Walking trails of Hamilton Island – Part 1 -Escape Beach
Hamilton Island has over 20km of scenic walking trails to explore, and every time we go to Hamilton Island we make sure we go and explore the majestic walking trials of Hamilton Island.
There are two main entrances to the uninhabited section of the island that the Hiking trails are located at.
You can reach the walking trails via either the Scenic head trail entrance located at the end of Catseye beach. Or the Resort trail entrance located on the hill behind the Palm view Hotel.
The Resort entrance is a little further away from all the official entrances of the individual walking trails so will add a few extra minutes on each of the trails except for the flat top Hill lookout. If you have a couple of days to walk Hamilton Island it is well worth starting a walk from both locations, as the view from each of the different paths gives a different view of the Island.
The main walks located on the Island are;
- Flat top Hill Lookout
- Resort Lookout
- Passage Peak
- Middle head
- Coral Cove
- Escape Beach
- South East Head
- Hideaway Bay
Our last trip though was over two years ago, and since then in the wake of cyclone Debbie much has changed in the trails around the island.
I previously wrote about our walk to escape beach, and on this trip, we ventured back and have found some great improvements on the trail.
Escape beach is a Grade 3 trail, this means even with the improvements, it contains some short steep sections and a few obstacles on the path.
If you decide to start at the Scenic trail lookout (Hideaway Bay entrance), the walk starts off very steep if you want to check out Hideaway Bay (I recommend it, especially at low to mid tide as you can see heaps of Mudcrabs and soldier crabs then you turn left at the Y intersection, or head right to Saddle junction to choose your path.
Escape Beach is on the way to South East Head so people often drop in and have a look on their way to see the view of the Linderman Islands from South East Head, however, if you only have a couple of hours to spare the walk to Escape Beach is about an hour each way, (2550m each way).
If you are going to go on your way to South East Head you will need to allow about 3 hours as it is about an hour and a half each way. (7.3km)
The distance may not seem that much, however, due to the heat and the steep hills it can definitely take it out of you, so I would recommend bringing at least 2-3 litres of water per person, you need good walking shoes there are plenty of loose rocks that you can easily slip on.
The best thing about the walks on Hamilton Island is the destination is only part of the beauty of the trails, as you walk along you need to take time to look around you will see so many beautiful views from the trail. The blue Whitsunday water on one side, gorgeous butterflies flying around on the other.
I love hiking along shorelines. This looks simply lovely! <3