The Craigieburn Trail is over 24 kilometres of sweet, off-road, scenic single-track (approx 12-1300 metres of ascent/descent) from “Hill to Hill” (Flock Hill Lodge to Castle Hill Village), incorporating the Coal Pit Spur, Sidle 73, Dracophyllum Flat and Hogs Back tracks including a kilometre or two of forest road in the middle.
Route Description
- From the layby 300m north of Flock Hill Lodge on SH73, head west on the Coal Pit Spur track beside/across Mansons Creek.
- Follow the pylon track uphill until the Coal Pit Spur single-track branches off south and drops into the beech forest.
- Currently you will need to ford Craigieburn Stream before climbing steeply and sidling round towards the Craigieburn Valley Ski Area access road.
- Head south-west on the Craigieburn Valley Ski Area access road for 400m before jumping on to the Sidle 73 track towards the Broken River campground and ski area access road.
- At the campground, head west into the beech forest on the Broken River Ski Area road towards Jack’s Pass for 2.5km.
- At Jack’s Pass, tear off straight ahead on the peachy Dracophyllum Flat track downhill all the way to the bridge across Broken River before climbing steeply to Dracophyllum Flat itself.
- Continue to follow the Dracophyllum Flat track through a mix of beech forest and open tussock, crossing the bridge across Cuckoo Creek and fording Timm’s Stream before climbing up to the Texas Flat car-park on the Cheeseman Ski Area road.
- From Texas Flat, start into the Hogs Back track by grinding up past Ernie’s Mistake towards Picnic Rock lookout (at 1050m the high-point of our trail network with great views over the Castle Hill Basin).
- Head north along the Hogs Back track to find the Ground Effect switchbacks, sidle round in and out of the bushline, before dropping down to cross the bridge over Waterfall Creek, and onwards to ford Long Creek.
- The last climb of the Craigieburn Trail brings you up to the Lightning Tree before a beautiful roll down Long Spur leads to the last steeper descent through the beech forest of Thomas Bush and on to Castle Hill Village.