The East Walk and Saddleback Track Loop offers a moderately challenging 4.5-kilometre (grade 3) circuit within You Yangs Regional Park. This loop hike, typically completed in 1.5 hours, starts from the Turntable carpark and rewards walkers with scenic views across the park's eastern and northeastern regions.
While the Saddleback Track itself functions primarily as a connector for other trails, combining it with the East Walk creates a rewarding loop. The East Walk traverses the eastern flanks of Flinders Peak, offering expansive views throughout the circuit. Hikers can choose either a clockwise or anticlockwise direction. The anticlockwise route presents a steeper climb on the Saddleback Track as it ascends from the Branding Yard Trail. This section features dense bush and low trees, typical of the park's hillside terrain.
Grade 3 (Moderate) - Walks for Most Fitness Levels: Grade 3 on the
AWTGS represents moderate walking tracks. These are ideal for walkers with some fitness who are comfortable with some hills and uneven terrain. While suitable for most ages, some bushwalking experience is recommended to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience. Tracks may have short, steep hill sections, a rough surface, and many steps. The total distance of a Grade 3 walk can be up to 20 kilometers.
- The You Yangs is a great location for the family.
- Be careful on some trails as they are often used by walkers, hikers, trail runners and mountain bike riders.
- You Yangs Regional Park is open daily from 7:00am to 8:00pm, including weekends and public holidays. Please note that the front gate is closed to vehicles each night.
- There are nine picnic areas throughout the park, many with tables and accessible toilet facilities. The main picnic areas provide free gas barbecues on a first come basis. There are plenty of places to set up your own gas barbecue.
- Drinking water is available from the Visitor Centre drinking fountain.
- Please take all rubbish away for disposal or recycling.
Total distance: 4525 m
Max elevation: 278 m
Min elevation: 103 m
Total climbing: 251 m
Total descent: -251 m
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Download the hiking preparation and safety checklists before leaving home to help you think through your plans. They help ensure important considerations are not overlooked and support safer decision-making on the trail.
Getting to the trailhead: You Yangs Regional Park.
Located just over 50 kilometres southwest of Melbourne in Little River, Victoria, You Yangs Regional Park is easily accessible by car. Follow the Princes Freeway (M1) for roughly an hour, with clear signage guiding you to the park entrance at 5 Branch Road. For those coming from Geelong, the park is a convenient 30-minute drive, approximately 25 kilometres away. The park itself is open every day for public enjoyment, but keep in mind closing times vary depending on daylight saving time.
Need a rental car to get you to the hike? Find one here.
You Yangs Regional Park is part of an Aboriginal cultural landscape in the traditional Country of the Wadawurrung People. Parks Victoria respects the deep and continuing connection that Wadawurrung Traditional Owners have to these lands and waters, and we recognise their ongoing role in caring for Country.
Magnificent views, birdlife and a mecca for walkers, horse riders and mountain bikers - welcome to the You Yangs! The distinctive granite peaks of this park rise abruptly from the flat plains below. Flinders Peak and Big Rock have panoramic views out to Melbourne, which is just an hour away.
Explore over 50 kilometres of purpose-built mountain bike trails for beginners and experts. Ride easy, open dirt roads to technical, single-track and adrenaline-pumping downhill trailsor see the diverse scenery of the You Yangs from your car along The Great Circle Drive.
Climb Flinders Peak, the highest point in the You Yangs and be rewarded with uninterrupted views out to Melbourne and Geelong. Come with family or friends and picnic among the boulder-strewn landscape. Choose from nine designated picnic areas.
The You Yangs support a rich variety of plant species. Tall eucalypts such as manna gum, yellow gum and river red gum give way to sparse undergrowth of native shrubs and groundcovers. Patches of wattle and drooping sheoaks also occur. The endangered brittle greenhood orchid is one of 30 species of orchids found in the park.
The park provides a range of habitats for wildlife. More than 200 species of birds have been recorded and koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, brush-tail possums, echidnas and lizards are commonly seen.
Looking for more walks in or near You Yangs Regional Park? Try these trails with a similar difficulty grade.
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