Why a closed track means closed
A closed track, road or park isn’t a suggestion, and it isn’t red tape either. In Australia, closures are most often the result of bushfires, storms, flooding, or extreme weather events that leave tracks damaged, unstable, or unsafe. In other cases, they’re there to protect fragile environments while assessments, repairs, or rehabilitation works are carried out. Either way, it comes down to two reasons: public safety and environmental protection, and respecting a closure while it’s in place is a basic part of responsible bushwalking, not an optional courtesy.
Why the danger doesn’t show itself at the start of the walk
The bush can look deceptively calm after severe weather, so a trail can appear entirely passable from where you’re standing even though the real hazards lie further in. Flooding can weaken bridges, undercut track edges and destabilise river crossings. Saturated ground increases the risk of falling trees, landslips and sudden collapses underfoot. Fire-damaged areas can hold unstable trees, loose rocks and hidden ground hazards long after the flames themselves are gone. None of this is fixed either: what was safe yesterday may not be safe today, which is why land managers close an area until it’s actually been assessed and the hazards addressed, rather than leaving that call to whoever happens to be standing at the trailhead.
That’s also why experience doesn’t change the equation. Knowing an area well, or having hiked it for years, doesn’t tell you what a flood or a fire did to it last week, and the inconvenience of changing your plans doesn’t reduce the actual risk either. Closures apply precisely because conditions are unpredictable and the hazards behind them aren’t always visible from the start of a walk.
Why tracks are actually closed
The reasons behind a specific closure vary, but they generally come down to a handful of categories:
- Removing immediate risks such as damaged trees, rock falls, and landslides
- Allowing time for damage assessment following storms, fires, or floods
- Repairing walking tracks, bridges, signage, and visitor infrastructure
- Undertaking essential maintenance work
- Protecting sensitive environments while native flora recovers
- Preventing the spread of serious pathogens such as soil-borne plant diseases
- Supporting consultation with Traditional Owners and other stakeholders
None of that is arbitrary. It’s based on on-ground conditions, safety assessments, and the long-term land management responsibilities that come with maintaining the area.
What ignoring a closure actually costs
When someone enters a closed area and something goes wrong, the consequences don’t stop with them. Emergency responders, land managers and volunteers are the ones sent in to help, often into the same dangerous conditions that caused the closure in the first place, at a time when they’re already stretched thin by the same severe weather event or disaster. Outdoor workers consistently report being called into closed parks and reserves to assist people who ignored the warnings, underestimated the conditions, or assumed their own experience made the rules flexible. Every one of those unnecessary rescues places the rescuers at risk and pulls limited resources away from someone facing a genuine emergency elsewhere.
Dealing with the frustration
It’s completely normal to feel disappointed or annoyed when a long-planned hike gets cancelled by a closure, and it’s an easy moment to talk yourself into pushing on anyway, especially after you’ve already travelled hours to get there. But that frustration doesn’t tell you anything about whether the track is actually safe, and the risk that closed it hasn’t gone anywhere just because you’re standing at the gate. If you’re unsure whether a track is open, checking with the relevant land manager before you head out is the safest option, and it’s a far easier conversation for them than responding to a rescue that didn’t need to happen.
Turning around is the right call
Respecting a closure isn’t about missing out. It’s about protecting your own safety, the safety of the people who’d have to come and get you, and the long-term condition of the places you’re there to enjoy in the first place. There are thousands of open tracks and parks to explore, and closed areas will still be there when conditions are safe again. Turning around when a track’s closed is good judgement, not a failure.
What alternative outdoor activities do you enjoy when hiking trails are closed, and how do you stay safe while exploring nature?
Head for a metropolitan state park, which are often like a hybrid of a normal park and a state forest, do some laps, and if really keen to get a bit more from it, load up the bigger back pack with 15 litres of water and carry that around in the walk. 15k will that will help you feel good.
Rob Gillespie great advice. Just did that exact thing yesterday as the park I often walk in near me is closed. Even carried an overnight pack, but only had 12kg.
Thanks, Darren. I agree: we should respect the closures.
Unfortunately, over recent years in NSW national parks there have been protracted closures of major walking routes, particularly in the Blue Mountains. This has been due to some severely damaging weather events and inadequate national parks funding for repairs. With a few of the closures (e.g. the current extended closures of the Castle and Byangee Walls tracks in the Budawangs), I do wonder whether it would have been possible to have maintained access during works, but I say that with incomplete knowledge. The Sealers Cove track in Wilsons Promontory is another case of an extended closure following weather damage.
As climate change progresses, we can expect increasingly severe weather events. It is unlikely parks funding will increase commensurately. We are going to have to be flexible and patient in our walks planning.
Jonathan Miller excellent points you make. I totally agree, we will need to be flexible. Funding is increasingly becoming a challenge.
A difficult call. I’m thinking of the Daylesford – Blowhole walk. It was kept closed for “years” after the storm event, and long after it was again safe to walk. Should I, and seemingly many others, have respected that track closed sign?
Al Morkans Tipperary Track was closed for a long time too. I haven’t checked if has reopened.