Glasshouse Mountains 4WD Tracks; mild to wild

There’s some truly iconic 4WD tracks in Australia, and we’re doing our best to cover them all here at 4WDing Australia. For those of you from Queensland though, you’ll attest to the fact that the Glasshouse Mountains is one of the most well known 4WD regions around

The Glasshouse Mountains 4WD Tracks range from mild to wild, and are used extensively by 4WD owners and motorbike riders every day of the week. If you’re chasing somewhere to test your 4WD, you won’t go wrong with the Glasshouse Mountains.

Keen for more 4WD tracks? Here’s our 4WD Tracks in Queensland post!

Glasshouse Mountains in the distance — The beautiful Glasshouse Mountains

Where are the Glasshouse Mountains?

The Glasshouse Mountains are roughly 80km North of Brisbane, and anywhere between an hour and several hours away, depending on how the traffic is! They’re in between Woodford, Beerwah and Caboolture.

What’s special about the Glasshouse Mountains?

I was quietly shocked at how stunning the Glasshouses are, arriving from a distance and slowly getting closer. They’re all different, and really quite amazing when you get up and close (and from a distance they look incredible too).

There’s not too many places you can 4WD with these in the background, and being so close to Brisbane, with so many different tracks you can’t get much better.

Glasshouse Mountains up close — They’re spectacular in person

Where are the Glasshouse Mountains 4WD Tracks?

There are more 4WD tracks in the Glasshouse mountains than you can poke a stick at. We’ve linked a map that was made by a local below, which you can flick around on, but if you want to see them all in more detail, just download Newtracs.

There are bucket loads of 4WD tracks ranging from easy to very difficult, and you can find something that suits your vehicle, risk levels and driver skill level.

There's a heap of 4WD Tracks in the Glasshouse Mountains — There’s everything from mild gravel tracks to huge offset holes and rock climbs

Dmax in the Glasshouse Mountains — We barely scratched the surface

What are the easiest, and hardest tracks at Glasshouse?

The easiest tracks in the Glasshouse Mountains are the green ones above, or the interlinking gravel tracks everywhere through the pine plantations.

The hardest ones are Big Red, Little Red, Sidewhip, Caynon track and Ho Chi Min.

Do you need a modified 4WD?

The Glasshouse Mountains 4WD tracks are made up of everything from basic gravel tracks that you could drive a 2WD along, through to some of the gnarliest 4WD tracks in the country that you need a competition style 4WD to drive.

Yes, you can take a stock vehicle to the Glasshouse Mountains, and there are tracks that you’ll be able to do, but there are plenty of places you could get yourself into real trouble, so choose wisely.

Powerlines Track in Glasshouse Mountains — Whilst a stock 4WD will do some tracks, you should be very wary of the more difficult ones

Go with a second vehicle

Going on from the above, it’s a good idea to go with another vehicle. Things can, and will go wrong, and having another vehicle around to help recover you, or at least to go and get parts, or help is really important. There is very limited mobile reception in places, and going with a mate in another vehicle just makes sense.

4WD tracks are crazy at the Glasshouse Mountains — It’s a wise move to go with another vehicle

Glasshouse Mountains Camping

There is no camping inside of the Glasshouse Mountains themselves. That said, there are a number of places that you can camp nearby. Pims mountain retreat is a property on Hipcamp, and then you have Block on a Hill, which is where we stayed and only about 20 minutes away. Of course, there’s a variety of caravan parks too, and even a couple of free camps not that far away.

We camped at Block on the Hill — Block on the Hill was a great private property not too far away

When’s the best time to visit the Glasshouse Mountains 4WD Tracks?

I was surprised to see a fair bit of mud still laying around in the middle of October. In winter then, I’d guarantee you’ll have a huge amount of mud, and if that’s your thing, then winter is the time to visit.

We generally like the spring time to visit, when things are still damp and enjoyable, but you aren’t swimming. In summer it would get quite warm and dusty, but there are plenty of tracks that are still more than difficult enough to keep yourself busy.

Glasshouse Mountains Mud — Even in mid October, there was plenty of mud around

Keep it clean

I feel sad having to mention this, but it needs mentioning. These areas are stunning, accessible and realistically, a privilege to be able to use, and if they aren’t looked after, I can see gates quickly being installed, and areas blocked off.

We got our kids into picking up cans and bottles a while back, and I’m disappointed to say that there was a fairly substantial amount of rubbish laying around when we visited, and we didn’t even see all of the tracks.

The saddest thing is that many of these places are only accessible by 4WD or motorbike, so its not the average joe in his Camry coming out and leaving a mess. Clean up after yourselves, or you’ll lose access eventually.

Glasshouse Mountains Powerlines Track — Keep it clean, or expect to lose it

Check out the Glasshouse Mountains 4WD tracks

If you’re looking to test your vehicle, or yourself out, you won’t go wrong with the Glasshouse Mountains 4WD tracks. With amazing views, lots of choice for where you go and plenty of different types of 4WDing, its no wonder its such a well known region in the 4WD community.