Eastern Peaks Circuit Girraween

Getting there

The Eastern Peaks Circuit commences at the Mt Norman day use area. To get here, head to Wallangarra (approx 260km south-west of Brisbane) then turn left onto Margetts Street, then left onto Rockwell Street, cross over the railway bridge then follow to Mt Norman Road. This will lead you onto gravel road for a km or so, pass through a gate then continue into the day use area.

Maps

https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0026/155834/girraween-map.pdf

Route/Trail notes

This was a dry and hot walk. Minimal water in the creeks so it's best to go prepared and take your own. Start at Mt Norman day use area and walk to Twin Peaks, then onto Billy Goat Hill then camp the night at Bald Rock Camping area (approx 15km). This is a great area to spend at least a night - large sites each with a picnic table and chairs. The area has two toilets and a shelter with an electric bbq, table and chairs. From here, the Bald Rock summit is approximately 3km return.

The following day, leave Bald Rock camping area and walk to Little Bald Rock for an easy hike to the summit (approx 250m). Then onto South Bald Rock where if you're lucky, you can find the South Bald Rock bush camp (no facilities) - approx walking distance 14km.

The following day, leave South Bald Rock bush camp and walk to West Bald Rock then return to Mt Norman day use area via the Old Stone Cottage and the Stone gate on Mt Norman Road. Walking distance on day 3 approx 9km.

Permits/Costs

Camping fees only.

Other References

Refer to 'Take a Walk' by John & Lyn Daly as well as:

https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/girraween/maps-resources

GPS Tracks

No GPS available for this walk yet.

Comments

Completed this circuit on September 26-27. I did it in 2 days, from Mt. Norman to Bald Rock (+ Bald Rock walk) then Bald Rock to Mt. Norman. Ended up being 20km on Day 1 and 18km on Day 2. Note that if intending to do in 3 days, there is nothing at all at South Bald Rock camping area.

Path is relatively well marked throughout. National Parks have installed new signs since the bushfires a few years ago. However, there are quite a few unmarked path intersections which can be confusing – I downloaded this AllTrails map which was excellent (https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/girraween-national-park-east-peaks-circuit).

Note that Mt. Norman is in QLD and Bald Rock campground is in NSW (very easily confused with Bald Rock creek day use area which is NOT the same place and is in QLD – this is where The Pyramid walk begins).
Zayn Al-Timimi on 29 Sep, 2024

Did the first leg of the hike (day 1 with overnight stay not at Bald Rock), got a little lost/confused with the trails, hiking buddy sustained an injury so we camped overnight near the trail and then turned back. Keen to come back and complete in full though!
Anonymous on 26 Jun, 2021

An interesting walk around Girraween showcasing the massive granite rocks and millions of other smaller ones! The only drinkable water we saw during late September 2020 was at Racecourse Creek on day 1 between the Mt Norman day use area and Twin Peaks. The rest of the creeks were dry so, make sure you take your own as it’s limited supply.

We walked with heavy packs from Mt Norman day use area to the Bald Rock camping area on day 1. This is a great camping area - large sites, each with a table and chairs. Plenty of water available - we just filtered it then treated it.

Day 2 saw us heading to South Bald Rock. On the way, we stopped at Little Bald Rock which is an easy walk up with impressive views. We Then continued walking and tried to find the South Bald Rock bush camp but couldn’t! There were no signs along any of the track (due to a significant bush fire a year or so ago) and some of the trails were not visible due to regrowth and a lack of maintenance. After a few km’s of walking and trying GPS fire trails, we still couldn’t locate the camp so decided in the interests of safety (& after seeing the world’s largest brown snake) we would retrace our steps. We ended up bush camping back at the junction of the border trail and the airstrip trail Near Little Bald Rock which was lovely & peaceful.

The third day we returned to Mt Norman day use area via the way in. Slightly disappointing but we still clocked up 45kms and had a great time. We passed no one on the track on day 2 or 3 which was lovely. The next time we visit, it’ll be with a car and mountain bikes 👍🏻😊🌳
S K on 22 Sep, 2020

SK has the full review however, we really appreciated that the area is visited by true bush walkers and was very peaceful. We didn’t come across another walker while walking. Fires went through in 2019 and most tracks have been cleared and some signs have been replaced. We were relying on “Take a Walk in SE QLD” for track directions (wanted to do a loop) - this was a mistake. Luckily we had GPS watches that helped us rectify the absence of up to date directions...but we couldn’t do the loop due to tracks not being reestablished after the fire. Having said this we walked out on the tracks we walked in and it was a lovely and peaceful experience. We took everything required for remote camping (initial plan was to remote camp in designated camp spot that no longer exists). 2 nights camping.

Plenty of birdlife, kangaroos, evidence of boars, saw a large brown snake and a lizard.

Will be back to camp in the camp area and with mountain bikes.
Anoogle on 21 Sep, 2020