Guide to Garigal National Park

Garigal National Park, in Sydney’s north, is the fifth largest park in Sydney metropolitan area. While it’s one seventh of the size of Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, the park punches above its weight in terms of supporting a range of outdoor activities. Within the park are over 20 recognised bushwalking trails (and another 20+ informal trails) covering over 120km. Many of these are shared bushwalking and mountain-biking trails – and there are two dedicated single-track MTB trails. However, with the national park split by roads into two separate sections, most tracks are relatively short (you can combine a few trails for a longer walk) and generally less challenging than those in the nearby Ku-ring-gai National Park. There’s also a number of historic trig statons in Garigal National Park.

Mostly consisting of dry sclerophyll forest, Garigal National Park supports a large number of animals and plants, including the threatened southern brown bandicoot. Within the national park is the site where Governor Philip camped at Bungaroo for two nights on his first expedition in 1788. Well before European occupation, Garigal National Park was home to the Guringai people and over 100 Aboriginal sites in the park recorded to date are evidence of Aboriginal activity. (The park is named after the word Carigal or Caregal, which was used to describe the indigenous people who lived in this area.) The Aboriginal sites within Garigal National Park include the significant Moon Rock and Bantry Bay sites.

• Bushwalks – 40+ trails across the eastern and south/western sections of Garigal National Park
• Swimming spots – creeks and estuarine beaches where you can swim
• Mountain Biking – mountain-biking (MTB) trails grouped as Easy, Moderate, and Hard/Experienced
• Kayaking – places to launch a kayak and some suggested routes
• Maps – topographical maps and bushwalking resources

Bushwalks in Garigal National Park

There are over forty bushwalks in Garigal National Park, as well as the Harbour to Hawkesbury trail which crosses the park. For convenience, the bushwalks are divided into two sections.

Eastern section

The largest section of Garigal National Park is on the eastern side of Forest Way, with Deep Creek running through the middle.

Bushwalk	Length	Grade	Description	AllTrails Map
Caleyi Loop	3.9km	Easy	Short loop wich passes a nice creek & waterfall	Map
Twin Peaks Loop	7.9km	Easy/Moderate	Challenging MTB loop which can also be walked	Map
Deep Creek Loop	8.3km	Easy	Waterfalls, creeks, rock overhangs and nice views	Map
Slippery Dip Loop	10.2km	Moderate/Hard	Great loop walk – waterfalls, views, varied terrain	Map
Five Mile Creek Loop	11km	Moderate	Creeks, overhangs views. Some navigation skills required.	Map

South & Western section

This long section of Garigal National Park is both on the western side of Forest Way, and continues south along Middle Harbour and Bantry Bay. Most of the official bushwalking trails are in this part of the park.

Bushwalk	Length	Grade	Description	AllTrails Map
Carrol Trig	0.8km	Easy	Short walk to historic trig station	Map
Koola Avenue Loop	2.8km	Moderate	Partly off-track loop down to Middle Harbour Creek	Map
Bungaroo Track	3.5km	Easy	Combine with Pipeline Track for loop walk (5.5km)
Rocky Creek Loop	4.3km	Moderate	Shaded walk with a short off-track section	Map
Pipeline Track	4.7km	Easy	Firetrail which follows large pipeline.
Pipeline Track & Bungaroo Loop	5.5km	Easy/Moderate	Pleasant loop combining firetrail & bushwalking track	Map
Cascades Track Loop	5.6km	Easy	Short trail (steep in parts) down to large waterhole	Map
Two Creeks Track	6.1km	Easy	Pleasant walk along Middle Harbour & Gordon Creek. One-way.	Map
Natural Bridge Loop	6.2km	Easy	Short loop walk featuring natural sandstone bridge	Map
Carrol Trig to The Cascades	6.3km	Moderate	Loop walk using some less-known trails. Cascades & creek.	Map
Killara to St Ives via Rocky Creek	6.8km	Easy	One-way bushwalk along Rocky Creek.
Heath Trail and Bare Creek Loop	7.0km	Easy	Loop combining bushwalking & MTB tracks	Map
Bantry Bay Loop	7.4km	Easy/Moderate	Varied loop. Aboriginal art, great views, rock formations.	Map
Flat Rock Beach circuit	8.2km	Easy/Moderate	Beach on Middle Harbour, creeks, waterfall, views	Map
Two Creeks Loop	8.5km	Easy	Very nice bushwalk combining Two Creeks & Little Digger tracks	Map
Carroll Creek Loop	8.6km	Easy	Varied bushwalk along Carroll Creek & Middle Harbour Creek	Map
Casuarina and Lyrebird Loop	9.1km	Moderate	Combines 3 trails. Follows Middle Harbour and Carrol Creek.	Map
St Ives to Davidson Park	10.1km	Easy/Moderate	Follows east side of Middle Harbour Creek using multiple trails	Map
St Ives to Lindfield	12.9km	Moderate	Follows west side of Middle Harbour Creek using multiple trails	Map
Middle Harbour Creek Loop	19.0km	Moderate/Hard	Follows both sides of Middle Harbour Creek from St Ives to Roseville Bridge	Map

