Explore the new northern gateway to the Heysen Trail

In great news for hik­ing enthu­si­asts, the North­ern Trail­head – the start/​finish point of the icon­ic 1200km Hey­sen Trail – has under­gone a major transformation!

Locat­ed more than 480km from Ade­laide by road, in Parachilna Gorge, the trail­head is a land­mark des­ti­na­tion for intre­pid hik­ers from Aus­tralia and abroad.

What was tired and dilap­i­dat­ed infra­struc­ture at the North­ern Trail­head has been replaced with aes­thet­ic and cul­tur­al­ly sen­si­tive archi­tec­tur­al fea­tures and envi­ron­men­tal­ly friend­ly landscaping.

It’s all part of a $130,000 project dri­ven by the Friends of the Hey­sen Trail group (FOHT).

What does it include?

The project features:

• Upgrad­ed rest area park­ing, improved stile access, des­ig­nat­ed pho­to loca­tions, renewed sig­nage to enhance the walk­ing expe­ri­ence and increased pro­mo­tion of the trail.
• Exten­sive sus­tain­able land­scap­ing includ­ing the plant­i­ng of native vari­eties to com­ple­ment the trailhead’s nat­ur­al environment.
• Com­mu­ni­ty sen­si­tive before/after-hike gath­er­ing spaces includ­ing a yarn­ing cir­cle, seat­ing, bench­es and infor­ma­tive signage.

Local oper­a­tors ser­vic­ing the trail are already say­ing how proud they are to pick up and drop off at the site!

Who’s been involved?

The reju­ve­na­tion project is the largest to be under­tak­en by the FOHT group and was cel­e­brat­ed with the unveil­ing of a bronze plaque at the offi­cial open­ing at Parachilna Gorge Road.

The con­cept plan by archi­tects Brave & Curi­ous, arose from con­sul­ta­tion with FOHT, local land­hold­ers, com­mu­ni­ties and Adnya­math­anha rep­re­sen­ta­tives, and has been con­struct­ed by a team from the Prest­wood fam­i­ly of Wilmington.

The project has been sup­port­ed by a $30,000 injec­tion from the Depart­ment for Envi­ron­ment and Water as well as fund­ing from the Depart­ment for Infra­struc­ture and Trans­port, Out­back Com­mu­ni­ties Author­i­ty, the War­ren Bonython Hey­sen Trail Foun­da­tion and oth­er organisations.

Many FOHT mem­bers and vol­un­teers have also pro­vid­ed sig­nif­i­cant per­son­al dona­tions and sponsorship.

More about the Hey­sen Trail

The Hey­sen Trail, which stretch­es to Cape Jervis on the Fleurieu Penin­su­la, is the longest ded­i­cat­ed walk­ing trail in Aus­tralia. While rel­a­tive­ly small num­bers of hik­ers com­plete the 60-day end-to-end trek, many thou­sands of walk­ers fre­quent sec­tions of the trail dur­ing the April to Octo­ber walk­ing sea­son each year.

The trail tra­vers­es some of South Australia’s most scenic nation­al parks, includ­ing Deep Creek, Cle­land, Mt Remark­able and Ikara-Flinders Ranges.

Inter­est­ed in walk­ing the Hey­sen Trail? Read our blog ​‘A trekker’s per­spec­tive: nation­al parks you’ll vis­it along South Australia’s icon­ic Hey­sen Trail’.