Chambers Gully Hike | Cleland National Park | Review

Chambers Gully offers a more family-friendly option for hiking in Cleland National Park, if the steep hills and narrow paths of the Waterfall Gully to Mount Lofty Summit hike are too much for little legs. There’s plenty to see, the paths are wide and smooth, and it’s one of the best locations we’ve found to spot koalas near Adelaide.

Review by Claire Davill

The Chambers Gully carpark is located part way along Waterfall Gully Road, and is a quieter, less busy car park than the falls carpark at the end of Waterfall Gully Road. The gates are open during daylight hours, and you can drive right up to the trailhead. If the parks at the trailhead are full, there is overflow parking further down the carpark road (which is speed limited to 10km/hr).

At the trailhead, you have the option to take the left, sealed path or the right, unsealed path. The sealed path is more suitable for strollers but will involve a bit more of a climb initially. The unsealed path is still suitable for strollers, but might be a bit more bumpy.

Along the unsealed path you’ll encounter some old ruins, including old stone walls, fireplaces and chimneys. These are remnants of the old quarries and mines that operated in the gully from the 1800s.

The two trails merge again after a few hundred metres, and from here, the paths are unsealed. The paths are still suitable for off-road strollers, except for one small section after heavy rain. There is water over the path here after heavy rains in winter and some minor rock hopping will be required at these times.

The path follows a babbling creek and you’ll see little waterfalls and rocky pools, perfect for exploring when there is enough water. The path includes a gentle, slight uphill slope up the gully, and is not too taxing.

At the point where the path enters Cleland National Park, you’ll see a trail heading off to the right, uphill. This is an optional side trail up to Long Ridge, and it includes amazing views of the city. However, it is a narrow path with many steep drop offs, and we don’t recommend this path for younger kids.

About 1.5km from the trailhead, you’ll come to a junction. The Chambers Gully track heads up the hill to the left, while the track that continues straight ahead along the creek becomes the Bartrill Spur track. Heading up the Chambers Gully track allows you to do a loop walk up and back down to the Bartrill Spur track further up the gully, but be aware that this track is very steep, with long sections of uphill climbs. The path is still wide and smooth, and technically stroller-friendly, but we wouldn’t recommend trying to push a stroller up those hills! If you head up this track, you will be rewarded with gorgeous forest, abundant birdlife, views of the city, and lots of koalas. To complete this loop, stay on the Chambers Gully track until you get to the Gunbower Track. Turn right at Gunbower Track, and then right again at the Kirrang Track, which will take you back down to the Bartrill Spur Track in the main gully. If you walk this loop from the carpark, it will be about 6km with 190m of elevation gain.

If you choose to stay in the main gully and avoid the steep hills, you’re still likely to see koalas. We have never walked these paths without seeing several koalas. On our most recent walk, we spotted six (four in the main gully), which was fewer than normal.

If you don’t take the steeper loop option, the beauty of this walk is that it’s out and back. This means you can walk as little or as much as you like. No matter how short a walk you take, you’ll still see towering rock faces, plenty of birds, lots of water features and at least a few koalas.

What we like about hiking in Chambers Gully:

• It’s a quieter, gentler option than the trails further up the road, such as the Waterfall Gully to Mt Lofty Summit hike.
• There’s plenty of off street parking.
• You can walk as little or as much as you like.
• The paths are wide, relatively smooth, and perfect for little kids or even strollers (off-road strollers recommended).

Things to consider:

• Many of the trails here are also designated mountain bike trails, so be mindful that bikes may be traveling fast if they are riding downhill.
• There is one creek crossing which may present problems if you visit after heavy rain. The water is not deep (never more than 10cm), but there’s a chance you’ll get wet feet, and it would be challenging to take a stroller across this section when there is water flowing.

Coffee and food options nearby:

• Utopia Restaurant at Waterfall Gully is open from 9am-4pm, Wednesday to Sunday (opening days/times may vary)

Location:

Chambers Gully Carpark, Waterfall Gully Road, Greenhill

HIKE WATERALL GULLY TO MT LOFTY SUMMIT

For more information and all enquiries please visit the Cleland National Park website

At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.

As per all our Play & Go reviews, this is not a sponsored post and our review is done completely independently. All photos are by Play & Go (unless specified).

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