Castle Rock Track

Moderate

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A 5.2km return, 1.5-2 hour walk from the visitor centre car park climbing through granite country to a scramble atop Castle Rock, documented by Queensland Parks and multiple hiking guides.

☰ Trail details

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Distance

5.02 km

Est. time

1 hr 58 min

Elevation gain

206 m

Route type

Out & back

Steepest stretch: +61m over ~300m (around the 2.0km mark)

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In an emergency

Call 000 for police, fire or ambulance — Australia's emergency number works even with a weak signal, and without a SIM if any carrier has coverage.

You're in Girraween National Park, Granite Belt, Southern Downs, QLD. Mobile reception in this area is not guaranteed — this is exactly why the offline map and GPS position on this page work without signal.

Tell someone your plan and expected return time before you set off. A PLB is the most reliable backup where there's no reception at all.

Tracks & plans

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About this hike

Castle Rock Track climbs from the Girraween visitor centre through classic granite-belt country -- boulder-strewn slopes, stunted eucalypt woodland and exposed rock domes -- to a scramble at the top of Castle Rock itself, one of the park's most recognisable landmarks. The final approach involves a steel ladder and a squeeze through a narrow rock crevice known locally as the Cave, a scramble that's part of the walk's appeal rather than an optional extra. From the top, granite tors extend across Girraween and into the Bald Rock/Boonoo Boonoo country further into NSW, since the whole Granite Belt shares the same weathered geology. At 5.2km return and 1.5-2 hours, it's a moderate half-day walk that's become one of the signature short hikes in this part of the Southern Downs.

Species to look for on this trail

Ancient trees and rare flora confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Forest PhebaliumDocumented on this trail

Leionema ambiens

Near Threatened — QLD: Near threatened▾

Near Threatened — QLD: Near threatened

Leionema ambiens is a rare shrub growing in the Guyra district of New South Wales and Queensland, Australia. It has long stem clasping leaves and heads of white flowers in spring and early summer.

How to spot it

Leionema ambiens is a small shrub to 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) high with smooth, mostly needle-shaped stems. The flat leaves may be elliptic, egg-shaped or a wide oblong, 6–10 cm (2.4–3.9 in) long and 25–40 cm (9.8–15.7 in) wide, apex either pointed or rounded, stem-clasping, obvious midrib and margins slightly toothed. The inflorescence is a terminal cluster of 20–200 white flowers, petals about 4.5 mm (0.18 in) long on an angled pedicel. The seed pod is more or less upright, about 3 mm (0.12 in) long

Family Rutaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Leionema ambiens

New England Peppermint

Eucalyptus nova-anglica

Sheltered Valley Eucalypt▾

Sheltered Valley Eucalypt

Grows in the sheltered valleys of Girraween National Park's tall open eucalypt forest, part of a range stretching from Stanthorpe in far southeastern Queensland down through New England, NSW.

How to spot it

Thick rough fissured fibrous bark, heart-shaped juvenile leaves maturing to lance-shaped, white flowers in groups of seven, woody conical or hemispherical capsule fruit.

Family Myrtaceae · Source: Wikipedia - Girraween National Park / Eucalyptus nova-anglica

Photo: Geoff Derrin (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Broad-leaved Peppermint

Eucalyptus dives

Common Eucalypt▾

Common Eucalypt

Found through Girraween National Park's tall open eucalypt forest on poor, dryish, stony soils, identifiable by its broader leaves than other peppermint gums.

How to spot it

Rough finely fibrous greyish trunk bark with smooth grey bark on thinner branches, broad lance-shaped leaves 70-150mm long, white flowers in clusters of eleven or more.

Family Myrtaceae · Source: Wikipedia - Girraween National Park / Eucalyptus dives

Photo: Murray Fagg (CC BY 3.0 AU) via Wikimedia Commons

River Oak

Casuarina cunninghamiana

Riparian Native▾

Riparian Native

Lines the wetland areas and creek systems of Girraween National Park, forming a distinctive drooping-branched fringe along the park's granite-country waterways.

How to spot it

Drooping branchlets with scale-like leaves in whorls of 6-10, finely fissured greyish-brown bark, small cone-like fruiting structures 7-14mm.

Family Casuarinaceae · Source: Wikipedia - Girraween National Park / Casuarina cunninghamiana

Photo: Ethel Aardvark (CC BY 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Wildlife you might see on this trail

Animals confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Spotted-tailed quoll

Dasyurus maculatus

IUCN Near Threatened; EPBC-listed Vulnerable (Endangered in Queensland)▾

IUCN Near Threatened; EPBC-listed Vulnerable (Endangered in Queensland)

The spotted-tailed quoll (also called tiger quoll) is the world's second-largest living carnivorous marsupial after the Tasmanian devil, a nocturnal hunter of eastern Australia's wetter forests. Unlike other quoll species its white spots continue onto the tail, and its bite is the second-most powerful relative to body size of any living mammal carnivore.