For a comprehensive list of every trail, have a look at Garigal National Park Trails.

Swimming in Garigal National Park

There are not a great many swimming spots in Garigal National Park, mainly because most of Middle Harbour has mangroves and mudbanks, or oyster-covered rocks, along its shoreline. As all the ridges surrounded by the national park are developed, it’s recommended you don’t swim for a few days after heavy rain – Davidson Reserve has been rated as “Poor” for water quality in the past couple of years in the State of the Beaches report. Middle Harbour is also a breeding ground for bull sharks, with some of the deepest holes in the harbour (up to 45 metres deep) providing an environment suited to large fish and their predators. But, if you still want to go for a swim, there are a few spots where you can access the water…

Picnic Areas

Davidson Picnic Area is the largest one in Garigal National Park, stretching along Middle Harbour and under Roseville Bridge. To the south of the bridge is a large parking area, with a boat ramp and kayak launching area. To the north, a long grassy area has multiple picnic tables and gas BBQ, a toilet block and a netted beach. Although popular on weekend, you’ll normally be able to find a carpark and some space on the grass..

Timber Getters Track Picnic Area was once the site of the Bantry Bay ‘Pleasure Gardens’ dance hall, before being absorbed into the Bantry Bay Explosives Magazine complex. Accessed by the Timber Getters Track which descends down to Middle Harbour from Seaforth Oval (or by private boat), there’s a couple of picnic tables and toilets near the old wharf.

Mountain Biking

There are many shared trails throughout Garigal National Park, as well as a few “purpose-built” mountain biking tracks. The trails vary from some easy firetrails, to quite demanding, technical single-track routes. Some useful resources for mountain-biking are Ku-ring-gai Council’s Cycling Map [PDF], Warringah Council’s Cycling Map South [PDF] the Northern Beaches MTB (NobMob) web site and Trailforks.

Easy / Suitable for kids

• Lyrebird Track (1.7km one-way) – a very flat and generally smooth service trail from the end of Davidson Park to the start of the bushwalking track.
• Currie Road Trail (2.2km return) – easy and fairly flat service trail. Combine with Serrata MTB Track or Cook Street Trail for a much more challenging ride!
• Engraving Track (2.2km one-way) – fairly flat service trail that runs parallel to Wakehurst Parkway (return same way, or descend the purpose-built Gahnia Mountain Bike Track and return via Engraving Track for challenging 4km loop)

Moderate

• Lower Cambourne Trail (1.5km one-way) – connecting the Cascades Trail and Bare Creek Trail, it has a creek crossing, a fairly steep ascent/decent and some sandy and rock sections. Combine with other tracks for 5-8km rides.
• Bare Creek Trail (1.5km one-way) – starts near the Cascades and becomes the Heath Track; this firetrail is one of the easier ones but does have one ascent/descent and some sandy sections. (Combine with Heath Trail for 8km return ride from Belrose)
• Caleyi Trail (2.2km one-way) – Service trail that descends from Mona Vale Road, before a steep dedcent where it becomes a bushwalking-only track. A few unauthorised MTB trails (Coopers Blue and Ya Right) join the Caleyi Trail to form a loop.
• Pipeline Track (2.4km one-way) – it would be easy as the surface of this service trail is pretty smooth – but it descends fairly steeply from Founders Way down to Middle Harbour. (From Founders Way to Hunter Ave it’s less steep, but the track is much rougher and undulating).
• Cook Street Trail (2.4km) – a fairly steep descent (90m elevation loss/gain) most of the way down to Bantry Bay. Descend via the purpose-built Serrata MTB track for s more challenging loop (3.2km)
• Cascades Trail (3.2km one-way) – a well-graded service trail, but descends constantly and sometimes steeply from Acron Oval in St Ives down to The Cascades. (Combine with Lower Cambourne Trail and Bare Creek Trail for 5.6km loop or with Bare Creek & Heath Trails for 12km return ride.)
• Slippery Dip Trail (4.5km one-way) – closer to “Easy” for the first 2km from Morgan Road, and then “Hard” with some serious ascents/descents to Deep Creek until it meets the Deep Creek Trail.

