Toolbrunup Peak

How to get there

1. Chester Pass Road to the signed Toolbrunup access near Moingup Spring — between the Bluff Knoll turn-off district and the western peaks. No public transport.
2. Pay or display vehicle entry as for the rest of the park (entry station on Bluff Knoll Road, camping booking, or Parks Pass). Passes are entry only.
3. Moingup Spring Campground is the nearby official camp — Park Stay only, seven unpowered sites, no drinking water provided. It is not a trailhead car-park overflow.
4. No dogs. Offline map. PLB sensible. Screenshot alerts before you leave Albany or Mount Barker.

How to do it (step by step)

1. Start only if the party is actually agile on rock, not just “we did Bluff Knoll yesterday.” Descent on scree is the usual failure window.
2. Stay on the marked trail through woodland along the creek, then the boulder and scree rise to the south-west buttress saddle. From the saddle it is a short, steep scramble to the summit. Turn around before the scramble if confidence or conditions are wrong.
3. Spring mountain bells and southern cross flowers on the upper slopes are a bonus, not a reason to push a bad weather day.
4. Out-and-back. Reverse the same line. Do not invent a traverse to Mount Hassell because you can see it.

What to expect — not a shorter Bluff Knoll

Toolbrunup Peak is the second-highest summit in the Stirling Range at 1052 m. Explore Parks WA: magnificent views, but you need to be fit and agile and prepared to scramble up steep rocky sections. Trails WA: 4 km return, Class 5 / extreme, 3–4 hours. The kilometre count is the trap. This is the more technical marked day walk, not a condensed Bluff Knoll. Not walked. Unofficial operator’s manual only.

Official-before-money: confirm live on Explore Parks WA (site/toolbrunup-peak), Trails WA, and alerts.dbca.wa.gov.au. Grade wording differs between listings — believe the scramble, not the shorter distance.

How the walk actually runs

Start at the parking area on the short unsealed access off Chester Pass Road near Moingup Spring. The trail leaves the car park through woodland, mostly following a creek, and gets progressively steeper.

Beyond the woodland: large boulders, loose rocks and steep scree to a saddle near the top of the south-west buttress. From the saddle, a short steep scramble to the summit. Uninterrupted views on a clear day. Spring: mountain bells and southern cross flowers on the upper slopes if you still have the weather for it.

Same line down. Descent on loose scree with tired legs is where people come undone. Face the slope, short steps, no hero jumps.

Access, camp, water, who should not

2WD to the trailhead in ordinary dry conditions. After rain, treat the unsealed spur as high-clearance country and confirm alerts. Moingup Spring Campground is the official public camp nearby — seven unpowered sites, Park Stay only, reopened November 2025 after a bushfire rebuild. Flush toilets, food-prep shelter with gas stove, dishwashing, picnic tables, sheltered gas BBQ in the adjacent day-use area. No drinking water provided. No fires. No dogs. Generators 10am–1pm and 5pm–8pm. Pack out rubbish. Camping fee is per person plus separate vehicle entry — pay the live Park Stay amount (Explore Parks does not publish a Stirling camping dollar table on the public camping-fees page). Private camps on the northern boundary are commercial, not park camping.

No walk permit for this marked day walk. Registration is only for off-trail, abseil or climb — shelter opposite the Bluff Knoll Road entry station. Carry water, layers, first aid, offline map. PLB and a trip-intentions form are the adult kit, not extras for Instagram.

Who should not: anyone who found Bluff Knoll’s steps at their limit, mixed-mobility groups, kids who are not sure-footed on rock, wet-weather parties, people who need reception.

Hazards — scree, scramble, weather

Rock hopping, loose scree, a real scramble. Wet rock turns the upper third into a different walk. Rapid weather on the peak is the same story as Bluff Knoll: sudden cold, rain, hail, wind, mist. Exposure. Summer heat. Extreme fire-danger days: stay out. Dieback: stay on the track, clean boots. 1080: no dogs.

Mobile is limited. 000 needs reception. A PLB is the device that still works when the phone does not. This is not a reason to skip the reverse when the scramble feels wrong — a beacon is not a plan.

Bail-outs and reverse

Out-and-back. Turn around before the scramble if conditions or confidence are wrong — that is the published shape of a sane day, not a failure. Turn around earlier if scree is sliding or weather is building.

Do not traverse to Mount Hassell because the summit view makes it look close. Hassell is its own marked walk from Stirling Range Drive. Do not “finish” on the Ridge Walk. Plan B if Toolbrunup is the wrong product: Bluff Knoll on a better weather day, Mount Trio if you wanted steps not scramble, or lookouts on the Drive. Confirm live status before you drive to a second trailhead.

Map (orientation)

Pin may be approximate. Confirm trailheads, parking and track status on Explore Parks WA / DBCA before you drive.