Cooks Mill Campground

Did the southern circuit on a 30 degree day and it was amazing!! Please bring minimum 3-4 litres of water if you’re doing it in summer and bring food. The hike was great and really challenging. Quite a lot of rock to climb on the sugar loathe peak - be prepared. Not going to lie it took us 7 hours (recommended 5 hours) but we stopped quite often.

I love this camp ground. Most people are very respectful, the camp sites are a good space from each other and the tracks are beautiful.

You need to book a site!!! So many people show up at 11 at night with their high beams on and disturb the whole camp only to realize that all the sites are taken. And for the love of God, don't bring your dogs to this camp ground!!!! There are signs everywhere before you enter that this isn't a pet friendly area.

The views are beautiful and there are multiple points of access to the river.

If you are car camping and want a fire pit the sites are limited but there are plenty of places to park up.

Spacious and shady campground. The public toilet can be improved for a better experience. I suggest you byp toilet suite/tent

Solid campgrounds. Plenty of fire pits. Gorgeous morning views. Walking distance to hiking tracks. A river nearby for washing. The water is drinkable if you're used to it. Plenty of interesting wildlife.

Peaceful campground with really good sites spaced out nicely with views to the Cathedral Ranges, river and forest.

The campsites are all unpowered. Booking via parks.vic.gov.au is essential and not assigned to a specific site. I would recommend getting in early to secure yourself a spot at the upper terrace with views out to the ranges, it’s the best!

Also be prepared to meet plenty of wildlife including kangaroos, kookaburra, lyrebirds, and even platypus.

This campground is equipped with plenty of open pits to build your own campfire, drop toilets and untreated water storage.

From Cooks Mill, take a short family friendly trail via Friends of Nature trek. If up for a challenge, ascend to the Cathedral Ranges from Messmate Track to Sugarloaf Peak, Razorback Track, and then either continue to complete the full Cathedral circuit (further North via Cathedral Peak and Neds Gully), or descend at Farmyard via Jawbone Track and St Bernard Track if you want to get back to Cooks Mill through the Southern circuit.

Great State park campground. A great array of hikes ranging from easy to difficult. Camp spots are roomy and shared fire pits. If you have trailer or caravan get in early for drive in sites . Was quite during week but filled up on the weekend. Lots of wildlife on view.

Good place to camp. There is a dry toilet in the campsite. Vast place, beauty birds, cute kangaroo, good campfire area and natural environment. Book before you come, enjoy the trails and staring sky if the weather is nice.

This was a lovely camp ground and if we are in the area again I will definitely be back. It was nice and spacious and loads of fire pits around. The long drop was clean and the whole area very tidy. The creek was very fresh but amazing. If you can find out the bower of the Satin Bower bird is pretty impressive.

This is a great quiet campground with drop toilets, a river for fun and bathing. There are many walks of varying degrees of difficulties that start at this camp also. You can take your cars right up to your campsite in most cases here. Smooth gravel road entry off the bitumen, easy for cars and bikes. This area can also be used for picnic trips.

We really enjoyed camping between backwoods, cold swim in the creek and going on a long and challenging hike with beautiful rocks and views. All easy to reach from the campground.

Awesome spot for family camping. Very quiet and clean with maintained drop toilets and plenty of wildlife.

Spacious grassed areas with lovely trees. Nearby creek makes provides a nice place to cool down. Fire pits spread around the campground.

Great spot, nice river to paddle in, lots of hiking trails, toilets need a more regular clean though!

One of my favourite campgrounds in the whole of Victoria. Beautiful, secluded spots with campfires, amazing views across to the ranges, a clean river nearby to splash in, and kangaroos in the morning... what more could you want?

Very challenging hike but worth it!
Hiking to Sugarloaf peak was one of my goal for almost 3 years, I’m so glad that I made it!

Best for one night stay

Great campground with close proximity to some great hikes and viewpoints.

Plenty of fire pits and a well-maintained area.

The toilets are a little stinky on days where the wind isn't blowing.

Very busy on weekends, and you're quite close to other campsites so if you're after privacy this might not be the right place for you.

Great camp ground, acceptable amenities. Drop toilet is by far one of the smelliest I’ve come by, but this shouldn’t deter you. The grounds itself is wonderful and so close to hikes around the area. I would visit here again.

Good sized camp sites and each has a large fire pit. On the road to the left there's two large and relatively secluded camp sites up the hill past the toilets which are usually free since they aren't visible from the road. From the campground there's very easy access to great hiking and 4wd trails. Highly recommend the Wells Cave Track and Canyon Track loop but the description is accurate - there's some very exposed sections which are basically rock climbing!

Beautiful camping location with creeks, tall trees, almost flat ground to pitch your tents. The camp sites are not marked and not reserved; Hence you need to be there by 1 PM on the day of your booking to get the best spots which are on the far end of the campground.

The drop toilets are okay. Not enough toilets on a busy day when the campground is full. One toilet door didn't have a proper latch mechanism and one hard push from the outside will leave you caught with your pants on your ankles. The toilet papers were refilled promptly.

The sign posts on the hiking trails could be marked better (with signs leading back to the campgrounds) especially when one trail overlaps with the other. A few of our group members almost got lost.

If you have a rooftop tent, there is no car access inside the areas where you pitch your tents. There are barricades preventing car access. Cars can be parked closer to the campsites outside the barricades.