Adventure time: Mt Ngungun Summit (2.8km)

Climb Mount Ngungun.

Suitability

Suitable for walkers, easily accessible and manageable for young kids.

Highlights

If you do only one of the famous Glass House Mountains, this is the one. It’s the closest one to Glasshouse township and also the most bang for buck.

The 2.8km return trek begins easily in open forest before starting to steepen and throw in some steps. About halfway you pass ‘lovers cave’ so named after an Aboriginal legend.

From there, it gets trickier but before you know it, you pop out next to a large leaning monolith and have a long rocky ridgeline to explore.

At the peak, there are 360 degree panoramic views of the entire region. And best of all, there are no manmade incursions up there, unlike some of the other Sunshine Coast peaks. Supervise kids carefully and be sure to take your camera.

Afterwards

The smallest of the Glass House Mountains is Wild Horse Mountain, north of Ngungun. It’s well worth a visit because its east of the M1, providing a wonderful panorama of most of the Glass House peaks. There’s a large carpark near the base, providing an easy walk for most people.

How to get there

Head to the township of Glass House Mountains off Steve Irwin Way (off M1). Turn into Reed Street. Follow it around to the left. It quickly runs into Bruce Parade and Burgess St which turns into Coonowrin Street. Turn right into Fullertons Road and the car park to Mt Ngungun will be along on your right (about 3km from the Info Centre). The walk starts from the carpark.  

Trail

For more than 250 walking, running, paddling, cycling, mountain-biking and horse-riding trails on the Sunshine Coast #chooseyournextadventure with Adventure Sunshine Coast at https://adventure.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/

NB – For those who have a four-legged friend they wish to take on their adventures – be sure to check out council’s handy interactive off leash dog map️ to help identify the current dog off-leash, on-leash and prohibited areas when you’re out and about across the Sunshine Coast local government region (ie council managed public land): https://pets.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/