Lincoln Wreck Circuit

Main Range National Park

A very tough and steep, almost trackless walk to the summit of South-East Queensland's tallest mountain with a stop by the wreck of a plane from 1955.

Getting there

Park on Emu Creek Road

Maps

Superbus topo

Route/Trail notes

All track notes are from Take a Walk in South-East Queensland. 

The track is marked irregularly with pink ribbons, it should be not too hard to follow.

Permits/Costs

There are two remote campsites on Mt Superbus (north and south)which require a permit and a fee, these are avaliable through the Queensland parks and wildlife website for a small fee

Other References

How can I find more info? Any guide books?

GPS Tracks

  • No GPS available for this walk yet.

Comments

Well marked track. But a GPS was good for the confidence. First half of the track was reasonably easy. Second half was all uphill and steep and slippery. Good day all in all. Long day all told including the drive there. Would definitely recommend a 4WD.

ian parker on 28 Aug, 2021

An amazing experience.

We ascended from the Emu Vale side (western approach). A 4WD would be recommended, although we did manage to get a long way up the road in 2WD Rav 4 before we decided to park it up and walk approx 2km to the start of the trail.

The path is fairly well defined and the pink ribbons make navigation a breeze. The terrain is fairly benign until you reach the turn off to the plane (which is clearly marked). After this point it is all uphill and a lot time is spent scrambling. Recent rain has made it harder to get traction so good shoes and pair of gloves would be highly advisable. The challenging climb is rewarded with the discovery of the plane wreck which is truly an amazing thing to see.

No snakes were sighted on this walk and no other wildlife apart from a few smaller birds that are hard to identify. Stinging nettles, berry thorns and Gympie Gympie plants are a pain for most of the trail. I would recommend wearing long pants and sleeves + maybe gloves

BRADDEN BARLOW on 3 May, 2021

Another challenging but rewarding hike in one of SE Qld's amazing places!! Entry was from the Emu Creek side, there were plenty of pink ribbons to follow but still, attention must be paid to where you are going as the trail can become faint in a few places and it is easy to wander off trail.

Good shoes are a must, trekking poles make life a lot easier, and long pants are HIGHLY recommended due to the numerous Gympie Gympie plants and stinging nettles you will encounter. I used about 4 litres of water on this hike.

Views of the surrounding landscape are minimal, but it is still amazing inside the forest, there is a cool stream to replenish water if needed (filter it).

There are some very steep sections that are easy to lose footing on, so if you aren't good with that sort of terrain, might be best to give this one a miss until you're up to it, as it can be very slow going up and down, and you don't want to be trying to find your way back in the dark.

This is one of those must do hikes, i absolutely loved it and can't wait to go back again!!

Nittus on 18 Oct, 2020

Another tough one but well worth it

Andrew Specht on 18 Jul, 2020

Up and down to the wreck in about 7 hours, although easily could have done in faster. Some has put up new pink ribbons recently (it appears as though the first section was burnt out), so navigation was simple. The final descent was a bitch as usual, but definitely worth it.

Next time, I'll be sure to do it properly and camp up the top.

Martin Welsh on 19 Jun, 2020

This was the second time I have walked this trek, first time was a one day trek but this one was an overnighter with a full heavy pack....not for the faint hearted! Made it to the northern campsite (just!) in the afternoon and decided to camp there overnight. Next morning we left our packs and trekked to the summit (small silver box) and then on to the Lincoln wreck. Had a good look over the wreck site and trekked back to our packs and back down the mountain back to our vehicle. Enjoyed the trek but I was tired and sore afterwards...will do it again coming up the other side

Andrew.P on 25 Aug, 2018

Beautiful Rewarding walk, Started a bit late but made it to the wreck in 1.30 mins. Very steep section was quite fun and challenging. The rest of the walk to the summit was straight forward.
Long pants recommended, as lots of stinging plants.
16.3 km in total walking.

Alchemist on 29 Jul, 2018

The last few kilometers of the road in were very muddy and slippery - a 4WD with good clearance was essential. The mud was sticky too. We were sliding around in the ruts, and it caked onto the wheels and mudflaps several inches thick.

