The entire 164km trail is walkable again for the first time since the 2024–25 season.

The Grampians Peaks Trail has fully reopened to hikers, marking the most significant milestone yet in the recovery of Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park following the devastating 2024–25 bushfire season.

Five hike-in campgrounds – Barri Yalug, Duwul, Durd Durd, Yarram and Wannon – reopened this month, joining the previously restored Bugiga campground to complete the Grampians Peaks Trail (GPT)’s full 164-kilometre route from Mount Zero (Mura Mura) in the north to Dunkeld in the south. It’s the first time the entire trail has been accessible since the fires swept through more than 135,000 hectares of the national park.

Most of the trail had reopened by July last year, but the remoteness and scale of damage to the central and southern sections meant overnight hiking remained off-limits while extensive repair works were underway. In total, six hike-in campgrounds were damaged, and large sections of track required rebuilding.

Recovery efforts have been supported by $36 million in funding from the Victorian and Commonwealth Governments.

Parks Victoria recovery project officer, Kyle Hewitt, described arriving at a trail that had effectively vanished. “The post-fire inspections of the track quickly identified large sections which no longer had the cut-vegetation corridors which once guided people on their journey – it was like the track had disappeared," he said.

Works included stabilising and redefining approximately 20 kilometres of track, and around 100 stone steps were also installed to manage steeper gradients in what Hewitt describes as a now “fragile environment."

Of the affected campgrounds that reopened, Barri Yalug and Duwul sustained the most damage, though Hewitt noted that none were completely destroyed. Works included new timber tent pads, replacement water tanks and tank-landings, new windows at the Yarram shelter, and repairs to solar power systems. The remoteness of some sites required two helicopter sling-load operations to transport materials in and remove debris, while the Yarram shelter’s window height demanded professionally erected scaffolding reaching seven metres.

Nature, too, has been doing its own repairs. “There are lots of epicormic shoots coming back, and some of the ground cover has returned," Hewitt said – though shade remains scarce in the hardest-hit areas around Barri Yalug and Duwul.

For hikers who have been waiting to tackle one of Australia’s great multi-day walks, the wait is finally over.

Details

Distance: 164 kilometres
Time: 13 days/12 nights
Grade: 5
Website: Explore the full 13-day experience or discover how to hike the GPT in smaller trails.