Bushwalking

Bushwalking

South Aus­trali­a’s nation­al parks fea­ture a huge range of trails that let you expe­ri­ence a diver­si­ty of landscapes.

Where can I go for a bushwalk?

A vast major­i­ty of nation­al parks have trails suit­ed for all fit­ness lev­els. To find out which nation­al parks have spe­cif­ic bush­walk­ing trails use our find a park tool and refine your search to ​‘Bush­walk­ing’.

For more inspi­ra­tion check out these arti­cles from the Good Liv­ing blog: 

Where can I down­load trail maps?

Down­load­able pdf maps are avail­able for many of our parks. Go to the park page of the park you are vis­it­ing and click on the maps tab to down­load the pdf’s.

If you have a smart­phone or tablet you can down­load the free Aven­za PDF Map app and have inter­ac­tive nation­al park maps on hand when you need them.

Walk clas­si­fi­ca­tions

The Aus­tralian Walk­ing Track Grad­ing Sys­tem is a nation­al stan­dard to help you work out if a walk will suit your lev­el of fit­ness and experience.

Walk­ing tracks in Nation­al Parks SA reserves are grad­ed accord­ing to the Aus­tralian Walk­ing Track Grad­ing Sys­tem below.

Australian walking track grading system

Australian walking track grading system 1 No bush­walk­ing expe­ri­ence required. Flat even sur­face with no steps or steep sec­tions. Suit­able for wheel­chair users who have some­one to assist them. Walks no greater than 5 km.
Australian walking track grading system 2 No bush­walk­ing expe­ri­ence required. The track is a hard­ened or com­pact­ed sur­face and may have a gen­tle hill sec­tion or sec­tions and occa­sion­al steps. Walks no greater than 10 km.
Australian walking track grading system 3 Suit­able for most ages and fit­ness lev­els. Tracks may have short steep hill sec­tions, a rough sur­face and many steps. Walks up to 20 km.
Australian walking track grading system 4 Bush­walk­ing expe­ri­ence rec­c­om­mend­ed. Tracks may be long, rough and very steep. Direc­tion­al sig­nage may be limited.
Australian walking track grading system 5 Rec­om­mend­ed for very expe­ri­enced bush­walk­ers with spe­cialised skills, includ­ing nav­i­ga­tion and emer­gency first aid. Tracks are like­ly to be very rough, very steep and unmarked. Walks may be more than 20 km.

For fur­ther infor­ma­tion on the Aus­tralian Walk­ing Track Grad­ing Sys­tem please vis­it the For­est Fire Man­age­ment Vic­to­ria web­site.

The Hey­sen Trail

The Hey­sen Trail is one of the world’s great walk­ing trails and the longest ded­i­cat­ed walk­ing trail in Australia.

The 1,200 km trail starts at Cape Jervis and winds along the beach­es and sea cliffs of the south coast before pass­ing over rolling hills and rur­al land­scapes of the Fleurieu Penin­su­la and Mt Lofty Ranges. Beyond Mt Bryan, the trail cross­es over to the rugged peaks and val­leys of the Flinders Ranges as it heads to Parachilna Gorge where it ends.

Most nation­al park run camp­ing and accom­mo­da­tion along the Hey­sen Trail needs to be pre-booked online. 

For more infor­ma­tion, maps, camp­ing and accom­mo­da­tion vis­it The Hey­sen Trail website.

School or large groups

If you are plan­ning a trip for a school group or oth­er large group, please ensure you let the indi­vid­ual park know of your inten­tions. If you intend to vis­it remote sec­tions of the park or under­take any risky or stren­u­ous activ­i­ties, please ensure you let a respon­si­ble per­son know of your inten­tions, and when you antic­i­pate returning.