The Cathedral Range is a small but prominent mountain range in Victoria, about two hours north-east of Melbourne. It comprises a 7 kilometre ridge of upturned rock, and climbing then walking along this ridge makes for a fun day walk. A circuit at the southern end takes in the highest peak in the range – Sugarloaf Peak at 920m of elevation – and climbing this can be made a bit more adventurous by taking the Wells Cave Track option. There are extensive views from the top, and for much of the way as you walk north along the range, descending back down to the start at about half way.
We did this walk driving back from Melbourne to Sydney, as it doesn’t add a great deal to the overall trip. The Wells Cave Track involves a tight squeeze through Wells Cave, and then just a bit of scrambling and climbing to reach Sugarloaf Peak. If that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea then there is another easier option to the summit, the Canyon Track.
Track notes at the end. And I featured this walk in a compilation of my favourite bushwalks in Victoria.
Cathedral Range Southern Circuit: The Scenery
Track Notes
We used track notes on the Trail Hiking Australia website, but there’s information on the Vic Parks website also. We started at the Cooks Mill Campground, and took the following roads/tracks: Tweed Spur Road, Messmate Track, Wells Cave Track to the summit, and then the Razorback Track along the ridge to a clearing called The Farmyard, taking a short detour from here along the South Jawbone Track up to South Jawbone Peak, then back down and descending from the ridge via the Jawbone Creek Track to Jawbone Car Park, and finally taking the St Bernard Track back to the start. You can see these tracks in the Google Map below…
