Mount Kaputar National Park

Mount Kaputar reaches 1,510 metres above the flat cotton country of northwest New South Wales, the remnant of a volcano that erupted around twenty million years ago, and from the summit on a clear day the view is said to cover about a tenth of the state. Sawn Rocks, on the northern side, is a wall of hexagonal basalt columns forty metres high, formed by slow cooling and exposed by erosion, reached by a short walk. The mountain's isolation has produced endemic species, including the Kaputar pink slug, a bright pink animal up to twenty centimetres long that lives only on the summit plateau and emerges after rain. Snow falls on the top most winters.

History

Before it became a park the land was mostly grazed, a few pioneering families lived in its harsh conditions, and sheep and cattle grazed the plateau until about the 1950s, their stockmen sometimes seeing no one for months. In 1925 some 775 hectares around the mountain were declared a reserve for public recreation, a trust was formed two years later, the area was enlarged to 14,244 hectares and proclaimed a national park in 1959, and in 1967 it passed to the new National Parks and Wildlife Service (Wikipedia, Mount Kaputar National Park).

What you'll find

• Sawn Rocks - the organ-pipe wall of hexagonal basalt columns.
• The summit view - a vast panorama over the northwest plains.
• The pink slug - the endemic giant slug, active on the plateau after rain.
• The volcanic landscape - domes, bluffs and trachyte outcrops across the park.

When to go

March to November for comfortable walking; the summit is cold and can be snowbound in winter, while the plains below bake in summer. The pink slug is only seen after rain on the plateau, usually in the cooler months.

Before you go

The mountain road is steep, winding and partly unsealed, and is closed to caravans and trailers. Weather at the top differs sharply from Narrabri below. Facilities are limited to campgrounds and cabins that must be booked, and the pink slug is elusive.

Nearby

Narrabri lies west; the Warrumbungles are south near Coonabarabran.

Key facts