I first spot the Mobong Walking Track as I drive past the somewhat forbidding entrance on the way to the Platypus Flats campground. It’s not the most inviting trailhead: in fact, it looks a bit like you’re about to walk into the set of Jurassic Park. The track signage has seen better days, but you can still make out the details of the route. I’m going to follow the Mobong Walking Track all the way to the Mobong Picnic Ground; you can also do a much shorter route by coming back via the Box Ridge Track.
It’s easy walking along the track, which goes through dense rainforest. There are a few glimpses of more open farmland just next to the state forest. I later discover that the first 0.5km of the Mobong track follows a historic tramway used when the area was logged for timber, and that the “steps” that I’m walking on are old railway sleepers.
There’s been a lot of rain the past week, so the track is fairly wet underfoot. There’s no major obstacles, but it would be a more pleasant bushwalk when it’s dry.
The track is fairly obvious, with the occasional track marker – although there are no signs indicating the junction with the Box Ridge Track. (There’s also one tricky section about 600m along the track, where you need to find a path around a large fallen tree – it’s quite easy to lose the trail here.)
Comments on the track a few months prior included “This walk is in dire need of some clearing and maintenance, lots of trees down obscuring the path” and “Very easy to lose the trail here as there were a lot of trees down and the path is not well maintained”. So, I’d recommend having a map or at least tracking your route in case you need to backtrack.
In a rare patch of sun, I spot a large-ish snake next to the track. It allows me to take a couple of photos, before deciding I’m too close and slithering away.
The Mobong Walking Track crosses a sides mall creek, as it follows and then crosses a small (unnamed) creek downstream.
After about 2km the Mobong Walking Track track reaches the much bigger Mobong Creek. There are many small cascades as the track follows the creek fairly closely. This section of the walk is very pleasant.
Eventually the track reaches the top of a much larger waterfall, which plunges down a chute in the rocks.
It’s much more impressive from the bottom, with the Mobong Creek Cacades gradually coming into view as the track circles around the large pool at the bottom. This would make a nice and very secluded swimming spot – although you’d most likely have a few leeches for company.
The track continues along the creek, which is now very wide and deep in places.
It’s not not much further from the waterfall before the Mobong Walking Track emerges onto the Moses Rock Road, next to a toilet block. Across the road is the idyllic Mobong Creek Waterhole.
You can walk back the same way from here, or follow the road back to the start (which is a bit shorter and quicker). I got a lift back to the start point to pick up my car… which is even quicker! It’s a nice walk, but if you can get a lift or do a car shuttle, doing it one-way from the southern end and enjoying a swim at the end is the way to go! (The walk is a 6km loop, or about 3.5km one-way.)
Getting to the Mobong Walking Track
The start of the Mobong Walking Track is about an hour from Coffs Harbour, via Corramba Road and Eastern Dorrigo Way. The last section along Moses Rock Road is unsealed, but suitable for all vehicles except after heavy rain.
More information
- National Parks (NPWS) – Mobong walking track
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