• Track is currently well-marked with pink and orange tape
• Very muddy and slippery everywhere when we went up
• Lots of stinging nettle and a few stinging trees
• Low-lying cloud shrouded the mountaintop
• There is a lot of the wreck still there, and worth seeing

The first 2/3 are on mostly level terrain, but nettles often fringe the track. Our group, which included several very experienced hikers, agreed this was the muddiest, slipperiest hike any of us had done. Both upper and lower body strength (as well as caution) were required on the later sections of steep, muddy slope - where grabbing onto convenient vines, roots and trees was the best way to make progress.

Recommend long pants, gaiters, long-sleeved shirt and possibly even gloves in damp or wet conditions.

Rey Leon on 7 Jul, 2018

Great walk, no views but good fun. We drove right to the end of Emu Creek road (through 3 gates). The track was well marked with pink ribbons. The track was very flat most of the way then there’s Very steep uphil sections to get up to the wreck. It took us 5 hours including a 30(ish) minute break at the top for lunch.

Steph&Garry on 20 May, 2018

I accidentally did this hike while trying to climb Mount Superbus with my dad. On the descent I went down the Mount Superbus hike because I had lost the tape. If you go across a bridge then turn left and see a monument that was left by me and dad thinking it was the right path. Super hard and long.

Harry the Hiker on 2018

The drive up to the Parking place has multiple creek crossings and can be very muddy in the wet so I would recommend a AWD/4WD car. A lot of people seem to stop at the farmers gate at the end of emu creek rd however you can continue on, make sure to turn right at the fork. We did the trail after heavy rainfall and is very slippery and muddy however it very doable as there is lots of roots and other handholds to grab onto but plan on falling over at least twice. There no real rock scrambling that needed to be done but very steep uphill. The track has been marked very well with pink ribbons and police tape so its fairly easy to navigate, there are some foot pads but mostly bush bashing following the ribbons. There is lots of stinging nestle at the start of the walk to bring long pants.

polak on Nov, 2017

Even after a decent amount of dry weather if you want to get anywhere near the very start of this one you'll need a reasonable 4wd otherwise you're walking in from the camping ground. You will pass through a few private gates just make sure you close them behind you obviously. There may be horses or cattle wandering around so be cautious as you drive through the private properties.

This was our third trip out after being rained out the first attempt and getting lost on the second. Nearly got lost again on the third but we had a GPS with us this time around which helped get us on track and we finally found the wreck. It was definitely not the most fun hike we've done but certainly one of the more rewarding. There was nettle galore and even in August you want to be getting there pretty early so it's not too dark for your return. We over-nighted at the Yangan Hotel which made arrival a little easier especially with a good feed in us from the night before.

The hike itself wasn't too challenging but reasonable navigation skills I would suggest are essential. We're pretty new to this game but without a couple of guides we had read online as well as a good GPS we would've been stuffed again. Our biggest mistake the last time was following the wider track to the right when we had parked at the end of the road. It seems there's a single trail immediately to the right which will take you through a small gate that leads to the trail. We took a pretty big detour to get back on track which cost us time.

Unfortunately we didn't get to summit once we had past the wreck due to concerns about losing light. It was probably a good call as it was tough to see the coloured ribbons coming back down. I'll have to dig up the GPX file to post and let you know where not to go at the start! Can't recommend this one enough but don't know if I'd be doing it again any time soon, we were shattered when we got back to Brisbane.

Kingi on 2 Aug, 2017

Nike hike. We went past the Lincoln Wreck and stayed approx. 100m from the Wreck on the ridge. The next day we walked to Mt. Superbus and found a geocache (thanks for the cliffbar!). Watch out for ticks and stinging nettle.

SabrinaBlaas on 19 Nov, 2016

We did it as a 2 day, starting from Teviot Falls and following the Day 3 track notes from the Spicers Gap to Teviot Gap 3 day walk in the Take A Walk book. Got lost, but took an even better track up some creek and waterfalls to the saddle between Superbus and Roberts. Camped at the campground near Lizard Point and then walked back after visiting the Lincoln Wreck. I blogged about it: http://moshpitson.com/blog/?p=935

Allan Allport on 26 Oct, 2013

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