Crone Woods – Maulin Mountain Loop

This is a closed loop of 6.6 km (the official visitor-facing figure) starting and finishing at the Crone Woods entrance car park, with about 350 m of ascent and roughly 2.5 hours of walking. Recorded GPS tracks of the same route come out slightly longer, around 6.9 km, which is normal for a rounded headline distance. It is the red-disc marked route, and it does not go to the top of Maulin.

The first section is a steady pull up forest road and path through mixed plantation woodland, with pine, Douglas fir, Sitka spruce, larch and Corsican pine along the way. You cross a bridge over a small stream, then the gradient steepens into a zigzag climb that lifts you out of the trees onto open, heathery, gorse-flecked upper slopes of Maulin.

The payoff is Ride Rock, looking across to Powerscourt Waterfall and the Great Sugar Loaf, with wider views up towards Glencree, out over the surrounding mountains, and on clear days as far as Dublin and Dublin Bay. From there the loop turns for home, descending through woodland and back onto forest road to the car park.

Officially the loop is graded strenuous, and the 350 m of climbing is the reason. Most walkers describe it as moderately challenging rather than brutal, but the ascent is sustained and parts of the descent are steep. Underfoot you get gravel forest road, dirt path, and rougher, sometimes wet ground higher up, where footing can be slippery after rain. The open upper slopes are noticeably more exposed to wind and weather than the sheltered forest, so bring a windproof layer even on a mild day and wear boots with grip.

The loop is marked with red discs bearing a footprint, and for most of the way it is straightforward to follow. Junction markers can feel sparse in the section after Ride Rock, so pay attention where forest tracks meet and carry a paper map or an offline track on your phone as backup.

Start from the Crone Woods entrance car park, also signed as Crone Wood Car Park, near 53.16512, -6.21801, in woodland managed by Coillte. The approach is a narrow single-track rural road shared with walkers, cyclists and livestock, so drive slowly and be ready to pull in. The car park fills up on fine summer weekends and bank holidays, so an early start is the easiest way to avoid circling.

The shorter marked woodland walk from the same car park stays lower and does not open up the upper-slope views in the same way. If you want the summit of Maulin, that is a separate and longer outing on the yellow-marked route, so plan it as its own day rather than an add-on.