Kuitpo Forest Reserve

South of Meadows, the dark geometry of Kuitpo Forest rises out of the farmland — 3,600 hectares of plantation pine and native bush that has been worked by ForestrySA and loved by picnickers for over a century. About sixty per cent of the reserve is working plantation, which gives Kuitpo its particular atmosphere: long, straight avenues of trees, deep shade, and the resin smell of cut timber on the breeze.

The forest is laced with marked trails. The Eucalypts Trail is an easy two-kilometre return through remnant native woodland, the Chookarloo Walk a one-kilometre loop from the campground of the same name, while the Onkeeta (10km) and Tinjella (12km) trails reward walkers with a longer day out. A 10-kilometre shared-use loop from the Information Centre is open to walkers, cyclists and horse riders, and the Heysen Trail itself threads through the forest on its long journey north — passing close to the old gold workings at Jupiter Creek on the way.

Kuitpo is also one of the easiest places in the Hills to camp. Chookarloo Campground takes tents and small vans, and outside the fire-danger season you can book one of ForestrySA's character huts — Rocky Creek Hut, Woodcutter's Cottage and Tinjella Hut — for a night among the trees. Bring a picnic, check fire restrictions before you go, and keep an eye out for echidnas crossing the forestry roads.