Corin Road, Square Rock & Stockyard Spur

The Corin door

If you live north-west Canberra, this can be faster than Tharwa. You still need Parks ACT conditions. Square Rock is the honest granite day when Booroomba’s road is shut.

This door has no Visitor Centre. Screenshot alerts on town Wi-Fi. Fuel in Canberra. Gibraltar Falls picnic furniture does not mean the lookout walk is open.

Pick one outdoor block: Square Rock, or Stockyard Spur / Gingera. Write it down. Smokers Trail (20.5 km one way to Orroral) is a different, long Grade 4 — not an impulse add-on.

Square Rock

Parks ACT: 10.5 km return from Corin Road / 4.5 hours / Grade 3 / Status Open on re-check 13 Sep 2026. Huge granite, alpine ash, snow gums. Lookout plus a side-track viewpoint at the head of the Orroral Valley. Metal ladder to a platform. Cliffs. Care required.

Download official Square Rock track notes (PDF). Stay on boardwalks through sensitive vegetation. Out-and-back; the side lookout is optional. Reverse is the bail-out.

This is a working 4.5-hour day, not a 20-minute lookout from the car. If you only have two hours, Cypress Pine from Tharwa is the closer product.

Stockyard Spur from Corin Dam

Official: 13 km return to the Mt Franklin Road junction / 6 hours, or 22 km return to Pryors Hut and Gingera / 8–9 hours. Grade 4. 700 m up and down. Status Open on re-check. First light. Alpine kit. PLB is a realistic note.

Do not start Square Rock at 8am and “see about Gingera after lunch.” That is how groups finish in the dark. See the Gingera area page and the full-day itinerary.

Gibraltar Falls and Woods Reserve — both closed on this snapshot

Gibraltar Falls Lookout: Parks ACT Status CLOSED until further notice (alert from 14 February 2023; also “later in 2026” for safety infrastructure). 400 m return when open. Not a swimming site. Dogs prohibited on the falls track.

Woods Reserve campground on Corin Road: closed from 1 November 2025 until late Spring / further notice. Still listed closed on re-check 13 Sep 2026. Do not plan it as overflow camping.

Use Square Rock as the granite Plan B for a closed Booroomba road. Use Tharwa if you need a Visitor Centre and a short walk. Do not invent a waterfall stop.

If Corin is the wrong door today

Booroomba from Honeysuckle if you wanted granite and the Visitor Centre says that access is the one to use.

Yankee Hat if culture and grassland were the point. Cypress Pine if the group is mixed and the clock is short.

Highlights at a glance

• Square Rock — 10.5 km return / 4.5 hours / Grade 3 / Open (re-check 13 Sep 2026)
• Optional Orroral Valley viewpoint on a side-track; metal ladder to a platform
• Corin Dam — Stockyard Spur start for Gingera (700 m climb)
• Smokers Trail 20.5 km one way Corin Road to Orroral Tracking Station (Grade 4, Open)
• Gibraltar Falls lookout Status CLOSED until further notice — not your waterfall stop

Walks nearby

Grades, times and open/closed status change — open each guide and verify on Parks ACT before you go.

Itineraries that use this area

Full day (4.5 hours walking plus Corin Road drives)

Square Rock day

Official 10.5 km return / 4.5 hours from Corin Road. Alpine ash, snow gums, metal ladder and cliffs. Gibraltar Falls lookout is closed — not your 20-minute add-on. Not Gingera.

Long full day (6 or 8–9 hours walking)

Mount Gingera full day

Pick one start: Mt Franklin Road 14.5 km / 6 hours, or Stockyard Spur from Corin Dam 22 km / 8–9 hours. Pryors Hut is the turnaround meeting point, not a booked bed. Not a Canberra afternoon.

Map

Orientation only — confirm trailheads and road status before you drive.

FAQ — Corin

Explore next

Other Namadgi corners — not a second summit stacked onto this one. Pick the door that matches tomorrow’s clock.

Tharwa

The front door. Namadgi Visitor Information Centre on Naas Road, 2.7 km south of Tharwa bridge. Maps, conditions, PLB hire, firewood for sale, card only. Mount Tennent starts in the car park.

Orroral

Valley camping, Orroral Homestead, former tracking-station context at Honeysuckle, and the current walking access to Booroomba Rocks while the road is closed.

Yankee Hat

Ngunnawal rock art, grassland kangaroos, Gudgenby valley. The cultural walk most visitors should do before they chase granite.

Gingera

ACT alpine: snow gums, Pryors Hut, Mount Gingera 1,857 m, Mt Franklin Road, Stockyard Spur. Winter snow. This is not a Canberra café afternoon.

Boboyan south

Settlers Track, Mount Clear campground, remote unsealed south. Mount Clear is basic, not for camper trailers, 7-night max.