Bushwalking
The park is covered by more than 150 km (93 mi) of clearly marked walks that were constructed during the Great Depression and designed by Romeo Lahey. Lahey studied dairy cow movements on the surrounding hills, noticing that their paths never had a gradient of greater that 1:10. He laid out the parks tracks in a similar manner so that walkers would not be out of breath. Where steep terrain was unavoidable, steps were used instead of a steep track.
Some are short and others are steep and take up to seven hours to complete. The well maintained and signed Border Track, follows the border between New South Wales and Queensland along the top of the McPherson Range. This track links Binna Burra to the O'Reilly's guesthouse at Green Mountains, a distance of some 23 kilometres which can be completed one way in a day or in 7 to 8 hours.
A number of other well marked and varied walks connect with this Border Track creating a network which can be easily negotiated by relatively inexperienced bushwalkers. These include the Box Forest Circuit (10.9 km or 4 hours return from O'Reilly's), Toolona Creek Circuit (17.4 km or 6 hours return), and the Albert River Circuit (20.6 km or 7 hours return to O'Reilly's) to name some of the best known. While the Border Track remains reasonably level for most of its length, many of the other tracks descend to lower altitudes of 750 metres or less and provide access to some of the diverse variety of flora, fauna and geography to be found in the park.
Another attraction is the Tree Top Walk, suspended 15 m above the ground. This walk provides the opportunity to safely walk through the canopy of the forest along a series of suspension bridges. Climbing a ladder up a strangler fig takes visitors to an observation deck 30 m above the ground.
For experienced walkers there are also numerous trails traversing the park. These trails do not have clear tracks; in many cases there are only occasional markers in the natural forest and it is inadvisable to use them without the company of an experienced bushwalker who knows the area. The walk to the Stinson wreck is long and steep in places. Map reading and good navigation skills are a necessity and National Park Rangers should be notified before commencing. Camping overnight is not permitted without a permit. There are a number of natural hazards such as leeches, snakes and stinging trees that bushwalkers should be aware of.
Read more about this topic: Lamington National Park