Bushwalk Australia

Hello,

Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for map resources for this area? Or which hiking books might have 'the trails less taken' listed?

I did Northbrook Mountain today but noticed a little side trail that doesn't appear on any of the Dept of Parks and Wildlife maps. After some googling I discovered it leads down into Northbrook Gorge. I had the same experience with the Piper Comanche trail - not on any official maps but was able to figure it out by using other people's directions or all trails data. I don't mind a bit of investigating for a good hike but I don't really like relying on all trails as people often 'go their own way'.

I have had a look on Avenza maps and Qtopo but can't find trail data for this path.

Thanks

The Map of d'Aguilar that you find at Rangers will show only fire trails and official walking trails (and possibly official MTB trails). Some books such Take a Walk in SEQ have some more trails (not worth it). Eroded foot pads such the one you spotted at Northbrook or Piper Comanche trail, are not official tracks but well trodden, considering they are fairly easy to follow. Then the park has many ridges and gullies, with a number of scenic waterfalls and pools and experienced bushwalker can do some offtrack. Often navigation skills are required, as well as some scrambling and patience in dealing with thick vegetation and unpleasant plants. You can easily find itineraries online (wikiloc etc.), of different difficulty and description as well as GPX files. But generally, this park has a limited network of trails (aside from fire breaks), if compared to other National Parks.

Thanks for your reply CBee. I have found that it is often the case that there are trials recognised by QPWS (both the Northbook trail and Piper Commanche have warning signs at the trailhead) but do not appear on park maps. If Take a Walk is not worth it, is there a book that you would recommend that includes these paths or other similar 'known but not official' trails around SEQ? Otherwise happy to keep on using google resources to find info

I think guides are generally obsolete IMO and there is far more stuff available online if you are looking for ideas. But it depends from your experience in bushwalking. For SEQ hiking, Secrets of the Scenic Rim by Robert Rankin is my favourite book and the only one I read time to time. It has both trails and routes of different difficulty and I think can inspire both beginner and experienced hiker. Also it has good maps.
You should give this forum a good look, there are plenty of resources, including a recent thread on SEQ guides.

I'd second the opinion that this forum has a lot of excellent information on it, and a good search function that turns up all sorts of threads. Over the years I've found great instructions to many places such as Ratatat, the Stinson site and Mount Superbus.

Some of the online wikiloc sites and apps such as Alltrails are useful, but need a fair bit of caution if you're planning to go off the beaten path. Anyone can put a trail up without any guarantee that it's 1. a decent route and 2. across publicly accessible land. I usually compare them (and trails out of older guide books for that matter) with QTopo to check that I"m not going to end up in someone's backyard and/or drug plantation, because it's a fair guess that the someone won't be happy to see me . As a person who generally walks solo, I like to avoid in-the-field confrontations. This may not be a big issue around Mount Glorious (I'm not super familiar with it) but it's an increasing problem in Main Range and the Scenic Rim. As with all social media sites, generally the comments give some indication of the quality.

Parks, the State mapping departments and other official map authors gradually stopped putting unofficial trails on their maps in the 1990s, due to caution about being sued by people if they used them and had a mishap. AFAIK Alltrails etc get around that with the standard social media "we're just providing the platform, not the info" disclaimer. These days I think there's also caution from Parks et al about encouraging the teeming hordes into environmentally sensitive areas, particularly when you see what the teeming hordes do to the accessible places.

Anyway, TLDR: this site's archives are good. Alltrails is good but caveat emptor.