Early in 2011 DSE closed the Lerderderg Track between Jubilee Lake and St Leonards Hill following storm damage. The track is still closed. GDTA has repeatedly requested that the track be reopened. At a meeting with DSE Midlands District in November 2011 the GDTA asked DSE to take urgent action to reopen the track.
DSE have advised that only DSE posts are allowed on their land. This means that on the Lerderderg Track between Jubilee Lake and Blackwood, DSE will replace all green GDT posts with grey DSE posts.
2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity
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Lerderderg Track
Bacchus Marsh to Daylesford
71km following the Lerderderg River Valley
Passes Through:
- Daylesford
- Blackwood
- Bacchus Marsh
Useful Links:
Purchase Maps:
GDT Ararat Circuit Walk:
Click here to download map.
Goldfields Track FAQ:
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Site sponsored by City of Ballarat
Developed by Knowers Ark
Graves Mill Walk
Lake Daylesford - Leonards Hill Rd 14.2km
This walk takes you from Lake Daylesford along the south eastern fringes of Daylesford township to Jubilee Lake, and then through part of the Wombat Forest to the top of the Great Dividing Range east of Leonard's Hill. You should buy the Lerderderg Map (also available from the Daylesford Information Centre just down from the Daylesford PO).
Access is available via a lakeside walk to the left of Boathouse (where there is parking). The walk is marked from the entry station on the Lake Daylesford embankment. Walk first around the west then north side of Lake Daylesford. The track leaves the lake on the opposite side to the Boathouse and heads up the hill to cross the Ballan - Daylesford Road, along the first part of Stanbridge Street and right into Argus Street. From this point follow the GDT posts along a gravel vehicle track past the Argus Hill Lookout..
You will see lots of woody weed infestation (mainly gorse and blackberry - along the edge of the track to Jubilee Lake - an indication of the extensive gold mining that caused massive soil disturbance in this area around a century ago. Once in the forest will see evidence of very recent hardwood logging and regrowth from over a century of previous logging.
As you approach the top of the Divide you are 725 metres above sea levels - 200 metres above Daylesford and usually cooler and wetter than Daylesford itself. Once you leave Jubilee Lake there is generally no surface water because the track is manly on ridges.
Lake Daylesford