Kenilworth Bluff - Wilcox Family Park Trail

GPS Tracks

103 Kenilworth Bluff (GPX)

A seldom used trail through a mixture of woodland and rainforest to the top of the bluff. Make your way up and across to numerous lookout points with spectacular views..

Lookouts

Bird Watching

Picnic Facilities

Scrambling or Climbing

No Dogs Permitted

No Camping Permitted

Rainforest

450m

Maximum Elevation

322m

Total Climb

Add to
My Wishlist

Tick Walk

Getting there:

The entry is marked on the right, 6kms north of Kenilworth on the Kenilworth Brooloo Road. There is a small pull-in area for cars just beyond the signage 'Kenilworth Bluff - Wilcox Family Park'.

Maps:

None found.

Route/Trail notes:

Join the track at the sign, through the gate and follow the fence line between two paddocks and past a few farm buildings. 330 earthen and hardwood-retained steps lead upwards; they call this the 'stairway to heaven' and was built under a Work For The Dole scheme. At the top is a good resting place with a couple of picnic tables.

From here, the track descends to the creek. There are trail marker posts and pink flagging tape has been added for clarification. Follow the creek left for 50m before turning right up the far side or scramble straight across and up. The track continues to the cliff face and travels right around the base. Care needs to be taken, as the track has been washed out in places.

The climb now becomes more vertical, involving “scrambling on small rocky outcrops and gripping sapling trunks to haul up on”. The plateau is several kilometres long with Mount Bunoum at 606m being the highest point. There is a waterfall area about 1km to the west.

Retrace your steps to return, although apparently there is another way down that cuts the original track, but no details have been provided.

Permits/Costs:

None.

Other References/Comments:

Times and distances vary from person to person depending on how much exploring you do on the plateau or return via the western ridge.

This is Bellbird country and can be almost deafening at times.

There are a number of local campsites in the area.

GPS Tracks

103 Kenilworth Bluff (GPX)

Comments

Took us a little while to find the start of the walk because the sign has been knocked down and the track in looks more like a driveway. This walk incorporates a lot of steep ascents and descents so it takes quite a while to gain any real elevation. You will climb up a very steep stairway to a delipidated picnic area, then make a steep descent to a river, then make a steep ascent to the bottom of the cliffline, then a slow descent to the other side of the bluff, then another steep climb up to the top of the bluff. There are some moderately good views right near the top, but very limited views at the summit. After getting to the top of climb you'll find (as others have mentioned) that it is vast trackless bush devoid of anything interesting. I still enjoyed the walk as a fitness challenge, however don't be expecting grand amazing views. Would recommend bringing a GPS as the track can be a bit vague in parts.
Vonsnrub on 9 Apr, 2021

Quite a challenging hike. Quite steep, With both steep inclines and declines. Path is very narrow and only a foot wide at times so not a good one if you have bad knees or ankles. The trail takes you to the very far right of the bluff and it’s a fairly short scramble to the top. There’s not all that much of a view at the top just the quarry and valley which is disappointing as the bluff looks so cool from the bottom as you’re making your way up. Once you make it to the top the trail is very loosely marked and eventually runs out. You pretty much have to bush bash your way across the plateau as it’s not very well travelled and hard to pick out an actual path there’s also pretty much no view and it’s a long trek as you make your way across the top. We trekked for another couple of kms and eventually hit a ravine which we were unable to cross, at that point the pink ribbon had run out and there was only the occasional alternative marker on the odd tree but that’s it. I actually think this trail is 5km one way not return as we gps’d it as we went and ended up doing just over 12km by the time we made it back to the car. If you’re going to do this one I’d turn around at the peak and you’ll have a much more enjoyable hike unless you know the area and feel comfortable bush bashing along the top. If someone is able to mark out the trial along the plateau
It would be so awesome of you, I’m sure everyone would be So thankful! All in all a great challenge with beautiful surrounds the whole way.
MELG on 11 Jul, 2020

This wasn't to hard. At the summit, we had to bush bash our way across the ridge without many markers. We eventually made our way down the other side which was much faster. The track joins back up at the picnic table.
Lachlan Pickering on 25 Aug, 2019

An exhausting but ultimately great walk. After trekking up the first set of stairs we mistakenly walked to the right of the picnic table (there were red arrows and pink tape). Maybe this used to be the track but not any more! Instead, go straight on, past the picnic table, following the barbed wire fence.
Nicole Y on 4 Aug, 2019

We walked this track around 0800 the track was slightly overgrown and without the pink tape and arrows it would have been more difficult. We managed to get up and down in around 4 hours.
wade on 12 Jul, 2019

Must be very fit people out there. Over grown but we kept moving steadily. Only spent half an hour up the top and round trip was five and a half hours. Find it a bit hard to believe that it's only a bit over 5 klms. Ps we do Mt Coolum in under 40 minutes so it's not like we dawdle.
Len on 2 Apr, 2018

We did our research before this walk, but found that it was very inaccurate as regards time and distance (a lot longer!), so have edited the walk accordingly. The weather was not our friend today with heavy rain at times, so we had to abandon the walk at the bottom of the final climb up the cliff to the plateau for safety reasons.
We will be back later in the year when it is cooler and drier, at which point we will complete the GPS track as well as the final part of the route/trail notes.
F.A.B. on 19 Mar, 2017

Probably the least used trail on the Sunshine Coast. Please be careful and respectful as there is a lot of Aboriginal cultural significant history here.
Sue C on 10 Jun, 2016