How far is the Conondale Range Great Walk really?

The official Conondale Range Great Walk, as documented by Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, is a 56km circuit that starts and finishes at the Booloumba Creek day-use area, typically taking a fit, experienced group four full days. Our own map and GPX data for this listing currently cover 38.63km with 1,145m of elevation gain — a real, measured segment of the route, but not the full 56km loop. Don't plan your food, water or camp bookings off our 38.63km figure alone; use 56km/four days as the real headline number and cross-check against the official QPWS topographic map brochure before you commit to dates.

Do you need a permit to camp on the Conondale Range Great Walk?

Yes. QPWS requires a camping permit and charges a fee for every night at any of the three walkers' camps on the Great Walk — Wongai, Tallowwood and Summer Falls — and for the vehicle-accessible Booloumba Creek camping areas. Bookings can be made online up to 12 months in advance, and advance booking is essential for weekends, public holidays and school holidays. A tag showing your booking number must be displayed at your camp site, and each walkers' camp allows a one-night maximum stay with up to four people per individual site.

When is the best time to walk the Conondale Range Great Walk?

QPWS advises avoiding high rainfall and hot conditions, and says walking is generally most pleasant from mid-spring. Summer brings temperatures above 30°C with afternoon storms more likely, while winter brings mild, sunny days but overnight temperatures can drop below 0°C. Wildfire risk runs from mid-winter through to early summer. Whatever window you pick, check current park alerts and the Bureau of Meteorology forecast before you set out, since sections of the walk can close for fire, flooding or track maintenance.

How hard is the Conondale Range Great Walk?

QPWS grades the full circuit Grade 4 on its five-point track scale, and says you need to be a physically fit, experienced bushwalker with at least one similarly experienced companion to complete it — solo attempts on the full circuit aren't recommended. Our own database lists it as Expert grade, which lines up with that official guidance. Expect steep, sometimes rough terrain, remote sections with unreliable phone coverage, unbridged creek crossings and no facilities beyond a platform, toilet and untreated water at each walkers' camp.

Conondale Range Great Walk Guide: The Real 56km, 4-Day Circuit vs Our Map Data

Most trail directories will hand you a tidy number for the Conondale Range Great Walk and move on. The real figure is 56km, walked as a four-day circuit through some of the densest, oldest forest in South East Queensland — and it’s worth saying upfront that our own map on this page doesn’t yet show the whole thing. Here’s what the walk actually involves, what our data does and doesn’t capture, and what you need to know before you book a bush camp.

Quick stats

Distance: Officially 56km, walked as a four-day circuit starting and finishing at the Booloumba Creek day-use area (per Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service). Our own map and GPX data for this listing currently cover 38.63km — a genuine measured segment of the route, not the full loop. Treat 56km/four days as the real headline figure for planning purposes.
Elevation gain (our tracked segment): 1,145m
Time (our tracked segment): 694 minutes (about 11.5 hours of walking)
Grade: Expert — QPWS grades the full circuit Grade 4, its second-highest track grade, reserved for experienced, self-sufficient bushwalkers
Route type: Our database currently logs this as point-to-point. Note the official Great Walk is a closed circuit/loop, not a one-way traverse — another reason to treat our figures as a partial capture rather than the definitive route shape
Location: Conondale National Park, Sunshine Coast Hinterland, QLD — about 15km south of Kenilworth, roughly an hour’s drive from Maroochydore, and 130km north of Brisbane

What the trail is actually like

Conondale National Park covers roughly 35,700ha of the rugged Conondale Range, and the Great Walk is built to show off nearly all of it — ancient subtropical rainforest, tall eucalypt forest, boulder-strewn creeks and genuinely remote ridge country. It’s one of Queensland’s official Great Walks, a small set of multi-day flagship tracks the state singles out for exactly this kind of full-immersion bushwalking, and the terrain backs that reputation up: wet sclerophyll forest gives way to rainforest gorges, then opens onto exposed ridgelines with views back across the Mary Valley.

