Marysville - Cumberland Walk - North Central

Marysville - Cumberland Walk

Cumberland Walk is a 4km walk which takes about two hours along a formed track with some medium, short steep hills.

The circuit walk starts and ends at the Cambarville picnic area car park. From Marysville, travel along the Marysville-Woods Point Road for 18 km until you reach the Cambarville Visitor Area turnoff. This is where you start your walk.

The walk takes you to the Cora Lynn and Cumberland waterfalls, past Sovereign View which has sweeping views of the Cumberland Valley, to Big Tree, one of the tallest trees in Australia and the Sitka Spruce. You can also visit the "Cambarville Historic Township" picnic area.

Review:

This is one of the nicest and most interesting medium length walks for families. Starting from the Cora Lynn Falls sign on the Marysville-Woods Point Road, the narrow dirt path passes near Cora Lynn falls. There is a 100m side branch (one way) to the falls. You can get a view from above the falls and there is also a viewing platform part way down the falls where you can watch the water cascade down the rock face.

There are information boards along the track describing interesting natural elements of the area. The track is easy to follow and it would be difficult to get lost. In some parts of the track there are orange markers on the trees to mark the path.

The track then leads to Cumberland Falls where there is a seat and panoramic views of the falls. It is not possible to get close to the falls. There are views along the valley including the stark grey Mountain Ash trees which died during Black Saturday. A wooden bridge crosses Cumberland Creek above the falls.

The walk then leads past Sovereign View lookout location with views across the valley. The track then crosses Marysville-Woods Point Road at the Cambarville picnic area car park. At this point you are about half way along the route. Take the gravel 4WD track past the picnic area which has a shelter with a table, two unshaded tables and toilets (the site has untreated water) and follow the track back into the bush.

The track leads past the Elephant tree which measures 12.9m around the trunk and looks like the foot of an elephant (even to those people with little imagination). You then come to a huge Mountain Ash, the Big tree. There is a clinometer to measure the height of the Big tree. Unfortunately the glass of the clinometer was fogged up and we couldn't 100% check the height of the tree but an information board told us that it was 87.84m as of 26/10/2011. For decades this tree was regarded as the tallest tree in Australia measuring 92m. During a severe windstorm in 1959, the top was snapped off reducing it to a mere 84m. The title of Australia's tallest known tree is now taken by a tree in the Styx Valley of Tasmania which measures 96m (until the next severe windstorm in the Styx Valley). This tree has some growing to do to reach the title of tallest tree in the world which is currently a 112m high Coast Redwood (Sequoia Sempervirens).

The path then passes through a dark rainforest area with huge fallen trees covered in moss. After crossing a bridge over Cumberland Creek the path goes through a field of high ferns. This might be a bit scary in summer with the threat of snakes. Half way through you pass the Sitka Spruce, which was planted over 60 years ago by Jack Lewis, a Forest Ranger. It marks the site of a shack which was home to a timber splitter named George Loch about 100 years ago.

The whole walk took us about one and a half hours.

As a side trip from the Cambarville picnic area, it is a short walk/drive to the old town of Cambarville. Almost nothing is left of the town except a few remnants. There are information boards about a magnificent Bavarian style house, Hubertus, that used to be here, the old Mill and school.