Girraween - Castle Rock, Turtle Rock and The Sphinx

Castle Rock, Turtle Rock and The Sphinx other three most prominent features evident from both the information centre and main camp grounds at Girraween National Park. The height is well graded but does have a lot of stairs leading up to the section where you make the decision to either go to Castle Rock or The Sphinx.

The trail climbs through forests of black cypress, stringybark and orange gums perched high on the rocky ridges. Rock formations abound courtesy of the weather to granite dotted along the route. The start of the hike is the Castle Rock campground which does has have a set of toilets.

There are two juncture points along the track one where you decide to go to The Sphinx and the other you need to turn left to avoid taking the track to Mt Norman. As is standard in Girraween National Park white lines are used to indicate the optimal direction.

The most difficult section of The Castle Rock track is a climb through an archway through to the final ascent along open granite before scrambling up to the top. A picture of the archway is included in the the track here.

The top consists of three large boulders of which you are required to jump between to get to the alternate viewing points across the Girraween landscape. To the north you have great views towards pyramid one and two full stop to the West the Sphinx and Turtle Rock can be seen and to the north Mt Norman.

After doing Castle Rock the track descends to the Sphinx track and heads out across the ridge line to a point where the Sphinx can be viewed close-up. At the right time the wildflowers on this ridge track can be quite spectacular.

The track then proceeds to Turtle Rock and does a loop around the area below the top. This track does go to the final ascent to the top but does not ascend the top of Turtle Rock because this requires a much more difficult climb and only can be undertaken by people who are relatively skinny to get through the narrow passageway leading upwards to the top of Turtle Rock.

The conclusion of the hike returns back to the Castle Rock campground where you started.