Ferntree Gully Forest - Revisited!

Walk overview

Length: 11.4km circuit
Time: 4 hours
Grade: Medium
Ascent: 700m
Maximum height: 500m
Region: Dandenong Ranges National Park
Map: Melway maps 65, 74

"The forest near Ferntree Gully has always been a popular destination for a brief escape from the nearby city. First reservedin 1882, it became a national park in 1927 and in 1987 was merged with nearby Sherbrooke and Doongalla Forests into the Dandenong Ranges National Park. A network of walking tracks and closed fire management tracks penetrate the forest providing pleasant year round walking."

Source: Day Walks Victoria

My comments

Today we repeated this walk we'd done about three months ago, and which was the first in our series of training walks for Nepal.

Chris seemed very reluctant to repeat the walk. I soon confirmed it was because he thinking it was still going to be pretty tough. But we aced it this time! The "1000 steps" section--a set of 1000 slippery, uneven stone steps--was much easier than before: no huffing and puffing or needing to stop every few steps. And I even managed the steep Chandler's Hill without any grumbling!

We finished the walk in about 3 hours and 20 minutes (more than an hour faster than the last time), despite stopping to take lots of photos. Our timing was good too - the rain started just as we sat down at the picnic ground near the carpark to eat our lunch.

My rating

Good. A great training walk and a good way to judge your fitness.

Photos from this walk

For more see: Ferntree Gully Forest photo slideshow