Where

Cascade National Park in North Coast

Distance

5km return

Time suggested

1 - 2hrs

Grade

Grade 4

Opening times

Mobong walking track is always open but may have to close at times due to poor weather or fire danger.

What to
bring

Hat, sunscreen, drinking water

Please note

Remember to take your binoculars if you want to go birdwatching.

The first 500m of Mobong walking track follows a historic tramway that was once used when the area was logged for timber. You’ll even walk across old sleepers along the path. The trail then follows Mobong Creek, with its waterfalls and serene pools. All around, lush rainforest trees tower above the path, while at ground level old stumps are another reminder of bygone days.

Along the way, listen carefully for the shy lyrebird, whose call mimics sounds from their environment. You might also hear some of the rare frogs living in the leaf litter of the forest.

For the final 800m of the walk, you’ll travel through Wild Cattle Creek State Forest, finishing at a picnic area, so make sure you bring along some sandwiches for a relaxing break before retracing your steps. On the way back join the Box Ridge walking track to view the huge ancient brush box trees.

For directions, safety and practical information, see visitor info

Visitor info

Maps and downloads

Learn more

A natural palette of colours

Cascade National Park combines warm temperate and subtropical rainforest filled with coachwood, crab apple, booyong and even hoop pine. Antarctic beech can also be found within its boundaries. In December, Dorrigo waratah blooms, showing off its spectacular red flowers. In the wet eucalypt forests, brush box, tallowwood and Sydney blue gums flourish.

Cascade's logging past

At the beginning of the 20th century, all over Dorrigo Plateau, the land was being opened up for dairy farming and cropping. Soon after, red cedar and hoop pine was targeted by loggers. A rail line was opened in 1924 to Glenreagh, and a network of tramlines carried timber from the forests to the mills at Cascade. Although logging no longer takes place here, the four rail lines and logging relics can be seen in Cascade National Park and nearby Nymboi-Binderay and Dorrigo national parks, in particular, around Cascade village and along Moonpar Forest drive.

Get active, or simply relax

For those who like mountain biking, get yourself to Cascade ride. If walking is more your style, take a walk beneath the ancient trees on either Box Ridge or Mobong tracks. There's also a driving route that traverses both Cascade and the southern reaches of Nymboi-Binderay national parks. And be sure to bring your binoculars for birdwatching, and a picnic for when you're ready to relax. There's a full range of adventures, from the gentle to the more active, in Cascade National Park.

Rich with biodiversity

The rainforest in Cascade is busy with birds and animals, both day and night. During daylight hours, you may see lyrebirds, brush turkeys, and bowerbirds to name a few. The brightly feathered wompoo fruit dove, with its green belly blends, camouflages itself within the forest canopy. Wallabies can be seen early and late in the day. And rare species including sphagnum and pouched frogs, spotted-tailed quolls and red-legged pademelons also call Cascade National Park home.