Photo credit: Rob Downie, Love Life Life Photography
Located deep within Girringun National Park, approximately 75km south west of Ingham is Mount Fox, a former volcano. Mount Fox was formed by a volcanic explosion, reportedly 100,000 years ago. The explosion caused a 10m long lava flow and chunks of molten magma were expelled from the volcano’s vent which caused its cone-like shape and a well-formed crater, approximately 10m deep and covered in grasses and trees.
Rochelle and I (Sarah) were in Girringun National Park a couple of months earlier exploring Wallaman Falls and Raspberry Creek Falls (be sure to check out our blog articles covering these hikes) but unfortunately ran ourselves out of time to check out Mt Fox whilst we were in the area. Rochelle was tripping around Far North QLD and I was on my return from Magnetic Island, so I decided to make the most of the return trip from Townsville and detour past Ingham to check out Mt Fox.
As I began to drive up the mountain range, the skies were looking misty and gloomy. Forever the optimist, I decided to keep perusing the route and told myself it would clear prior to my arrival. I don’t always practice what I preach but I would suggest you don’t go alone-> this is very isolated territory and not one to usually be deturbed by doing things by myself, I felt the full force of loneliness out here. As the rains started, I questioned whether I should carry on my quest to find the crater but decided I had gone too far to turn back with nothing to show for it.
How to get there:
It will depend which way you are coming from but once you reach Ingham, drive through towards the signs for Wallaman Falls. Locate Lannercost street and continue to follow it for approximately 8.8km.
Turn left on to Stone River Rd for 19km then turn right to continue Stone River Rd for a further 6.7km. There are a couple of excellent lookout spots on the way up which are worth a quick pic on a clear day.
Turn right onto Mount Fox Rd for 20km then continue to follow the road until you reach a fence. The fence isn’t locked, but ensure you close it behind you when you drive through.
The road by this point turns to a compact sand but can be managed by most car types.
1-2km further along the road you will reach another fence with the National Park signage for Mt Fox. Again, this fence is unlocked. I originally had assumed this would be where I park my car and started to head down the dirt road by foot. I passed a car a couple of hundred metres in that was similar in capabilities to mine and decided to return to the car to attempt access as I still had another 2km before the base of the crater. The road was a bit more challenging here and I wouldn’t be attempting it without at least a high clearance AWD. This road is relatively flat however and would be suitable to walk it.
Drive/walk until the road loops around and park here. There is no obvious signage here to indicate the start of your walk but you should be able to see a fairly visible muddy uphill track with some pink tape to get you started.
What you need to know
This walk may be short, but it is steep, oh so steep! My glutes were on fire for days! It is muddy and very slippery- please be careful!
There isn’t a path as such, rather a muddy, somewhat track that you pick through amongst the spinifex, vines and shrubs. However, it isn’t overly difficult from a navigation standpoint to make your way up to the top.
Total walking distance is approximately 2km (not including if you had to walk in from the official entrance sign). Once you reach the top of the crater you can walk around it or through it if you desire. There is no chance of the volcano rupturing again so don’t be concerned about this!
When I went, it was hazy and misty. I feel the real advantage would be the views over the mountain range, not the crater itself. On a clear day I think this would be quite picturesque, however I struggled to see past the clouds and mist.
Personally, I wouldn’t make the special trip just to see the crater but if you are hiking the nearby Raspberry Falls and had plenty of daylight left then it would be worth the stop over.
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