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Length: 14.7km
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Duration: 6hrs
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Grade: 4
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Style: Circuit
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Start: Cooks Mill Camp Ground
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End: Cooks Mill Camp Ground
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Location: Cathedral Range State Park
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Closest Town: Taggerty
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Distance from CBD: 125km
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State: VIC
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Latitude: -37.379472
Longitude: 145.760872
Keep the Trail Access info current...
2WD Access
Gravel Road
Public Toilets
Large Car Park
Camping Area
Campfire Pit
Picnic Table
Select items to indicate conditions for access to the trail.
2WD Access
4WD Access
Public Transport
Bitumen Road
Gravel Road
Steep Road
Winding Road
Speed Bumps
Vehicle Ford
Entry Fee
Large Car Park
Small Car Park
Accessible Parking
Accessible Toilet
Public Toilets
Drinking Water
Untreated Water
Picnic Shelter
Picnic Table
BBQ Facilities
Campfire Pit
Camping Area
Keep the Trail Features current...
Alpine Region
Overnight Campsites
Rough Trail
Exposed Ledges
Rock Scrambling
Steep Terrain
Scenic Viewpoints
Well Marked
Cathedral Range State Park...
Select items to indicate features found along the trail.
Concrete Path
Timber Boardwalk
Gravel Path
Sandy Trail
Rough Trail
Undefined Trail
Prams & Strollers
Manual Wheelchair
Motorised Wheelchair
Bicycle Trail
Mountain Bike Trail
Historic Rail Trail
Dog Friendly
Urban Walk
Coast & Beach
Historic Lighthouse
Waterfalls & Lakes
Rainforest Walk
Goldfields & Mining
Heritage Walk
Aboriginal Art
Alpine Region
Alpine Huts
Exposed Ledges
Rock Scrambling
Steep Terrain
Bush Bashing
River Crossings
Scenic Viewpoints
Well Marked
Drinking Water
Untreated Water
Fishing Spots
Swimming Spots
Overnight Campsites
Trail Running
Horse Riding
Hike Summary
The Cathedral Range is a spectacular seven kilometre ridge of sharply upturned sedimentary rock. A variety of walking tracks ranging in difficulty from easy to challenging offer the opportunity to explore the park's main features and climb the peaks to enjoy views of the forests and farmland in the valley below.
This Cathedral Range - Northern Circuit hike explores the northern range taking in South Jawbone Peak, North Jawbone Peak (optional side trip), The Farmyard, Little Cathedral Peak, Neds Peak and Neds Gully.
Commencing at Cooks Mill make your way in a westerly direction along the well formed Cerberus Road. After a short distance you will see Saint Bernards Track to your right. Follow this along its lebgth to the Jawbone Car Park. From the carpark, follow the Jawbone Creek Track up a long flight of rock steps to The Farmyard. From here you can do a quick side trip up the South Jawbone Track to South Jawbone Peak for amazing views across the Cathedral Range and Valley Below.
Retrace your steps and follow the Farmyard Track north. Aft6er about 700m the North Jawbon Track will appear on your right. This is an alernate side trip to North Jawbone Peak.
Continuie north to follow the ridge line all the way to The Cathedral Summit and on to Cathedral North then Little Cathedral Peak which marks the end of the range.
From the summit of Little Cathedral Peak retrace your steps until you reach a sign post identifying the Little Cathedral Track. Follow this track down into Neds Gully and towards the Neds Gully camping area. Before reaching the camping area you will find Little River track on your right. From this point is is approximately one hours walk through forest back to Cooks Mill and the start of your hike.
About the region
The jagged ridges of the Cathedral Range offer spectacular views and some of the best hiking in the state. Take a gentle walk along the Friends Nature Trail or prepare to tackle the rugged and challenging Razorback Trail or circuit routes. Either way you won't forget the awesome views. The Cathedral Range is a spectacular seven kilometre ridge of sharply upturned sedimentary rock.
A variety of walking tracks ranging in difficulty from easy to challenging offer the opportunity to explore the park’s main features and climb the peaks to enjoy views of the forests and farmland in the valley below. Rock climbing, fishing and camping are other popular activities that can be enjoyed in this park. Advance bookings and payment for camping are required year round.
Getting there
From Melbourne follow the Maroondah Highway to Buxton towards Taggerty. Continue past Buxton for 9.5km and turn right into Cathedral Lane to find the park entrance 2.5km on your right. Roads within the park are not suitable for coaches beyond Little River Bridge.
Tips
Many of the trails are steep and rocky and can become slippery following rain or misty weather. Orange trail markers have been provided in places. Generally rugged terrain will result in slower progress times. Allow 1.5-2km per hour in places.
GPX File
Max elevation: 829 m
Min elevation: 325 m
Total climbing: 822 m
Total descent: -822 m
Hikes Nearby
6 thoughts on “Cathedral Range – Northern Circuit (14.7km)”
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Just finished off this track with a few side trips- Northern Circuit with side hikes to Sourthern& Northern Jawbone Peaks, the Cathedral Peak, Northern Cathedral peak, Little Cathedral Peak and Neds Gully. According to fitbit 18.5km. More than 25000 steps and almost 200 floors climbed. Thank you for the above track suggestion. Followed it almost to the dot and we completed the track in just over 8 hours with our 9 year old son. Sore but proud son?
Sounds like you had an awesome adventure. Glad my trip motes helped. That is a nightly effort for your son, he should be proud.
We did this hike earlier this week – great time of year for it, with so many flowers in bloom which gave colour to the already amazing views. The lyrebirds were in full song in the area above Jawbone carpark, and easy to see/watch. Sadly a lot of garbage in the woods from recent campers at the Farmyard. ?
Excellent trail description, thanks so much for putting this together, your site really helps to find and choose between hikes. I also downloadwd the GPX file into the Trails app, which worked very well for us. Interestingly the Trails app logged our distance as 20.8km in total.
Hi Joanna, sounds like you had a great adventure. So sorry to hear about the litter, I am bewildered as to why people venture into the wild and leave their rubbish behind. Glad the description and GPX helped with your experience, that is a huge difference in the distances. If you wanted to send me your GPX file I would be interested in comparing them. I have had GPS devices in the past that have been equally as far out and this appeared to only occur when terrain had a lot of hills as it didn’t calculate the elevation gain correctly.
Just finished this with my 7 year old including a night at The Farmyard. Really helpful GPX, absolutely spot on for us. If anyone with little kids is interested, we started at Cooks Mill as this meant a short sharp uphill followed by time to enjoy The Farmyard and side trips, and then we were already at higher elevation for day 2s longer, more technical walk along the ridge. We were delighted to observe Lyrebird couples in the bushland between the Farmyard and start of the ridge. Sadly, we also observed a lot of weeds and dandelions too. No rubbish though!
Please note that from Cathedral peak, all the way to Sugarloaf, and both Wells Cave and Canyon track are now all Grade 5 on the signs.