Mt Coochin (East and West Peaks)

GPS Tracks

Mt Coochin loop. (GPX)

This is a great scramble on a pretty twin peak mountain, with some outstanding views of the Glass House Mountains region to the south and the Brisbane CBD in the far distance.

Lookouts

Scrambling or Climbing

No Dogs Permitted

No Camping Permitted

Eucalypt Forest

237m

Maximum Elevation

182m

Total Climb

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Getting there:

Take the Steve Irwin Way off the Bruce Highway and turn west into the Beerwah township. Follow the Kilcoy-Beerwah/Peachester Road and turn left into Old Gympie Road. After 1km, turn into the driveway of house number 2,672 and to the right, follow the fence past the palm trees and park near the gate with Mt Coochin National Park sign.

Maps:

Glass House Mountains

Route/Trail notes:

You have two option here: up and back or up and over! Past the gate, follow the track for 50m to your right to the intersection (this track circumvents the whole mountain) turn left and after 100m, look for the trail on your right, which is marked with pink flagging tape.

Follow this path steeply uphill until you reach the first summit. After exploring this area, face the second summit and follow the obvious ridge down. At the bottom, is a gully with steep sides; take care descending and follow a faint path up the other side; in some places it requires some scrambling. When you arrive at the second peak, have a good look round and see the other peaks in the area.

Return the way you came, or follow a very, very faint trail heading South East (now has pink flagging tape), which steeply descends towards the 'circumvention' track, where you turn left back to the start.

There is also another track down heading directly north. It is easy to lose the trail and you may well find yourself 'bush-bashing' down the steep overgrown gully cliff face. Once you hit the bottom 'circumvention' track, turn left to return to your start point.

Permits/Costs:

None.

Other References/Comments:

Be aware, that the South Eastern and Northern tracks down are not well defined, slippery with plenty of loose rock.

GPS Tracks

Mt Coochin loop. (GPX)

Comments

This is fun
Chris Wilson on 6 Jun, 2021

Beautiful sunset tonight
Kmxfitness on 5 Jun, 2021

Mt Coochin is a hidden gem! Superb views of the nearby Glass House Mountains.
Olwyn on 5 Jun, 2021

My sister and I, did the Mt Coochin walk, leaving from car Park in Old Gympie Rd. "Steep climb" to western peak lookout was nothing compared to the eastern Peak! We're both very active 70 yr olds, had planned to take our time, smell the early wattle (Feb too), stop lots of times for photos of magic views and have a snack when we felt like it. So it was 5 hrs of fun, doing what we love best.
Ok, going down west peak ( we call Coochin 1) was tough:- slippery, loose rocks, and our trusty trekking poles were essential. However, in loose gravel areas and no trees or rocks to grab on to, I felt more comfortable getting down on my butt.!!
Climbing up Coochin 2 ( Eastern peak) was fine. Stopped 1/2 way up to look back on Coonawrin and Beerwah, and Tibrogargan and the lookout from where we just scrambled down from. Eek!
With 2 options of getting down to the road to get back to car, we opted for the longer SE trail. The northern route did not sound too easy and lots of bush bashing. It was a long long slip and slide trail down to that "road" with a lovely border collie barking from the house below. There was maybe 2 faint pink markers so dont rely on them. Seriously, we have walked in many terrains over our later years, this was not easy. I would not be taking any young kids on this walk as mentioned earlier. Just go up to the 1st lookout from Carpark. Magic.
Robyn T on 11 Feb, 2021

Loved this walk/hike one of my favs so far. Challenging in places but well worth it for the views
Gail on 26 Jan, 2021

Great workout 💪 only completed the first peak as second one looked quite steep and some people in group didn't wear suitable shoes. Recommend good grip trail shoes as the descent can be very slippery on the smaller rocks. Our 9 year old tackled it no problem.
Krasmalley on 24 Jan, 2021

