Clohesy River Road

It is not part of your way up to the tip of Cape York, but it is a fun four wheel drive side track in case you happen to be near Kuranda and have a few hours extra time.

It goes up to beautiful rainforest covered mountains, past a great fig tree, and is a nice drive, but it does not take you all the way to Lake Morris as the map may suggest, because the end of that road is closed for travellers.


You get quite close, but you cannot do it as a loop combined with the Bridle Creek Road, due to the closure.


From Kennedy Highway, you turn onto the Clohesy River Road south of Kuranda, and south of the Koah Road turnoff and Koah Roadhouse.
  

For starters you follow the signs to the Cedar Park Rainforest Resort, but once you come to the sign above, your turn right and not left to the resort.
   

Soon after the Y intersection you come to the first creek crossing. There will be about 10 of them along this road, so even if you don't need to use your 4WD gears, you do need high clearance.
   

Then you drive through some beautiful eucalypt forest, ...
   

... until you come to a Dinden National Park sign.
   

After several creek crossings (which in fact are all of the same creek called Clohesy River), you come to the Clohesy River Fig Tree.
   

It is smaller than the more famous Curtain Fig Tree near Yungaburra and Cathedral Fig Tree on Danbulla Forest Drive, but it is still an impressive fig tree definitely worth a stop.

There is a short boardwalk around it, which does not take you long.
   

After the fig tree the track continues, ...
   

.. gradually becoming hillier and narrower, ...
   

... as the Clohesy River Road continues crossing creeks.
   

The further up you get the lusher gets the rainforest, ...
   

... and highest up the track gets quite small.
   

In the end of the track you get quite close to Lake Morris, but the track is cut off by gates. Clohesy River Road still makes a nice drive despite that.

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Plan and Bring to the Trip... the full Destination Cape York Travel Guide

This complete 300 pages travel guide is all you need before and during your trip. Besides the background chapters on the peninsula's history and wildlife; and the comprehensive detail about all the places (down to prices, opening hours and full contact detail), it has invaluable information on at least 10 four wheel drive tracks, at least 30 guaranteed FREE camping spots on the Cape (and at least 150 on your way to the Cape), at least 40 best swimming holes, all mapped; as well as practical things - from fuel, roads, wireless internet and mobile phone reception, how to deal with the national parks booking rules; and Aboriginal land entrance and camping permits and alcohol restrictions - to vehicle preparation and accessories and necessary recovery gear by my vehicle-recovery-guy partner). Not to mention locals' tips on how to spot that croc and palm cockatoo ;-)

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