Longer Walks

Canopy Trees

The "H" Track Loop (1.3km) is a circuit walk through the rainforest south of Paluma village. The eastern end of the track leaves from the back of Lennox Crescent, the western end from the back of Whalley Crescent behind James Cook University's Field Study Centre (formerly the Police Station).

Access to this track is pedestrian only, so you are advised to park your car at the Paluma Pottery or the Village Green (in the middle of town) and walk to the beginning of the track. Buses are advised to park at the national park carpark - turn right at the top of the range.

The "H" Track runs along the alignment of a former logging road or 'snig track', used by the Whalley family of timber cutters. Although this track unfortunately has no interpretive information provided, it is used extensively by students staying at Paluma's two environmental education centres and James Cook University's Field Study Centre.

Features to look for are the 'freshwater classroom' and the 'leaf litter circles', seating areas that are used mainly by primary school students. You will also see evidence of Paluma's former softwood timber industry - tree stumps, metal track markers, blazes, a loading ramp, chains and wire rope. There is also evidence of the tin-mining industry carried out before that - excavation of creek banks, a test hole, mullock heap and campsite.

Please do not touch any of these artefacts, as they are used in situ by visiting students as part of their learning activities. You may also notice trees with coloured tape or numbers on them. This is evidence of JCU's leading research into rainforest botany. An annotated species list for the "H" Track is available from JCU.

The Witt's Lookout Track (1.5km) leads to two adjacent lookouts at the end of a walk in the National Park. This is not a circuit walk. Allow about 45 minutes. Park in the national parks car park near McClelland's Lookout (turn right at the top of the range road) and walk up to the track's beginning just past the telecommunications tower.

The Witt's Lookout Track is a self-guided walk with storyboards drawing attention to some significant ecological features. Notable features include bark types, the strangler fig story, buttress roots, climbers and the importance of fire in maintaining the rainforest's 'boundary'.

From Witt's No. 1 Lookout, look back to your right to the telecom tower, noting the density of the rainforest canopy. At Witt's No. 2, note the line that provides Paluma with 240V mains power. When this line was first installed, a swathe was cut through the forest and vehicles were winched up the slopes.

When a third phase was added in recent years, the line was spooled out from a helicopter and the forest remained undisturbed. The rocky outcrop to the north of Witt's No. 2 was the wartime site of an American Army radio station, providing emergency back-up to the fragile copper telephone line running from tree to tree back to the radar plotting centre in Townsville.

Both Witt's Lookouts No. 1 and 2 afford magnificent views of the coastal plain. Note the areas of coastal forest now cleared for the growing of sugar cane, tropical fruits and pineapples. Make sure you take your camera.

The Cloudy Creek Track (3km) is an extension of the Witt's Lookout Track, forking to the left about 350 metres from the lookouts. From the fork in the track down to Cloudy Creek, the track is quite steep, so the walk back up is more strenuous than any other track around Paluma. Park in the national parks car park and allow a comfortable two hours return trip.

Cloudy Creek is an example of the myriad creeks that run off the coastal escarpment and collect locally in either Little or Big Crystal Creeks. Observe the vegetation types along the track and the creek. Once, rainforest frog species were common in the pools at the end of the track, but since the 1980s their numbers have inexplicably declined. At high altitudes like Paluma, some species are now locally extinct. Make sure you leave the waters of rainforest creeks uncontaminated (no soap).