If your looking for a great training walk that puts you to the test in training for Kokoda, try a little know track that starts in Montrose and heads straight up the side of Mount Dandenong called Glasgow Track. It is 1000m long and you climb about 350m in that distance.

No Roads ran another training day on Sat 1st Sep 2007 with Peter facilitating the walk. Peter said he had not done this walk before but it came highly recommended. In his own words upon reaching the top, he stated that this 1km walk is a great example of the Kokoda terrain complete with rocks, tree roots, the steep relentless slope and plenty of leg work required both up and down.

Follow up:

How to Find the Track?

In the MELWAY map book look up map 66 C1 and find Glasgow Road in Montrose. Travel to this road and head towards the mountain until you hit the end of the made section of Glasgow Road. Either park there or head up to a small car park at the end of the dirt section where the park starts.

The track is not marked and is literally straight up the high from that location. You will cross over a number of road access tracks which zig-zag up the hill. Head up following the track until you reach the top where you will see some Parks signs.

What does the track look like?

These are some photos I took during the walk up the track to the top of Mt Dandenong. Note you need to walk south a little to head up to see the large radio masts etc.. It starts out very easy and then quickly changes angle to be fairly steep and then to very steep where it remains steep until the top. The ground is rocky with tree roots and the track follows a water course (probably pretty hard in the wet or after rain).

Level of Difficulty

Of all the walks I have done so far in training for Kokoda, this is the most difficult, but also the shortest. Climbing up and walking down several times is the way to go. Not something to try on your first training day out, but certainly give it a go many times before you go.