Take a walk in Hale Conservation Park: Hale Circuit Hike

The Hale Cir­cuit Hike is a mod­er­ate hike in Hale Con­ser­va­tion Park, 60 km north-east of Ade­laide, just past Williamstown.

Start­ing at the War­ren Road car park, this 4 km cir­cuit hike will take you about 2 hours to complete.

The trail is a defined nat­ur­al sur­face, with gen­tle grades, some steep sec­tions and exposed rock lead­ing to wide views of this tran­quil landscape.

The park’s rangers can’t rec­om­mend this hike enough – it’s a beau­ti­ful and reward­ing hike.

High­lights include the pris­tine and diverse native veg­e­ta­tion, panoram­ic views of the South Para Val­ley and Barossa region.

The flow­ing creek and water­fall are a nice sur­prise at the bot­tom of the gul­ly, with thick under­sto­ry near­by mak­ing good bandi­coot habitat.

Along the way, check out the mica dig­gings – a small his­tor­i­cal dig site where shim­mery gold mica and quartz have been exposed.

Also keep an eye out for the native wildlife, such as wood­land birds and scratch­ing echid­nas, and in the sum­mer months you might even come across the res­i­dent goanna.

Dur­ing win­ter and spring the park is alive in colour, with native vio­let and flame heath lin­ing the trail, inter­est­ing fun­gi, hun­dreds of green hood orchids and many oth­er orchid species.

The trail is best tack­led in an anti-clock­wise direc­tion. Down­load the help­ful and infor­ma­tive leaflet from the Walk­ing Trail Sup­port Group to get your very own guid­ed tour of this tran­quil place.

Why not give the trail a shot and see what you find! Don’t for­get your cam­era and binoculars.

Things to pre­pare before you go

Make sure you pack enough drink­ing water and food. It’s also a good idea to pack sun pro­tec­tion (a hat, sun­glass­es and sun­screen) and insect repellent.

It’s also essen­tial you wear suit­able footwear and cloth­ing for hik­ing, such as long pants.

There are no bins in nation­al parks, so you’ll also have to think about how you can take your rub­bish home. Find out more about how you can leave no trace.

Want to explore this region fur­ther? Take a look at ourPara Wirra Con­ser­va­tion Park ranger tipsandweek­end itin­er­ary blogs.