How to spot it

Larger and more elongated than other quolls, with reddish-brown fur covered in white spots that run all the way down the tail — the tail-spots are the single best field mark to separate it from the eastern quoll. Found in wetter forest and rainforest, generally above 600 m in higher-rainfall country; almost entirely nocturnal and solitary.

Family Dasyuridae · Source: Wikipedia; IUCN Red List

Photo: pimelea (CC BY 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Sugar glider

Petaurus breviceps

IUCN Least Concern - common but iconic▾

IUCN Least Concern - common but iconic

A small, highly social gliding possum found in coastal forests of eastern and northern Australia. It is omnivorous, nocturnal, and named for both its taste for sugary sap and nectar and its gliding membranes.

How to spot it

Small (24-30cm nose to tail, under 150g), blue-grey fur with a bold black stripe running from nose to mid-back and a cream belly. Travels and dens in family groups in tree hollows, and can be located at night by its bark-like yip or hiss calls and quick short glides between trees, much shorter and faster than the larger gliders.

Family Petauridae · Source: Wikipedia; IUCN Red List

Illustration: Neville Henry Cayley, 1922 (public domain) via Wikimedia Commons

Common wombat

Vombatus ursinus

IUCN Least Concern - common but iconic▾

IUCN Least Concern - common but iconic

A sturdy, ground-dwelling burrowing marsupial found across south-eastern Australia including Tasmania, with an isolated northernmost population in the granite country of the Queensland-NSW border. It digs extensive tunnel systems 2-20 metres long and is mostly active at dusk and night.

How to spot it

Low, heavy-set body up to 1.2m and 35kg on the mainland (smaller in Tasmania), small eyes and ears, large bare nose, and a rolling waddling gait. Look for large rectangular burrow entrances and cubed scat left as territory markers on rocks and logs - a reliable sign even when the animal itself is denned up during the day.

Family Vombatidae · Source: Wikipedia; IUCN Red List

Photo: JJ Harrison (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Swamp Wallaby

Wallabia bicolor

IUCN Least Concern▾

IUCN Least Concern

The swamp wallaby is a small, dark-coated marsupial found in thick forest and scrub understorey down the entire east coast of Australia, notable for being almost continuously pregnant throughout its reproductive life.

How to spot it

Look for a dark brown to black back contrasting with a light yellow to rufous-orange chest, a pale cheek stripe, and often a white-tipped tail. It moves with its head held low and tail out straight, and is usually flushed alone from dense undergrowth rather than seen grazing in the open like a kangaroo.

Family Macropodidae · Source: Wikipedia

Photo: Toby Hudson (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Red-necked Wallaby

Notamacropus rufogriseus

IUCN Least Concern▾

IUCN Least Concern

A medium-sized wallaby common in the temperate coastal scrub and forests of eastern Australia and Tasmania, also known as Bennett's wallaby in its Tasmanian form.

How to spot it

Identify it by its grizzled medium-grey coat with a reddish wash across the shoulders, black nose and paws, and a white stripe on the upper lip; unlike some similar species it lacks a dark stripe down the back. Commonly seen alone at dawn and dusk along forest edges and grassy clearings in coastal and highland eastern Australia and Tasmania.

Family Macropodidae · Source: Wikipedia

Photo: JJ Harrison (Noodle snacks) (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Glossy Black-Cockatoo

Calyptorhynchus lathami

IUCN Vulnerable; EPBC-listed Vulnerable (nominate subspecies)▾

IUCN Vulnerable; EPBC-listed Vulnerable (nominate subspecies)

The glossy black-cockatoo is the smallest of Australia's black-cockatoos, found in open forest and woodland along the east coast from south-eastern Queensland to Mallacoota in Victoria. It feeds almost exclusively on the seeds of casuarina (she-oak) trees, leaving distinctive chewed cones scattered beneath feed trees.

How to spot it

Smaller and more compact than other black-cockatoos (46-50cm), with a large bulbous grey-brown bill. Males are chocolate-brown/black with red panels in the tail; females are duller brown with yellow flecking on the head/neck and yellow-barred tails. The call is a soft, wheezy creak, quieter than other black-cockatoos. Look for piles of chewed she-oak (Casuarina/Allocasuarina) cones on the ground under feed trees - a reliable sign they've been feeding nearby.

Family Cacatuidae · Source: Wikipedia; IUCN Red List

Photo: JJ Harrison (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons