Spring Mountain (Thornbill Drv trailhead)

GPS Tracks

Spring Mountain GPX Track (GPX)

Spring Mountain from Thornbill Drive, Greenbank. Walk is a bit of a hard slog but the views from the different points on the trek are really spectacular.

Lookouts

Scrambling or Climbing

Navigation Required

Eucalypt Forest

434m

Maximum Elevation

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Getting there

How do you get to the start of the walk?

Set your sat nav to Thornbill Drive, Greenbank. Follow it to the end and you will see a little area to park near a gate. You should see a building (water tower) up ahead and a sign that says Spring Mountain Forest Park

Maps

Which maps cover the area?

I highly recommend downloading an app called Pocket Earth (or similar) and using this for this trek. Some navigation skills would be good for this walk and using this map on the app or printing something off would be good to make sure you don't take the wrong trail.

Route/Trail notes

Go through the gate where you park and head up the drive way and follow the trail off to the right halfway up.

The trail to start off on is 'Water Tower Track'. You will come to a junction that turns right to 'Yahoo' or straight 'Ring Road' keep going along 'Ring Road'. You will eventually get to a Y junction. Take the left here. You will get to a track that heads up hill and has a lot of loose rocks. This is a hard slog so be careful as you walk up so you don't loose your footing. As you near the top you will notice some large rock formations.

Once you are at the top of the hill you will see a track heading downwards on the left. Take this to head to Spring Mountain.

*Option here is to follow around to the right a little and a track winds up to the top of the rock formation where there are some good views and you can rest here. Retrace you steps back down (take note here that if you turn right you will start heading back down through a gully which will lead back to your car - we did this on the way back). To head to Spring Mountain you need to head left and then take the steep downwards path (mentioned above).

The track down here is quick steep so be cautious. You will follow this trail and again head back up until you get to a nice view of Springfield and the City on your right. Continue on further until you get to a clearing and another Y Junction. Take the right junction.

Continue on again - look out for a cool cave that we think looks like a pizza oven (on your left). Continue on this path until you see Spring Mountain. It looks like a red dirt path on the left and very steep. It is doable though! Once you head up you will need to start climbing up rocks It is a hard slog but it is worth it once you make it to the top. There are 360 degree views which are spectacular and this is the reward on this trek.

Head back down and take a look at another cool cave on the left as you head back down. Take super care coming down as it is very steep. But fun!

I have added a photo of the map which shows the options for the tracks you can take. Again I would highly recommend downloading a map or using a navigation app to help you on this trek as there is NO signage and some of the track is just gullies and I could see someone getting lost or going around in circles if not careful.

I would also recommend that if you are doing this in the wet to be super duper careful as I could see lichen on the rocks which would be slipperly when wet and also going down the steep hills would be slipperly. We had a few little falls (nothing serious) on the way down one of the gullies on the loose rocks.

Permits/Costs

Do you need any permits? What's the cost?

No permits are required.

Other References

How can I find more info? Any guide books?

Download a good navigation app like Pocket Earth and use it to help guide you on this walk.

GPS Tracks

Spring Mountain GPX Track (GPX)

Comments

Great walk close to the city. Nice variety of trails, from walking track to fire breaks, with fantastic views.
Callum on 28 Oct, 2023

Hiked to Spring Mountain today on a glorious crisp winter day with the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky. This was a really nice walk - moderate fitness on a few of the hill climbs is needed and the last small climb up Spring Mountain but I wouldn't rate it as Hard. It took us 2hr 55mins in total to do the 11kms which included a relaxing morning tea break sitting up on Spring Mountain. The views from up there are incredible and truly are 360 degree views. Was navigating using AllTrails and had no trouble at all finding the way. Top walk and highly recommend it just 45mins drive from Brisbane.
Paul on 10 Aug, 2022

Enjoyed this one. I was questioning the hard classification until I got further through the walk. Great view at the summit.
Ben Farley on 17 Jul, 2021

Very pretty walk in places, good mix of fire trails and single tracks. Would be tricky to navigate without GPS.
Chantelle on 4 Jul, 2021

I completed this hike as a loop, along with White Rock.
Sally on 17 Apr, 2021

Enjoyable hike with nice views at the summit. Would definitely recommend trail runners over standard running shoes given the sections with loose rock, however if you take it slow you should be fine. Having the GPX track on your phone as others have pointed out is a big help. Round trip was 2:30 with about 15 minutes spent at the summit.
Hagan on 17 Jan, 2021

Hike was really beautiful! Little confusing and got lost along the way- lost of little tracks throughout- I would recommend wearing good footwear as its quite a rocky track with some loose terrain! Also some very steep areas - Took just over two hours but I don’t think we made it all the way to the top, as we got lost! But still worth the look! Beautiful views
Tash on 31 Jul, 2020

I completed this walk which took 3hrs 20 with 10mins at the summit (to catch my breathe!).

I took the advice of previous commenters and downloaded the Pocket Earth app (free). Worked great all the way around which is good as there are a lot of different tracks.

Ive uploaded a pic which shows the route I took out and slightly different on the way back.

You will notice a section in red which was very much "off the track". You will see a line of large rocks showing the way to the right of the main track. There are a couple of pink ribbons marking the track. This side track was very tight and very hard work, but then again I am VERY unfit!

Its a really long walk with a lot of steep uphill and downhill sections, but I really enjoyed it.

My legs where cooked by the time I got back to my car!
Robert on 26 Jun, 2020

Tough challenging walk. The views from the top are superb and make it all worth while.
Brian on 6 Jun, 2020

Got lost. Tried to follow the instructions. Finally had to turn back ... we'd gone way past where we should have seen some of the landmarks - not sure where we went wrong. Long walk on a lovely day :-)
Madonna Guy on 10 May, 2020

Great hike. Thanks for the detailed track notes, they came in handy. I was surprised with the terrain as I was mostly expecting fire trails. Instead there was a good variety. Some steep tracks and loose rocks, I guess that is why this track is marked as hard. Otherwise fairly easy for the experienced hiker. Nice views and it felt like you were in a remote area as there is no traffic noise and not as popular as other trails in the area.
Jimcar on 16 Feb, 2020

Great walk and super views! Get it done early in summer as it can get very hot. Bring plenty of water!
Gavin King on 8 Jan, 2020

Easy walk from Thornbill Drive . . . 1:10 to Summit from there! Spectacular views!
Christopher Dawson on 13 Sep, 2019

Entered from Angelica Avenue (Grech Park) and skirted around the water tower to find the trail. Recommend following the ring road. Easy ro go down the wrong path but most seem to meet up again anyway.
JayWalker on 6 Jul, 2019

Walked to spring mountain and kept going to loop back. We went off track and it super hard. Great views from the summit. I can’t believe I hadn’t been here before.
Juiced Pixels on 22 Jun, 2019