Railton Short Walks – Sat. 8th August 2026
With winter lingering on, a shorter day of short and less strenuous walks will be just the thing to get you out and about in the fresh air. Your leader has scouted out several short walks in the Railton area, bending the rules to include one well past Sheffield!
Walk Routes: (All times are “estimated”)
Sykes Sanctuary – 10:10am
Located not much more than a km south of Railton, this involves a gentle stroll to two mysterious monuments and our morning tea spot.
Stoodley Bridge – 10:55am
Heading southwest for a little over 3km towards Sheffield, this very short walk – 500m return – takes us to an historic bridge that you have probably driven over without even knowing it’s there.
Stoodley Forest and Redwater Creek Falls – 11:15am – 1:30pm
A further 1.5km drive, partly on a side road, to begin a slightly longer walk which includes a forest loop, waterfall, and caves …and lunch!
O’Neills Creek Nature Trail – 2pm (…if time, energy and weather permit).
Back on the main road and a further 20km through Sheffield and Claude Road, we come to the outskirts of Gowrie Park.
Often bypassed on the way to Cradle Mountain, this track ambles alongside O’Neills Creek. If we are very quiet, we might even see a platypus!
If time and interest permit, we should be able to stop at the little known but impressive Dasher Gorge on the way home – just metres from Bridle Track Rd, there was once a lookout, but it was removed many years ago.
The aim is to be back in Launceston by 4pm.
See https://www.sheffieldtasmania.com.au/walks-wildlife for further information about these and other attractions in the area.
Meeting Times and Places:
If you are interested in going on this walk, please phone your walk leader Grace Hillman, ph. 0490 840 866 to book in. The departure time is 9:00am from the Door of Hope Church car park, Launceston. If making your way from elsewhere, meet at Railton public toilets, Kimberley Road at 9:55am. If you would like to arrange to meet the group at these places or elsewhere, please arrange with the leader, and please be at any meeting place 5 minutes ahead of the listed time. The leader should always be notified of any other people you intend to bring along, and you should always contact the walk leader if intending to participate in a particular Boots N’ All walk.
To access this area from northern Tasmania: From Launceston, follow Bass Hwy for 60 km, past Deloraine and turn left just short of Elizabeth Town into Railton Road (B13), following for 12 km to Kimberley. Continue along Railton Rd for a further 9km to reach Railton.
Warnings:
No particular warnings apply to these routes. Strong shoes should be adequate for the day’s walks.
You should always carry wet weather gear as well as warm clothing in case of sudden weather changes.
Bring along snacks, water and any other drinks, and your own lunch.
Map details: 1:100000 map is Forth (Tasmap 8115) and 1:25000 maps are 4442, 4441 and 4240. In the new digital 1:50000 Tasmaps, Fossey Mountains – TK06 seems to cover the area to be visited.
Map reference:
Short ref. is n/a
Zone Easting Northing Latitude Longitude
n/a
No peakbagger points will be visited during this walk. For explanation of peakbagging, see our new Peakbaggers and Abels page, which has links to various lists of peaks, including Peakbaggers, Abels, Poimenas and others. For really enthusiastic walkers, Phil Andrew’s recently updated Tasmanian Peaks Composite List [link] can be downloaded, which gives a complete smorgasbord of Tasmanian mountains, hills and high places – enough for a lifetime of bushwalking!
For GPX (.gpx) and Google Earth (.kml) versions of the track for this walk: Click here to browse our collection.
Direct links: GPX for this walk … KML for this walk
