The Lerderderg State Park is rugged and remote with limited directional signage. You should be prepared for all conditions and have suitable navigation experience (not just a phone app) before venturing beyond the main picnic/parking areas or Grahams Dam. Many rescues have occurred in this park that could have been avoided.
Beautiful area with some road walking, clear trails and off track sections. This trial starts on the corner of Blue Gum track and O'Briens Road with a few kilometers of road walking before a right hand turn takes you down then a gradual decent with short steep sections to a river bed. You will cross a creek bed before a short steep hill climb and decent to another part of the creek. Follow the trail uphill which is quite gradual after an initial steep climb for several kilometers. You can shorten this hike by about 6km by heading directly to Firth Road or take a right hand turn for an undulating walk into beautiful fern valleys. There is a couple of short off track sections before you return to tracks beside Firth Road (and at times walking along Firth Road) to make you way back to the start point.
Total distance: 23170 m
Max elevation: 718 m
Min elevation: 377 m
Total climbing: 1238 m
Total descent: -1209 m
Download file:
Bluegum Loop 22.7km.gpx
- Rough Trail
- Well Marked Trail
- Undefined Trail
- Dog Friendly
- Off Trail
- Untreated Water
- This hike should not be attempted with navigation aids.
- Keep an eye out for motorbikes which often use some of the tracks
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- 2WD Access
- Gravel Road
- Small Car Park
This hike is in the Lerderderg State Park about an hour and 15 mins from Melbourne. Take Carrolls lane off Bacchus March Road which becomes Firth Road then O'Briens Road. Start point is where O'Briens road meets the Bluegum Track.
Rising in the Great Dividing Range, the Lerderderg River has cut a 300 metre deep gorge through sandstone and slate, almost bisecting the park. The park has a wide variety of vegetation and wildlife and some interesting relics of gold mining. Lerderderg State Park encompasses scenic and geological gorge formations surrounding the Lerderderg River as well as the volcanic cone of Mount Blackwood. The adjacent and separate block called the Pyrete Range forms part of the park. The Lerderderg is known for its remote setting and the 300m deep Lerderderg River gorge is a dominant feature. Private land abuts the park to the south and the Wombat State forest abuts to the north and west.
Lerderderg State Park (incorporating the former Pyrete State Forest) is a 14,250-hectare park located between Bacchus Marsh and Blackwood, an hour's drive from Melbourne, Australia. There are several maintained tracks for walking through the park and camping is allowed.
The park is named for the Lerderderg River which has cut the 300 metre deep Lerderderg Gorge through sandstone and slate, almost bisecting the park. Parks Victoria maintains six designated walks: three short walks of 3.5 km or less; Blackwood-O'Briens Crossing and return (22 km); O'Briens Crossing-Cowan Track loop (14 km); and the overnight walk O'Briens Crossing to Mackenzies Flat (20 km).
In addition, one leg of the Great Dividing Trail, the Lerderderg Track, passes through the park, entering from Blackwood in the park's northwest, and exiting south towards Bacchus Marsh. Bicycles are prohibited from one section of this track, due to a conservation area.
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