Taking a stroll along the Kennedy Walking Track is one of the best things to do in Mission Beach. In this one walk you can experience many of the things Mission Beach is best known for. You’ll walk along beautiful palm-lined beaches, get great views of Dunk Island and the other Family Islands, walk through rainforest and you might even bump into a cassowary.
Where does the trail begin
Head out to South Mission Beach and onto Kennedy Esplanade. Drive until you get to the dead end which is south mission boat ramp. You will see a big sign and a boardwalk which is the beginning of the trail. The Kennedy Walking Track is an easy to moderate level walk. Depending on how much of it you do, there will be steps to negotiate, a few small hills
The Trail
The trail is 7.7km return from the boat ramp to the start of Kennedy Beach. You can continue along Kennedy beach to Hull river. You need to time the walk with low tide as you walk along Lugger beach for 1.2km if the tide is high it may become inaccessible. Click Here to check the tides at Lugger Bay.
Boardwalk to Dunk Island Lookout
The boardwalk meanders 320m to Lovers Bay where there is a large wooden platform, some seats and signage about the history of the track. From Lovers Bay the boardwalk ends, and you continue on a dirt track up into the rainforest. There are a few short sets of steps to get up and down here, but they are not too big. After going up and down some stairs you can take a short detour to Dunk Island Lookout. There are great views from here of the Family Islands. From Here the trail heads down hill to Lugger Bay.
Lugger Bay to Mije Creek
From the start of the Kennedy Walking Track, it is 1.2km to Lugger Bay. Another small set of steps takes you down onto the 1km long crescent shaped bay. As you come down off the stairs, you’ll spot a picnic table and chairs up on the rocks and a sign telling you, you are at Lugger Bay. About 50m before the end of the beach there is a wooden post in the sand pointing right with directions to Mije Creek, Morgans Lookout and Kennedy Bay. You turn right off the beach then you take a left onto a dirt track.
Mije Creek to Morgan’s Lookout
This is a really different part of the walk as a sandy path takes you past mangroves, a small mud flat and over Mije Creek. The walk through the mangroves is interesting but short lived, the yellow trail markers soon lead you over a tangle of tree roots and up a small hill to Morgans Lookout. After a short uphill hike along a dirt path and a few steps you get to Morgans Lookout.
Morgan’s Lookout to Kennedy Bay
You can continue down the hill and across a rocky track to a little patch of sand known as Turtle Bay. A concrete path then takes you around the headland to the start of Kennedy Bay. This was our favourite part of the hike as it was very scenic and you can see all the islands. There are cassowaries in the area so keep an eye out for them. We were lucky and spotted one along the mangroves, the cassowary was just following the trail in front of us.
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