Grand Cliff Top Walk – Day hike

This trip has finished! Read the trip report here: The Grand Cliff Top Walk – UNSW Outdoors Club

Hike 19km* in 2 days** along Grand Cliff Top Walk, which seamlessly links Wentworth Falls, Leura, and Katoomba. You’ll discover Aboriginal culture, spectacular lookouts, countless waterfalls, and unique Blue Mountains villages.

Listen for the call of yellow-tailed black cockatoos, named Wumbarrung in Gundungurra language. Wumbarrung is the wayfinding icon for this walk. Significant to traditional custodians, its flight reflects the moods and seasons of Gundungurra Country.

– NSW National Parks

*Currently 21km due to some minor detours.
*We’re doing it in 1 day because we’re too cool.
Image from NPWS.

The “Grand Clifftop Walk” is a 21km route along the Blue Mountains clifftop from Wentworth Falls to Katoomba.

The route was “grand opened” last year after all the floods and weather events that damaged most of the popular walking tracks in the area.

Being one of their seven “Great Walking Experiences”, National Parks has revamped and maintained this trail very well, with plenty of sandstone steps and handrails making for pleasant walking. Details here: Grand Cliff Top Walk | NSW National Parks.

A great benefit is that it is quite close to towns and very accessible by train, despite the stunning mountain views occluding that fact for most of the time 😁.

Therefore, I want to do this in a day, and it’s open to almost everyone!

• If you have lots prior hiking experience this will be a breeze for you, with amazing views along the way.
• If you only have very little prior experience and want to try out longer walks, this is a great place to start!
  • If you are unsure about your abilities, let me know in the comments or email me. Beginners are welcome 🫶🏼 and you will likely be fine xD

Monday 1st September – great to wind down after exams finish 🙂

Walk stats: 21km, almost 4000 stairs, 900m of elevation gain. Expect to take about 8 hours including plenty of breaks to enjoy the view.

The plan is to leave Sydney around 8am so we would start walking around 10:30am. Cars are not necessary, and I will be taking the train 🚅.

Sunset is at 5:15pm. The mathematicians among you would notice that 8 hours would take us beyond sunset, this is intentional! The final section of the walk contains some lights after dusk – the Katoomba Falls Night-lit Walk. This will be fun to see at the end of the day. (I also don’t want to wake up early so this is a good excuse)

What to bring:

• Comfortable shoes! They might get a bit muddy.
• Small-medium sized backpack to hold your belongings
• About 2L of water **super important to have enough water!!**
  • Gatorade or electrolytes etc. are good to have as well.
• Lunch and plenty of snacks for the day
• A hat
• Any personal medication you may need
• Medium-warm jacket and a light raincoat
  • We are walking a little at night.
  • No matter the forecast, it can get very cold and windy quickly so be prepared.
• A torch of some description.
  • Preferably headtorch so that you have more balance
  • Phone will suffice if you bring a powerbank.

So, if you are keen for a hike, please tell us your hiking experience so far, and the coolest bird you have seen (just so I know you’ve read all this information).

Map link here, hope to see you then! Feel free to reach out to me at webadmin [at] unswoc.org if you have any questions.

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