Girraween 3-Day Hike (Run Hike Laugh)

Made from guide at runhikelaugh.com/guide-hiking-girraween/#3 day overnight hike. Extract from site below.

Day 1 hike: Girraween Day Use Area to South Bald Rock Bush Campsite via Castle Rock, Mt Norman and Mt Norman Day Use Area. Time: about 6.5 hours [total time including breaks], around 16.5 km.

We hiked in the middle of summer and started off carrying about 4 liters of water each, but at least we didn’t need any cold weather gear! We hiked a few hundred meters down the road to the Castle Rock track, detoured to the summit of Castle Rock, then followed the trail to Mt Norman. Neil summited Mt Norman, but I’m not great with heights so I waited under a shady tree. We continued on to the Mt Norman day use area.

From the Mt Norman day use area we walked south-west along Mt Norman Rd for about 1 km. We turned left at the stone gate and followed the trail to the Old Stone cottage, a spooky deserted cottage in the middle of nowhere. We followed the trail around West Bald Rock, towards Racecourse Creek at the base of South Bald Rock.

Night 1 – We camped at South Bald Rock Bush Campsite at the base of the rock. Water was extremely limited in summer and we resorted to filtering pond scum. We relied heavily on our water filter. We climbed South Bald Rock before sunset and watched the sun set and stars come out.

Day 2 morning: South Bald Rock Bush Campsite to Bald Rock Campground via the summit of Bald Rock. Time: about 3.5 hours, around 11.5 km.

The next morning we headed out to Bald Rock, which is actually across the border in NSW in Bald Rock National Park.

We followed Racecourse Creek then linked up onto the Border Fire Trail. A shorter route would potentially be over the top of South Bald Rock, but we decided against this given the steepness of the rock with heavy packs.

We followed the Border Trail, via Little Bald Rock, through to Bald Rock. We ended up choosing the shorter but steeper route this time and climbed up the west face of Bald Rock. There’s no marked trail up the west face. We bush bashed for about 50 meters before getting to the granite and heading straight up the granite rock face.

The rock was steep with almost 100 meters of vertical ascent in 300 meters of hiking. I did a fair bit of zig-zagging up! Another advantage of ascending via the west face is that we avoided ‘back tracking’ after lunch. At the summit, we ran into a few day hikers who were a little puzzled about where we’d come from!

Once we reached the top, there was a well marked trail down the east face. After descending 400m along the summit trail, there’s a choice of continuing on the summit trail for a more direct route down to the day use area, or taking the Bungoona walk. We chose the Bungoona walk, which is more scenic, passing under rock archways and beautiful forest.

At Bald Rock Camping Area we stocked up on water, a precious resource out here in summer.

Day 2 afternoon: Bald Rock Campground to Twin Peaks Summit. Time: about 3.5 hours, around 11.5 km.

We left Bald Rock picnic area along the Borderlink fire trail, which becomes the Border Fire Trail. About 5km after leaving Bald Rock picnic area, we turned left (west) onto an un-named trail that linked up with the Mt Norman Road, via Paling Yard Creek. We walked about 3km along this un-named trail, across grassy fields full of kangaroos and birds. Once we arrived at Mt Norman Road, which is a 4WD track, we headed along the road (west) towards Racecourse Creek.

At Racecourse Creek, Billy Goat Hill is to the East and Twin Peaks is to the west. There’s no water on the summit of Twin Peaks, so we stocked up on water at Racecourse Creek. Again, the creek was stagnant and muddy in the middle of summer!

There’s no trail to the summit of Twin Peaks. About 100 meters after crossing Racecourse Creek, we bush-bashed through to the rock slab of Twin Peaks, then traversed left [southerly] along the rock. After a bit of “track finding” we eventually found some rock cairns marking the way to the summit. The rock cairns lead towards the small campsite amongst some trees on the Southern Summit of Twin Peaks. It’s not an easy campsite to get to, but the sunset and sunrise views are spectacular. Allow plenty of time for finding your way to the top.

Day 3 morning: Twin Peaks Summit to Girraween Day Use area. Time: about 3.5 hours, around 10 km.

After enjoying a spectacular sun rise, we retraced our steps back to Racecourse Creek, where we restocked our water.

After Racecourse Creek, we continued along Mt Norman Road for 2km (the first 1km was retracing our steps from yesterday). We turned left onto Creek Track, then continued onto Wave Rock, then along Underground Creek Track back to Pyramids Rd.

We hiked for 3.5km along Pyramids Rd back to Girraween Day Use area, where we jumped straight into the water hole!