Bullock Gorge Walk, Idalia National Park - April 2022

Bullock Gorge Walk

After Sam and I had walked the nearby Wave Rock Track earlier in the morning we jumped back into the ute and bumped our way further into Idalia National Park to check out the Bullock Gorge Walk. Arriving at the carpark I expected to be dropping into a gorge almost as soon as I started walking, however after leaving the ute I found myself walking an almost level plateau on the Gowan Range. After walking the 'neck' of the plateau I arrived at a point where the track split and I jigged left - mainly due to the still fairly low sun in the east.

The track into Bullock Gorge featured a couple of fairly rocky sections - a soft roader would get through, however you'd be more comfortable in a high clearance 4wd I think (well, I would be anyway).

Finding a spot in the car park wasn't an issue today.

While I was starting to realise that there would be no gorge along this stroll (the gorge bit must refer to the country off either side of the plateau?) I was more than happy with the views that I was getting. The walk basically now traverses around the 'head' of the plateau, the track mostly kept fairly close to the cliff edges. The sparse open forest here didn't really present any difficulties if I wanted to reach the edge of the escarpment to check out the views or take another photo. The day was getting fairly warm by now so I was happy that I was able to get a little shelter from the trees and also a bit of a breeze across the plateau, looking down towards the plains disappearing into the distance I knew it would be a lot hotter when we got down there later this afternoon.

I had a short rocky section...

... before reaching the sandier woodland section. 

The views are a constant on this walk. 

Reaching the eastern edge of the plateau I wandered out onto a short ridge to get what was arguably the best views of the walk I thought as the country on both sides of me dropped away steeply. With Sam waiting at the ute I didn't linger too long here though, soon retracing my steps and then not much later re-joining my outward route again. Now retracing a walk isn't really a favourite, however I always find something new to look at and with the sun now in a slightly different position as well as the change of direction adding a different perspective. It was less than an hour since I'd left the ute when I arrived back this morning after what was another nice easy walk.

The track around the plateau was generally pretty obvious. 

Bullock Gorge Walk, Idalia National Park. 

Idalia National Park.

The Mulga gave me a bit of shade today. 

The Dirt.

According to my GPS I walked around 3.2 kilometres and climbed about 18 metres on this easy stroll. Apart from some very short sections of rocks this walk is all along a good surface which would make it doable for most people. I got information for this stroll from the QLD Parks and the Alltrails websites - although both offer only rudimentary information. This walk is a long way into the Idalia National Park and requires a long trip on rough dirt tracks - I'd recommend a high clearance 4wd here. I used my Alltrails Map along with my GPS topos on this stroll.

Relevant Posts.

Wave Rock Walk, 2022.

Arguably the best view was a short detour to the east off the track.

The short and rough side trip was worth the effort I think. 

Sam's still sitting the shade.