East Walk and Cowan Track Loop

Moderate

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A roughly 14km loop from O'Briens Crossing via the Cowan Track, described by Parks Victoria as a challenging day trip for experienced hikers through the remote Lerderderg River Gorge country less than an hour from Melbourne.

☰ Trail details

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Distance

3.55 km

Est. time

55 min

Elevation gain

35 m

Route type

Loop

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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 Lerderderg State Park, O'Briens Crossing, Lerderderg State Park, VIC. 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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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.

Creeping GrevilleaDocumented on this trail

Grevillea repens

Endangered — VIC: Endangered▾

Endangered — VIC: Endangered

Grevillea repens, the creeping grevillea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to Victoria, Australia. It is a prostrate, often mat-forming shrub, that has leaves with 5 to 19 teeth or lobes, and light green or grey, toothbrush-like flowers with reddish striations and a deep red, or dull orange to yellow style.

How to spot it

Grevillea repens is a prostrate trailing, often mat-forming shrub that typically grows up to 3 m (9.8 ft) wide. Its leaves are narrowly oblong to egg-shaped or elliptic, 15–115 mm (0.59–4.53 in) long and 10–40 mm (0.39–1.57 in) wide, usually with 5 to 19 teeth or lobes up to 3 mm (0.12 in) long and more or less evenly spaced around the edges. The teeth are sometimes sharply pointed and the lower surface is usually covered with wavy hairs pressed against the surface. The flowers are arranged in c

Family Proteaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Creeping Grevillea

Wiry BossiaeaDocumented on this trail

Bossiaea cordigera

Endangered — VIC: Endangered▾

Endangered — VIC: Endangered

Bossiaea cordigera , commonly known as wiry bossiaea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to southern Australia. It is a straggling shrub with wiry branches, egg-shaped to more or less heart-shaped leaves and yellow and red flowers.

How to spot it

Bossiaea cordigera is an erect or sprawling shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) tall and has wiry branches. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, egg-shaped to slightly heart-shaped, 3–6 mm (0.12–0.24 in) long and 1.5–7 mm (0.059–0.276 in) wide on a thin petiole 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) long with narrow triangular stipules 0.5–2 mm (0.020–0.079 in) long at the base. The flowers are borne singly in leaf axils, each flower 4–10 mm (0.16–0.39 in) long and borne on

Family Fabaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Wiry Bossiaea

Wildlife you might see on this trail

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

Grey Goshawk

Accipiter novaehollandiae

Endangered — VIC: Endangered, TAS: Endangered, SA: Endangered▾

Endangered — VIC: Endangered, TAS: Endangered, SA: Endangered

The grey goshawk is a strongly built, medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae that is found in eastern and northern Australia. The white morph of this species is known as the white goshawk. This species was formerly placed in the genus Accipiter.

How to spot it

Real occurrence confirmed near Lerderderg State Park (Atlas of Living Australia, 1976) — no separate physical description was available on Wikipedia for this species, see the source link for more.

Family Accipitridae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Grey Goshawk