Sherbrooke Forest

Walk overview

Length: 11.5km
Time: 4 hours
Grade: Medium
Ascent: 480m
Maximum height: 490m
Region: Dandenong Ranges, Victoria
Map: Melway 75, 124

"One of the most popular forests in the range is Sherbrooke Forest. From the 1850s until 1930 this forest was used for logging. In 1958 Sherbrooke Forest was declared a park and in 1987 was merged with other areas to form the Dandenong Ranges Natonal Park."

"Sherbrooke Forest contains some of the finest examples of towering Mountain Ash in this region. These are the world's tallest flowering plants growing to more than 100m in height. Many of the trees in Sherbrooke sprouted after a severe fire in 1926. Below the tall trees in an understorey of treeferns, wattles and shrubs. Birds are proflific with many treecreepers and parrots. The first is also home to the superb lyrebird which searches the forest floor for insects and grubs. This large bird is able to mimic most sounds and is commonly heard imitating other birds and man-made noises. It is sometimes seen crossing the tracks."

Source: Day Walks Melbourne

My comments

We were really lucky to get fine weather for the walk today. It had been lousy weather all week, and the rain started less than 15 minutes after we'd finished.

The walk was quite picturesque, particularly the section on the western side of Monbulk Road where we walked through a gallery of tree ferns under tall Mountain Ash forest. It got quite slippery and muddy on Hillclimb Track near Sherbrooke Falls, but other than that the tracks were in good order.

We did an extra little circuit, adding just over 2km onto the walk, and finished in just under 5 hours as a result.

My rating

A pretty walk that I'd rate easy rather than medium, and would definitely do again.

Photos from this walk

For more, see: Sherbrooke Forest photo slideshow