Most of the Heysen Trail is currently closed due to the Fire Danger Season, however sections through parks, reserves and road reserves remain open. The Wild South Coast Way on the Heysen Trail between Cape Jervis and Victor Harbor remains open, but is closed on days of Catastrophic fire danger. The rest of the Heysen Trail will reopen at the end of the Fire Danger Season, between 15 and 30 April 2023.

The Fire Ban Season dates for 2022/2023 are:

• between Cape Jervis and Tanunda in the Barossa Valley: The Fire Danger Season in the Mt Lofty Ranges will commence on 1 December 2022 and end on 30 April 2023. The Wild South Coast Way on the Heysen Trail between Cape Jervis and Victor Harbor remains open, but is closed on days of Catastrophic fire danger.
• between Tanunda in the Barossa Valley and Wirrabara Forest: The Fire Danger Season in the Mid North will commence on 15 November 2022 and end on April 30th 2023.
• between Wirrabara Forest and Parachilna in the Flinders Ranges: The Fire Danger Season in the Flinders ends on April 15th 2023.

Fire Danger Season has closed sections of the trail in the Mid North fire danger district

In the 2022/23 Fire Danger Season news item issued earlier, we advised walkers that restrictions would commence in the Flinders fire danger district on Nov 1 and in the Mid North district on Nov 15.
This means that some sections of the Heysen Trail north of Tanunda are now closed.

Over the fire danger season, the Heysen Trail is closed in the sections that traverse private property. However, apart from broadcast fire ban days, you can still access some sections of the trail. Those sections include national parks, conservation parks, forest reserves and public roads.

We recommend that you check more detailed information about those sections on our Fire Danger Season page.

Temporary exclusion area at Jupiter Creek

SA Water has issued a temporary trail re-route notification for a section of the Heysen Trail at Jupiter Creek.

The trail re-route will occur during the week of Monday 14th – Friday 18th November, 2022.

The reason for the re-route is because an aerial operation to control deer and goats will be undertaken in the Mount Bold Reservoir Reserve

During the operation publicly accessible areas of the Mount Bold Reservoir Reserve will be closed to the public. The adjoining ForestrySA Jupiter Creek and McIntyres forest reserves will also be closed to the public.

Temporary trail re-route

A temporary re-route will be in place during the operation, so walkers are not greatly inconvenienced. Signs will be in place to direct walkers onto nearby public roads.

The map of the temporary re-route is shown here

The affected section of the Heysen Trail is between the following points:

• from the southern access to McIntyres forest reserve (Gate MI2, Razorback Rd) – Grid Reference 936 088,
• to the northern access to Jupiter Creek forest reserve (accessed via Long Gully Rd) – Grid Reference 945 123.

You can find the Jupiter Creek section of the Heysen Trail on Heysen Trail Sheetmap 2A and Southern Guidebook Maps 2.10 & 3.1.

Signage will be in place to assist walkers

To prevent access by members of the public, signage providing information about the area closures will be erected at all main access points, including the Heysen Trail access points to the ForestrySA forest reserves.

A sign will be placed at the northern access point to Jupiter Creek forest reserve, directing walkers along the northern boundary of the forest reserve to Pocock Rd, where they will continue south to re-join the trail on Razorback Rd.

A similar sign will be placed at the southern access point.

A helicopter will fly over but not shoot in the forest reserves. Mobile patrols will be present to prevent access to closed areas.

Fire Danger Season has closed sections of the trail in the Flinders fire danger district

In the 2022/23 Fire Danger Season news item issued earlier this week, we advised walkers that fire restrictions have commenced in the Flinders fire danger district.
This includes sections of the Heysen Trail north of Wirrabara.

Over the fire danger season, the Heysen Trail is closed in the sections that traverse private property. However, apart from broadcast fire ban days, you can still access some sections of the trail. Those sections include national parks, conservation parks, forest reserves and public roads.

We recommend that you check more detailed information about those sections on our Fire Danger Season page.

Animal control programs are also planned soon for reserves in the Flinders district

In addition to these closures, we have been advised of a number of feral animal control programs commencing this weekend that may also affect walkers in this district.

The Mount Brown & Dutchman Stern Conservation Parks

During the Fire Danger Season, walkers are still able to walk the Heysen Trail through conservation parks, provided  it is not a broadcast fire ban day.
However, both the Dutchman Stern & Mount Brown Conservation Parks will be closed for pub­lic safe­ty while a pest con­trol pro­gram is car­ried out from 6am on Saturday November 5th to 2pm on Friday November 11th 2022.

Mount Brown Conservation Park is just south of Quorn. You can find it on Heysen Trail Mapsheets 6C and Northern Guidebook Maps 3.7 & 3.8. There is further information about this park closure on the Parks Closure & Alerts page.

Dutchman Stern Conservation Park is just north of Quorn. You can find it on Heysen Trail Mapsheets 6D & 7A and Northern Guidebook Maps 4.1 & 4.2. There is further information about this park closure on the Parks Closure & Alerts page

Buckaringa Sanctuary

Buckaringa Sanctuary will be closed from the evening of Friday November 4th to the morning of Wednesday November 9th 2022.
Australian Wildlife Conservancy, the managers of Buckaringa, will also be conducting feral animal control works.

Buckaringa Sanctuary can be located on Heysen Trail Mapsheets 6D & 7A and Northern Guidebook Maps 4.6 & 4.7.

As Buckaringa is on private property, the Heysen Trail through the sanctuary is closed at this time of the year as a matter of course.  We are providing this notice as an additional warning to walkers.

The Country Fire Service  (CFS) has announced the dates for the 2022/23 Fire Danger Season.

Many sections of the Heysen Trail are closed during the Fire Danger Season. As the trail passes through several fire ban districts, the trail closures commence progressively from Tuesday November 1st.

Flinders District Fire Danger Season to commence on 1st November 2022.

The Flinders District covers the Heysen Trail north of Wirrabara.  The trail in this section includes Melrose, Wilmington, Quorn, Hawker, Wilpena Pound, the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park through to the northern end of the trail at Parachilna Gorge.

This section of the trail will be closed between November 1st 2022 and April 15th 2023.

Mid North District Fire Ban Season to start on 15th November 2022.

The Mid North District includes the trail between north of Tanunda  and south of Wirrabara. The Heysen Trail between these locations will close on November 15th 2021 and reopen on April 30 2022.

Mount Lofty Ranges Fire Ban Season to commence on 1st December 2022

The CFS has also announced the fire danger season for the Mt Lofty District will commence on 1st December 2022 and continue through until midnight on 30th April 2023.

As indicated above the Heysen Trail will reopen during April/May 2023. The re-opening dates vary across the three Fire Ban Districts the Trail passes through.

Some sections of the trail remain open over the Fire Danger Season

During the declared fire danger season some sections of the Heysen Trail remain open to walkers. They are principally the sections of the trail that are not on private land. These include public roads, Conservation Parks and Reserves, Forests and vacant land.

Please note that Conservation Parks and Reserves and Forests are closed on days of Total Fire Ban. The CFS publishes these bans, as does the Bureau of Meteorology. In addition, the media also broadcast weather reports including fire ban information.

If you want to walk on the trail, check which Fire District you will be in. The Fire Districts are listed on the Fire Danger Season page and shown on the Interactive Map on the Friends website.