Trail Running in Dandenong Ranges

The Kokoda Track Memorial Walk is one of the most visited walking tracks in Victoria, and on weekend mornings the narrow timber-stepped sections near the base can back up with slow-moving foot traffic, making genuine running difficult rather than merely crowded. Locals who actually want to run the full loop treat it as a weekday or first-light exercise, arriving at the Ferntree Gully car park at or before sunrise on weekends specifically to get a clear run at the steps before the walking crowds build from mid-morning onward. By 10am on a fine Saturday, the lower third of the track can be walking pace only regardless of fitness.

The quieter alternative is not to avoid the Dandenongs altogether but to shift the running further into the network. The Eastern Dandenong Ranges Circuit and Sherbrooke Forest Loop see a fraction of the Kokoda Track's foot traffic even at midday on a weekend, because most visitors come specifically for the 1000 Steps and rarely explore beyond it. Runners who want a longer, less interrupted session on a weekend afternoon are generally better served starting from Sherbrooke or the eastern side of the park than fighting through the crowds gathered at Upper Ferntree Gully around the main stepped section itself.

The same cool, moist microclimate that keeps the Dandenongs green through summer also means the ground rarely gets a chance to dry out between rain events, particularly from June to September. Sherbrooke Forest's fern gully floor is soft organic soil rather than free-draining sand or rock, so it holds water and stays soft for days after rain rather than firming up the way an exposed ridge trail would. Runners used to Melbourne's flatter, faster-drying suburban parks are often surprised that a track can still be genuinely muddy three or four days after the last rain fell.

Because of that, many regular Dandenongs runners keep two pairs of trail shoes in rotation through winter rather than one, since a soaked pair often has not fully dried by the next session even indoors overnight. It is also worth checking which side of the range you are running on, the western slopes around Ferntree Gully and Sassafras catch the brunt of weather rolling in off Port Phillip Bay and tend to hold more water underfoot than the more sheltered eastern circuits, a distinction that matters more here than the difficulty rating printed next to any single trail.