Mt Cotton

GPS Tracks

Mt Cotton from West Mt Cotton Rd (GPX)

Great short walk up with good views out to Moreton, Moreton bay and Stradbroke islands and to city, Glasshouse Mountains, and mountains to south and west. The view makes this one of the most rewarding walks in the area. Park at foot of 640 West Mt Cotton Rd near roundabout opposite the quarry entrance.

Lookouts

Picnic Facilities

Eucalypt Forest

250m

Maximum Elevation

150m

Total Climb

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Getting there

Several routes:

Via West Mt Cotton Rd and up the fire trail in the reserve. Park at the roundabout near the quarry on West Mt Cotton Rd (use 640 West Mt Cotton Rd, Sheldon in you GPS to find the roundabout). There's a signed entry to the bush on the eastern side of the roundabout.

Off West Mt Cotton Rd and up the Billau road fire trail - Left off Holzapfel Road. You GPS/Phone might not name these: they are about 400metres north of Talty Rd. This may be the steepest and shortest public route up.

Via Karingal Rd and then via trails from the scout compound.

Via Mount View Rd, a road reserve runs from the end of Mount View Rd to the top of the mountain, however it is difficult to navigate this without trespassing on the adjoining properties. Considering there other approaches to the mountain it is recommended that you don't use this approach. Road reserves are accessible to the public under Queensland law, but in this case there's no need to use this to reach the peak. To be clear, this road reserve does not go through the gate for the Rainforest Gardens.

Maps

Google is your friend or use an app like maps.me, very good as most walking trails are on the download maps.

Route/Trail notes

From West Mt Cotton Rd and up the fire trail in the reserve - Follow the track, keeping right at each intersection until you reach the road close to the top. At that road turn left and follow the track up to the summit. From this entry it's approximately 3.5km return and about 150m elevation gain. This is the best entry for the public.

Off West Mt Cotton Rd and up Billau rd - obvious route straight to the top: Steep. When parking at the bottom do keep out of the way of the Farm driveway - they swing trucks in. At about 60% of the way up gain good views of Brisbane CBD.

From Karingal there are many trails/fire trails.

Walking is easy with a couple of steeper sections that will get your heart going. The fire trail route is pretty straightforward up to the top.

After you reach the summit and enjoy the views, make sure to follow a little further along the ridge to get a great lookout to the west. The vista includes Mt Lindesay, Mt Barney, Mt Maroon, and Flinders Peak.

Permits/Costs

No permits or costs, just be careful of private property.

GPS Tracks

Mt Cotton from West Mt Cotton Rd (GPX)

Comments

Enjoyed this walk. Not too taxing, steep climbs but very manageable. Took 25mins to get to the top. Continued beyond the lookout to see great views to the west. We started from 640 West Mount Cotton Rd and after walk, drive down the steep hill and wandered around the little creek at the bottom, really lovely walking along the edge of the steam.
Curry Bunch on 11 Aug, 2019

Definitely a couple of steep parts and not as much of a view as I’d like.
Sal on 2 Jul, 2019

Great walk, but steep! Views to the city at the top were amazing. Make sure you don't take the fork to the right on the way down, sends you off on a fire trail to another conservation area.
insidelane on 25 May, 2019

Steep, but surprisingly rewarding. Definitely worth the short climb!
ChrisK on 12 May, 2019

Nice walk almost panoramic views where the tables are. Parked by 640 W Mt Cotton rd
MiuMiu on 6 May, 2019

We were a little hesitant doing this walk after reading about how steep it was, especially since our group included a 6 year old, a bunch of not-particularly-fit adults and someone wearing thongs. We went up the fire trail starting from West Mt Cotton Road. Not much parking there so it could be good to carpool if you are a large group. The walk was steep for most of the hour we spent walking, especially at the beginning and end. There were several loose gravel areas, but we managed it and even found a few geocaches along the way.

We arrived at the top around 9:30am. The sun was reflecting off the water and making it a little hard to see the view, but it was still stunning. I think you would get a better view if you walked up super early to watch the sun rise or in the late afternoon. There is also a picnic table at the top of you wanted to pack a picnic!

On the way back we ran down the tar road to Billiau Road which was a lot of fun and only took 20 minutes. We did pausehalf way to admire the city view. We then walked along the main road to the Mt Cotton nursery cafe and had someone pick us up to take us back to our cars. You can walk back along the road but there is one very very very steep hill (-27.6107079, 153.2039300)

Note: Google Maps makes it look like you can drive to the top along Mount View Road but as mentioned in the description I think Rainforest Gardens was built in the middle and split the road in two.

Also, we camped at the Karingal Scout campground and asked if they could recommend a fire trail to walk to the summit but they haven’t mapped it out yet.
AmyBCD on 11 Apr, 2019

This walk was very hard to navigate. There are no maps and there are tracks everywhere. Walked around for an hour but didn't reach a high point with views.
Bobbe on Mar, 2019

Went late in the afternoon and had fantastic views with the setting sun. Make sure to follow on past the summit a little way to get views off to the west.
Richard Mason on 12 Aug, 2018

Didn’t bother with this walk. Drove to the Scout camp on Karinga rd but there’s no maps, no signage, no nothing so went and did Venman Circuit instead. Disappointing
Jen on 1 Jul, 2018