A fantastic little walk in Victoria’s northeast, the Cumberland Track weaves its way through dense rainforest and the tall ferns typically associated with Marysville and surrounding areas.
Beginning at the Cora Lynn Falls car park, I crossed the road to the trailhead and made my way into the forest.
A storm had come through the area at some point recently, so there were broken trees scattered across the path.
Despite that, and like anything while you’re wandering around in the outdoors, I still needed to take that extra little bit of care and watch my footing.
At the 450m mark, there is a junction where you can continue left on the track or head right for 100m to the Cora Lynn Falls. There’s always something calming about a waterfall and the Cora Lynn Falls was no exception.
There are a couple of viewpoints for the falls, but I felt the best one was right at the bottom.
Heading back to the junction, I walked a further 100m to Cumberland Falls where, again, there were a couple of viewpoints (a lookout platform and a bridge).
At this point, the track begins to head up but the hills won’t exactly destroy your calves or quads.
The Cumberland Track is very much a beginner-level hike and if you have a good base level of fitness, I don’t believe you will have any issues with any of the previous sections of the trail.
The track flattens out after a while and then comes back onto the road. I crossed here and walked up the gravel road to the Cambarville Picnic Area.
The area includes a few picnic tables and a public toilet. In hindsight, we could have started here given the size of the car park compared to the other one.
Back into the forest, and within 100m, the Elephant Tree was to our left. They call it this because the trunk (which measures 12.9m around) looks like the foot of an elephant.
A further kilometre down the track is the Big Tree standing 87.84 metres high. However, it once measured 92 metres but a windstorm in 1959 snapped the top off of it reducing it to its current height.
The rest of the Cumberland Track, as mentioned before, is in more rainforest areas. However, towards the end, the trail cuts through an area of high ferns.
We didn’t encounter any snakes at the time due to it being slightly damp, but I imagine that section would have a few in warmer conditions.
I would recommend the Cumberland Track for any beginner hiker who is looking to start with a hike that they can easily manage in a scenic area.
It’s not difficult, and best of all, you get to see some impressive trees and even more impressive waterfalls.
Furthermore, it would be an ideal track to take your children on as you could easily do small sections of it should they not be able to complete the near-on 4 kilometres.
Getting to Marysville
From Marysville, follow Marysville-Woods Point Road for 18 kilometres and the Cora Lynn Falls/Big Tree Car Park will be on your left.
As always, if you wish to do this track in the future, please download it here from WikiLoc.
The Stats – Cumberland Track
Length (km): 3.7km (according to WikiLoc)
Time: 1hr 48 mins
Moving Time: 1hr 32 mins
Average Speed: 2.03 km/h
Difficulty: Easy
Maximum Elevation: 923m
Accum. elev. uphill: 75m
Accum. elev. downhill: 75m
Return/Circuit/One Way: Circuit
