Front country - easily accessible
Combo
Mountainous
Native bush
Open tussock/grasslands
Open ridges/tops
Gravel Road
Moderate Single Track
Technical Single Track
Untracked / Route only
Average Uphill Gradient: +11.0%
Average Downhill Gradient: -12.2%
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4:00
Slow
3:00
Moderate
2:15
Fast
A classic combo of the Dracophyllum Track (moderate/rolling) and the Camp Saddle/Craigieburn route. All tracks are open to mtb as well, so keep an ear out for riders.
From the car park area drop towards the river to pick up the signposted start of the Dracophyllum Track, you'll immediately cross an unbridged stream, and then follow the winding Dracophyllum Track for about 5km to where you cross the Broken River via bridge and then start the climb up towards the Broken River Ski Field access road. When you hit the road turn left and carry on up the road for 3km until you see the DOC signpost on the right for the Camp Saddle Track (just before the tractor sheds for the ski field). The track starts out wide and relatively easy, then steepens and gets rougher as you near the saddle itself, the last section is the worst and it's easy to loose the track - just keep aiming for the low point and you'll be fine. Once on the saddle stop to admire the views, then plunge down the scree field the other side, keeping an eye out for 'the edge' track crossing from left to right (very easy to overshoot, especially in snow). Turn right onto 'the edge' and follow it until you come to a complex junction of tracks - with the track to Helicopter Hill heading left and up, the direct track down to the Craigieburn car park straight ahead and 'the luge' track heading right - turn right and follow the luge all the way down to the Broken River Ski Field Road. (the direct track is fast but brutally steep, and it spits you out much further down so more gravel road to get back to Dracophyllum). At the road turn right and grind your way back up to where the Dracophyllum track joined, turn left and follow that track back to the start.
If you know of any public toilets near the trail start or on the route, please login and then let us know so we can update this section.
7 km
11 minutes
Unknown
No
Moderate.
only section that isn't good track is dropping off the saddle down the scree to join the 'edge' track - if you've got speed on or if there's snow it can be easy to overshoot and end up down on the skifield road
Generally good.
Windproof jacket, Gloves, Beanie/thermal headwear, Whistle, First aid kit, Extra food for emergencies, Cellphone, Map
Water in Broken River (where Dracophyllum crosses before climbing up to the broken river ski field road) generally seems ok (have drunk out of it plenty of times and never got crook) - wouldn't recommend drinking out of the stream at Texas Flat though (too far from the snow line)
Can hit snow any time of year on the saddle, and can be deep in winter (since you're higher than the broken drive and craigieburn skifields).
Sheffield Pie Shop
Sheffield
Trail Legend
Fastest Known Times (FKTs)
You and Dracophyllum / Camp Saddle Loop
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A great trail with an ever changing variety of terrain. Getting the weather perfect really helps.
January 1, 2022
A great loop with a bit of everything, always cool to head over Camp Saddle; great views back towards Castle Hill from there.
March 18, 2021
Awesome loop. The scree just after the saddle is a lot of fun. Beautiful beech forest and flowy trail. Some steep scree slopes u need to cross on the edge track but nothing too serious. Highly recommend.
January 5, 2021
These overlap with this trail to some degree. You may wish to combine them but please note that to qualify for FKTs on these runs you should record a separate activity for each.