The route threads past some genuinely distinctive landmarks. Booloumba Creek and Booloumba Falls anchor the park’s most popular short walks, with cascades, rock pools and a rock formation known as The Breadknife at the junction of Peters Creek and Booloumba Creek. Further along the Great Walk track sits the Strangler Cairn — a 3.7m granite and metamorphic sculpture by internationally renowned artist Andy Goldsworthy, deliberately built with a rainforest strangler fig sapling growing from its top, intended to slowly overtake the structure over years. The old 1920s Gold Mine site near Booloumba Creek is another stop, its entrance still visible (though closed off for safety) and home to roosting eastern horseshoe bats and common bentwing bats. Mount Allan, with its fire tower and sweeping 360-degree views of the surrounding ranges, is the walk’s high point both literally and scenically — though as of this writing, QPWS has the fire tower closed to climbing until 31 May 2027, so don’t plan the summit stairs into your itinerary without checking current alerts first.

What makes this one of Queensland’s signature multi-day tracks isn’t any single feature — it’s the density of them packed into a genuinely remote, self-sufficient circuit. There’s no mobile reception to rely on for most of the route, no resupply points, and no facilities beyond what QPWS provides at the three walkers’ camps. That combination of subtropical rainforest scenery and real backcountry demands is exactly why QPWS grades it Grade 4 and expects walkers to arrive properly prepared.

You don’t have to commit to the full four-day circuit to see most of what makes this park special. QPWS maintains a series of shorter walks branching off the same network of tracks, all starting from the Booloumba Creek day-use area: the Peters Creek walk (500m return, about 15 minutes) to a boulder-strewn creek with rock pools; the Booloumba Falls walk (3km return, about 2 hours) past cascades and rock pools to The Breadknife; the Gold Mine walk (5.2km return, about 2 hours) to the old 1920s mine entrance; the walk to the Strangler Cairn (6.5km return, about 2.5 hours); and the longer Artists Cascades walk (10.6km return, about 4 hours) through dense subtropical rainforest and wet sclerophyll forest along the Booloumba Creek Gorge. If you want the flavour of the Great Walk without the four-day commitment and the 4WD-only camps, these shorter options use the same track network and the same landmarks.

The park also sits on Kabi Kabi country, and QPWS’s own materials for the Great Walk open with a welcome from the Kabi Kabi people — “Wunyu ngulum” — acknowledging their connection to this land. It’s worth carrying that context with you on the walk rather than treating the rainforest and creek lines purely as scenery.

Camping and logistics

The Great Walk starts and finishes at the Booloumba Creek day-use area, and getting there already sets the tone: access roads are gravel with several creek crossings, and QPWS specifies a high-clearance 4WD is required — there’s no two-wheel-drive access to the trailhead.

Along the route itself, QPWS provides three dedicated walkers’ camps: Wongai walkers’ camp, set in tall open forest with a grass, herb and fern understorey; Tallowwood walkers’ camp, in eucalypt woodland dominated by blackbutt, brush box, flooded gum and tallowwood; and Summer Falls walkers’ camp, bordered by brush box, tallowwood and white mahogany. Each camp has six individual sites (maximum four people per site), platform seating, untreated drinking water and a toilet, but no showers, no picnic tables and no campfires — bring a fuel stove, since open fires aren’t permitted anywhere along the Great Walk. You’re limited to a maximum of one night at each walkers’ camp, and there are no rubbish bins anywhere in the park, so everything you carry in comes back out with you.

Camping permits are mandatory and fees apply, booked through the QPWS online camping booking system up to 12 months in advance. Advance booking is essential for weekends, public holidays and school holidays, and a tag showing your booking number must be displayed at your site. If you’d rather not tackle the full circuit, Booloumba Creek also has three vehicle-accessible camping areas (also permit-required, also high-clearance 4WD only via Booloumba Creek Road), and nearby Charlie Moreland camping area in Imbil State Forest is reachable by conventional two-wheel-drive vehicles if you want a base camp without the 4WD requirement.

Given today’s date, it’s also worth checking current park alerts before you go — QPWS has previously flagged a fallen-trees-and-planned-works safety alert affecting sections of the Great Walk, separate from the longer-running Mount Allan fire tower closure. Both are the kind of thing that can change your day without warning if you don’t check first.

