Melbourne · Easy · Circular

The 1000 Steps to One Tree Hill, Dandenong Ranges

Up the 1000 Steps of the Kokoda Track Memorial Walk through tall forest and tree ferns to One Tree Hill, and down the Lyrebird Track.

Distance
3.9 km (2.4 mi)
Ascent
265 m
Time
About 2 h
High point
476 m
Grade
Easy

Line © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), checked by Global Adventurer.

0 km1 km2 km3 km475 m177 m
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The 1000 Steps to One Tree Hill, Dandenong Ranges
Kacey Chong · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The walk

From the Ferntree Gully Picnic Ground car park, follow the Kokoda Track Memorial Walk up the valley beside a creek, under tall mountain ash among tree ferns. The path soon becomes the 1000 Steps, set into the hillside and climbing steeply, with memorial plaques along the way recalling the Kokoda campaign of 1942. At the top it reaches the One Tree Hill Picnic Ground. Come back down by the Link Track and the Lyrebird Track, a wider and gentler track through the forest, to the car park.

It is 3.9 km round with 265 m of ascent; allow about 2 hours. The grade is Easy: short, but the steps are steep and relentless, and can be slippery when wet.

Parks Victoria asks walkers to go up the steps and come back down by the Lyrebird Track. The park is closed on days of Extreme fire danger and in severe weather. Dogs are not allowed in this part of the park.

The car park at the bottom of the steps is usually full by 10 am on weekend mornings. Upper Ferntree Gully station, on Melbourne's Belgrave line, is about 1.2 km away.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.

Good to know

  • The Kokoda Track Memorial Walk, which takes in the 1000 Steps, honours Australians who fought on the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea in 1942
  • The steps climb through mountain ash forest and tree ferns in the Dandenong Ranges National Park
  • The walk up is one way on the steps, with the Lyrebird Track as the way back down
  • Upper Ferntree Gully station, on Melbourne's Belgrave line, is about 1.2 km from the start

Getting there

Start: Ferntree Gully Picnic Ground car park. -37.89097, 145.31743

Directions to the start

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Places to stay nearby

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Paths change, and the weather decides the day. The line and figures come from OpenStreetMap and our own checks; take a map, check the forecast, and turn back if it isn't right.