Goat Track in the Grampians
There’s a massive list of 4WD tracks in the Grampians National Park, and I had a hard time finding information on them. Eventually, we stumbled across a list, and found that about 90% of them were closed, which was very disappointing. Fortunately, Goat Track was not, and we headed off from Boreang Campground to explore it.
Where is Goat Track?
Goat track is in the Western, centre part of the Grampians National Park. It comes off Syphon road, and ends up near Buandik Campground on the Harrop Track. You can get to the Goat track from a number of different directions, with any decent mapping system (like Exploroz Traveller) the best place to start.
How long does it take?
We did the track in about 40 minutes, and that was stopping a number of times to get photos. If you allowed an hour, you’d easily be able to do the track. We didn’t meet any other vehicles that we had to dodge, which would certainly slow you down.
What are the views like?
Spectacular. That pretty much sums it up. You get good views on both the East and the West side of the range, and there’s a few places you can pull off and go for a walk. Be very careful where you go though; there are no hand rails or signs here to warn you, like the rest of the Grampians National Park, and the drops would be deadly.
I took some photos on the East side with views that were probably almost as good as Boroka Lookout, which we thought was absolutely stunning.
How difficult is the track?
For us, we love tracks like the Goat Track. Beautiful views, enough to be fun, but not so severe that you’re going to dent your vehicle up, or roll it down a big embankment. The track heads steep up regardless of what side you take, with a few little obstacles to avoid, and a heap of mounds of dirt to make the water flow off the track.
If you’ve not done much 4WDing before, you might think this track is a challenge, but there are very few places that you could get yourself into mischief, as long as you stay on the track.
I would say that some stock vehicles (particularly with low hanging side steps) would run out of clearance on some of the dirt mounts, or scrape front or rear bumpers, as they don’t mess around with them. We had our tow hitch scrape a couple, but had plenty of clearance for everything else.
You want to be in low range, and just crawl up nice and slowly, and use the gears to crawl back down again. This is super important; if you are using your brakes to come down the hill you risk losing them all together, and having a major accident.
Watch the vlog
Want to see more? Check out our vlog:
Goat Track tyre pressures
We started off on this track at full pressures, and if you have decent tyres you could easily do the whole track like this. That said, it is rocky, and in the interest of preserving the track and my vehicle, I did drop the fronts to 28 and the rears to 30 (from 42 and 50), which made the ride a bit more comfortable.
In the wet
I have no doubt that this track would be awfully entertaining in the wet. I’m sure they close it when it gets bad, but with a bit of slippery mud around you’d have a hard time climbing in some sections. In the dry it was fun and easy enough, but add a bit of water and you’re in for a whole new ball game.
Which direction is better?
We came from the East, and down the West, purely because of where we were coming from, but if you wanted the more challenging route you’d probably do it starting from the West. This part of the track has a few more obstacles going up, which is harder than going down. Either way is fun though, and you really can’t go wrong.
Can you camp along the track?
Yep, and there’s a few places where people clearly do. One is a beautiful clearing with amazing views to the West, which looks like a brilliant place to look out and watch the sunset. Clean up after yourself, do the right thing and hopefully it will stay open.
This would only suit tents, swags, rooftop tents or very light, and small camper trailers. I certainly would not tow anything heavy, or big or you’ll end up in a world of trouble.
Is the Goat Track worth doing?
We really enjoyed doing the Goat Track. In my mind it’s a bit of a teaser for the rest of the 4WD tracks in the Grampians (that should open hopefully soon!), and would happily do it again. We’re not on a mission to find tracks that will break our 4WD, or hurt anyone inside, and Goat Track is a mild, entertaining drive with great views that everyone should like.
If you want a good 4WD Track to do in the Grampians, Goat Track is a lot of fun!
