, crossing the bridge over Whyanbeel Creek, and take the second road on the left towards the Karnak Playhouse. Continue past the Karnak Playhouse until you cross a cattle grid. After crossing the grid, park your car off the road. Traveling along Miallo Road you are able to look to the mountains where you will see 2 large waterfalls next to each other one that steps down on the left and on the right Karnak Falls with a large drop.

False Falls
Once at the start of this trail follow it until you get to a creek, this is about a 100m once you walk across the front of the house on the private land you walk on. Once here go left (upstream), it is up to you to decide how you get to the falls, basically it is just a rock up up the creek.

After walking along the creek for 2.2km you will come to a large waterfall about 30m high (right photo), however these are not the waterfalls we are after, they are another 250m from once you get on top of these falls.

I found the easiest route was up the right and side in the bush, it is steep but rather easy climbing once you get your foot work right as there is lots of lose foliage and rocks, while trying to avoid wait-a-while and large golden orb spiders.

 Climb Down from atop waterfall.

The walk from on top of these falls is short as you are mesmerised by the shear drop and width of the main falls. You can make scale of how big these falls are from the scale of myself to the size of the waterfall.