Samuel Markham, Prehistoric (Single Shot 2019)

I first saw an image of this place back in 2011 that someone had taken on an old film camera. Doing my research I found out that this place was only hours away. All these years later I finally thought it was time to attempt the infamous hike to The Castle that stands over 800m tall and situated high in the Budawang Ranges just inland from the small town of Milton. With 15kg+ strapped to my back I set out at 1:30pm I knew that this was going to be an interesting trek that would have to be completed in the dark. The hike to the base was a slow and steady walk on a well formed track littered with many logs and tree roots. As darkness fell the rugged landscape became increasingly more difficult with a section which included dragging my pack through a small rock tunnel and then up multiple exposed rock faces with fixed ropes. As morning broke all my hard work was definitely worth it, moments after the sun rose it broke between dark storm clouds sending a brief moment of fleeting golden light across the valley below. The Castle, Budawang Range, Morton National Park, NSW, Australia.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.