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.
- Rough Trail
- Alpine Region
- Exposed Ledges
- Rock Scrambling
- Steep Terrain
- Scenic Viewpoints
- Overnight Campsites
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.
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- 2WD Access
- Gravel Road
- Large Car Park
- Public Toilets
- Picnic Table
- Campfire Pit
- Camping Area
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.
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.
Cathedral Range State Park
Mount Torbreck Scenic Reserve
Murrindindi Scenic Reserve
Murrindindi Scenic Reserve
0 Reviews on “Cathedral Range - Northern Circuit (14.7km)”
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.
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?
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.