This pleasant 45k loop takes you from the valley floor up into luscious tall eucalypt forest and rainforest, then along the single-track Rim Walk, winding through Morton National Park with spectacular views over Yarrunga Creek Valley and of Fitzroy Falls. As you descend down from the rim and into the other side of the valley, on either side of the fire trail you'll see heathland, woodland, tall Brown Barrel Forest and tree ferns. There is a short stretch along the shoulder of a busy road before Fitzroy Falls. Most of the route is highly runnable fire trail, and easy as ultras go. You will get a chance to be immersed in five or six completely different types of landscape, and spot all sorts of native species, flowers and some cute critters.
Logistics and tips
Simplest is to park at the base of McPhails Fire Trail or at the beginning of Griffins Fire Trail and complete a counter-clockwise lap. There are a couple of criss-cross fire trails on the West side that can be a little confusing and there’s little phone reception, so have the route studied or an offline map handy. Also, some maps imply that McPhails Fire Trail does not connect with the Promised Land Trail (heading uphill towards Fitzroy Falls) - ignore this, the trails connect.
If you would like to make the route up to 50km, instead of taking the sharp left onto Griffins Fire Trail, instead go straight ahead and uphill. You can head to Rebecca's View or Wombat Hill Lookout, then come back downhill.