Thoroughly enjoyed this walk. It was really beautiful at the top of both peaks. It took our family 2 hrs 10 mins to complete with 2 children 8 and under. Some fantastic views of the surrounding area and glasshouse mountains. Didn't see a single person apart from some return walkers in the Carpark on arrival which was really nice as lots of the other walks in the area now get very busy. I unfortunately got eaten by mosquitoes (take some heavy duty repellant as the natural options didn't help). We ventured over both peaks and down the path on the far side. The path going back down isn't fantastic, narrow, a little overgrown and you have to go through vegetation. It was also a little slippery after some rain last night too. Might try the other path next trip. Everything else great. The small climb up the second peak is perfect for families. It states in the description that the 2nd path down from the 2nd peak is worse but it starts off much wider so we are all curious !
Heidz202 on 17 Jan, 2021

Definitely recommend doing this one early as it’s very exposed and sunny most of the walk, did take the 2 hours that was with plenty of stops for pictures.
Jade on 21 Nov, 2020

A bit of scrambling on this circuit of 2 peaks,all good fun. Views of the other Glass House Mountains are excellent. The directions for getting there are very helpful as it would be very easy to miss the carpark turn off.
Bribie 61 on 4 Oct, 2020

Awesome walk with splendid views. Even the 3 year old walked both peaks but needed help on the decent. Track easy to find and follow, although didn't see any pink flagging tape anywhere. Is a very exposed track especially after reaching the first peak, so probably not ideal in summer. Decent track is very slippery, loose rocks.
Usandkids on 20 Sep, 2020

I did this walk solo and went up and back as I am not great at navigation and didn't want to go down a steep slope solo.
The track was easy to follow and achievable for moderate fitness. A bit of a scramble in places between the east and west peak but easy enough for beginner scramblers. Views were awesome and whilst there were other people around it wasn't busy and I did feel like I had most of the walk to myself which was amazing.
Bobbe on 12 Sep, 2020

Loved this walk so much!
The initial ascent is moderately steep, but easy to follow. Exposed to the sun in places, so important to take plenty of water. Views from the first summit are incredible and make the climb all the worth while!!
The trail between the two peaks is slightly less obvious, involves rock hopping and scrambling, but I found it easy to navigate - look for the well worn rocks and you can't go wrong. This was my favourite part of the trail.
Gorgeous views from the second summit too, and lots of mozzies, so pack the spray (I forgot). From the second summit, follow the ridge line north to find the trail back down. Again, look for the worn rocks and you shouldn't go wrong. The descent was a little tricker, with lots of loose rocks in places, so watch your step. It's also pretty exposed again, so can get pretty hot. When you reach the circumvention track, take a left and it'll take you back to the carpark.
Took us two hours all up.
Awesome hike! Will definitely be back!
Sarah on 14 Aug, 2020

Up and back
Kmxfitness on 3 Aug, 2020

Found a bush track over the east peak that I went down turned right at the bottom and right back to old Gympie rd 6.8km total
Kmxfitness on 11 Jul, 2020

Good walk. Even our 5yr old and 7yr old were able to climb up to the summit 👌
No pink tape to be found marking though.
Lis on 5 Jul, 2020

My sister & I took 6 kids up - 16-9 age - no tape on tracks so we took a while to find a track up from the fire trail left from the carpark. The views at the top were awesome across to the coast
Carmel Hayden on 3 Jul, 2020

Second time climbing the twin peaks. This time we did the East peak first then across the saddle to the West peak. We found this easier as walking up the East peak was not steep. Great views looking back towards Ngungun and Tibro
Shassen79 on 16 Jun, 2020

Four years ago, this was a 'seldom walked track', but now, even on a Monday, five other cars were in the car park. The tracks are now more defined, where previously they were hard to find, although unfortunately, well worn and in some placed very dangerous, particularly taking the South Eastern route down. I even took time out to 'pink flag' this route to help future bushwalkers.
F.A.B. on 8 Jun, 2020

Did this walk today. Great views. Would recommend returning via the first track. The SE track is challenging and quite steep. We actually lost the trail and ended up doing a bit of bushbashing.
Keithyburger on 7 Jun, 2020

Easy walk. I went in a group and it took us 2 hours, however the group really took their time so I think this would only take me 1 hour.
Clem on 7 Jun, 2020