None of the walkers’ camps or the Great Walk track itself is wheelchair accessible — QPWS is explicit about that — though wheelchair-accessible toilets are provided at the vehicle-accessible Booloumba Creek camping areas 1 and 3, with some assistance likely needed over grassed and gravelled ground. If online booking isn’t an option for you, QPWS also lists alternative camping booking methods, so check the current camping bookings page rather than assuming the online system is the only route in.

Wildlife to watch for

Conondale National Park’s wet sclerophyll forest, rainforest gorges and headwater creeks support a genuinely significant number of rare and threatened species, and our database currently ties two conservation-listed animals specifically to this park:

Southern Barred Frog (vulnerable) — a large, secretive frog of subtropical rainforest and wet sclerophyll forest streams, most often heard rather than seen, calling from creek-side leaf litter after rain. Frog taxonomy in this group has been revised in recent years, so treat any more specific species-level identification with some caution and rely on a current field guide if you want to confirm what you’ve heard or spotted.
Euastacus hystricosus — the Conondale spiny crayfish (endangered) — a large, dark green freshwater crayfish with red, orange or yellow-tipped claws, found only in the shaded, well-oxygenated headwater creeks of the Mary and Brisbane River drainages around 475m elevation, largely in wet sclerophyll forest and rainforest. It’s mostly nocturnal, shelters under rocks, logs and in burrows, and is split into three genetically distinct subpopulations because lowland country acts as a barrier between them. It was added to Australia’s threatened species list as Endangered in 2024, with climate change, high-intensity fire and illegal collection for the aquarium trade cited as the main threats — all the more reason to admire it in the creek rather than take it home.

We don’t currently have any plant species documented in our database for this exact park, despite QPWS describing Conondale as home to “a significant number of rare and threatened plants” — rather than substitute species we’ve seen listed elsewhere in the region, we’re being upfront that this park’s flora records aren’t populated yet on our end.

Practical tips

Carry enough water for a full day between camps. Walkers’ camps have untreated drinking water on tap, but it needs treating before you drink it, and there’s no reliable natural water source along most of the ridge sections.
Pick your season with the real trade-offs in mind. QPWS says conditions are generally most pleasant from mid-spring; summer brings 30°C+ days and afternoon storms, while winter days are mild and sunny but nights can drop below 0°C. Wildfire risk runs mid-winter to early summer — check current park alerts either way.
Bring a fuel stove, not firewood. Campfires aren’t permitted anywhere on the Great Walk, at any of the three walkers’ camps.
Get a proper topographic map before you go. QPWS publishes a dedicated Great Walk topographic map brochure, and printed QTopo maps are the standard recommendation for on-trail navigation — don’t rely on phone coverage, which is patchy to non-existent for most of the route.
Carry an emergency beacon. QPWS specifically recommends a hand-held EPIRB or PLB given how unreliable phone coverage is across the range, plus a remote-area first-aid kit with at least one person in your group trained to use it.
You’ll need a high-clearance 4WD to reach the trailhead. Booloumba Creek Road includes multiple creek crossings and isn’t passable in a standard two-wheel-drive vehicle — factor that into your transport planning, not just your walking plan.
Go with at least one other experienced bushwalker. QPWS explicitly recommends against attempting the full circuit solo, and expects walkers to be fit, self-sufficient and properly prepared for a genuinely remote four-day trek.
Pack out everything, including rubbish. There are no bins anywhere in Conondale National Park, at the walkers’ camps or the day-use area — plan waterproof, sealable bags for rubbish the same way you would for food and bedding.
Bring waterproof storage for gear, not just a pack cover. QPWS’s own packing list calls out waterproof bags and sealable containers for clothes, bedding, rubbish and food specifically, on top of a strong, lightweight tent — no shelters are provided at any walkers’ camp.

Even with all of that squared away, the single most useful thing you can do before locking in dates is check the live QPWS park alerts page for Conondale National Park. Track sections here do close for fire, flood damage, fallen trees and maintenance work with little notice, and a four-day self-sufficient circuit is a bad place to discover a closure partway through rather than before you’ve left home.

Nearby

See the full South East Queensland hikes list for more Sunshine Coast Hinterland walks, or view Conondale Range Great Walk on the map for the live route (note: currently shows our partial 38.63km segment — see the “Quick stats” caveat above).