Pilot Hill Arboretum, Bago State Forest

Pilot Hill Arboretum is a fabulous spot for a day trip to Bago State Forest in the Snowy Valleys. Located less than a half hour drive from both Batlow and Tumbarumba and near the village of Laurel Hill, Pilot Hill offers a beautiful, grassed and open picnic area surrounded by lush forest. The arboretum has plantings of more than fifty tree species from all over the world, with most planted in the 1920s and 1930s. Miraculously, these plantings survived the Black SUmmer fires of 2019/2020 and remain a towering, green display of the forest's resilience. Two short walking tracks pass through the arboretum and the adjoining native forest of alpine ash. One of these walking tracks - the Alpine Ash Walk - is home to some of the sculptures of the Bago Sculpture Forest. The other - the Wellness Walk - is a short, interactive walk encouraging the visitors to take in the sights and sounds of the forest. Visitors can enjoy the sky seat and the sound pod during this walk. Pilot Hill Arboretum is a great base to begin further explorations into the native alpine ash forest of the Bago Plateau and is an integral part of the Snowy Valleys Nature Wellness Drive and the Snowy Valleys Sculpture Trail.