Hard / Experienced riders

• Pipeline MTB track (1km one-way / 4.8km loop). An unofficial, steep single-track that descends just to the south of the Pipeline Track (return using Pipeline Track)
• Serrata Mountain Bike Track (1.3km one-way). A steep, purpose-built single-track mountain bike trail almost all the way down to Bantry Bay; return via Cook Street Trail to make a 3.2km loop. NPWS Web site.
• Gahnia Mountain Bike (2km one-way). Another purpose-built single-track that descends from The Bluff Track and then ascends to the Engravings Track. NPWS Web site.

Illegal MTB tracks in Garigal National Park

Although these tracks are quite popular, they are not legal mountain bikes tracks (most “single track” trails are generally authorised for bushwalking only):

• Upper Cambourne Trail is a firetrail, but is not permitted for MTB use
• Caleyi Trail between Slippery Dip Trail and Wakehurst Parkway (also called Deep Creek Trail) – the first 2.5km is approved for MTB use
• XC Track (also referred to as Bernie’s) which is a short single-track loop from Slippery Dip Trail
• Road to Nowhere (also referred to as Bernie’s) which continues from the XC Track down to Deep Creek

Kayaking

Garigal National Park straddles a long section of Middle Harbour, a “semi–mature tide dominated drowned valley estuary” (Wikipedia). Middle Harbour actually starts within Garigal National Park, near the top of the south-western section. It flows south through the national park as Middle Harbour Creek down to the Stepping Stones or Bungaroo, which is the tidal limit. From Bungaroo the waterway becomes Middle Harbour Creek: you can paddle from the southern-most end of Garigal National Park up to Bungaroo (at high tide; you may not quite make it at low tide!).

While the enclosed waters of Middle Harbour are great for kayaking, the only launch site is Davidson Park. There’s a boat ramp with some timber steps into the water on the southern side of Roseville Bridge; on the northern side of the bridge you can also launch a kayak near the netted beach.

From Roseville Bridge, paddling north gets you as far as the “stepping stones” at Bungaroo (best at high tide). It’s about 5km one-way, with Middle Harbour getting gradually narrower and shallower, until you reach the end of Middle Harbour and the start of Middle Harbour Creek. There are a couple of side-creeks you can explore, albeit not very far (Rocky Creek and Carroll Creek) and a few sandy spot where you can stop.

Heading south from Roseville Bridge, it’s about 2.5km (one-way) to Flat Rock Beach, which makes a nice spot for a break. Continue another 2.5km or so to the end of Bantry Bay, past the old Bantry Bay Magazine Complex.

Maps

There’s no map specifically covering Garigal National Park – for detailed 1:25,000 topographical maps you’ll need:

• 9130-4S Hornsby (1:25K)  Buy / Download
• 9130-1S Mona Vale (1:25K) Buy / Download
• 9130-3N Parramatta River (1:25K)  Buy / Download

The most detailed (printed) topographical maps you can get are from STEP – their 1:10K maps are incredibly detailed and cover most parts of Garigal National Park:

• STEP Walking Tracks of Middle Harbour (North) – Buy

I’ve created an AllTrails Garigal National Park interactive topographical map, which has all of the walks listed above, and shows most of the official and unofficial tracks. 
[KEY: Light Blue trails – bushwalking trail; dark blue – fire trail; brown – MTB single-track]

On a mobile device / phone, I would recommend AllTrails (has the most trails) or Avenza (you can purchase any of the NSW 1:25K topographical maps, and access them off-line). 

Books and Resources

The books listed below provide more detail on some of the Garigal National Park bushwalks listed above – some may be out of print or hard to find…

5.5. Section on Garigal National Park. Snowys

3/5. Four Garigal NP walks  Ebook

1/5. One Garigal NP walk in Vol 2.

For detailed track notes on many of these walks, have a look at the Wildwalks Garigal National Park Web page.

National Parks and Wildlife Service have an official Garigal National Park web page, although it only lists the more popular tracks. Check here for alerts on track closures.

Theres also informaton on local council Web sites which cover walks in and around Garigal National Park:

• Ku-ring-gai Council has a Bushwalking Tracks page and downloadable brochure [PDF]
• Northern Beaches Council has a Walking Trails page and interactive map