Blue Mountains ‘Grand Cliff Top Walk’ Our Critique – SEGMENT 4:  Gordon Falls Picnic Reserve to Leura Cascades Picnic Reserve

Nature Trail has specially selected this trail segment of the 2024 Grand Cliff Top Walk trail because it is has a relatively medium grade hike (yet with still many staircases up and down) which may be undertaken in a manageable half-day duration, yet by only hiking-fit adults and teenagers, but not sensibly for infants/toddlers nor anyone disabled.

This trail segment sensibly and conveniently starts/finishes at picnic reserves either end.  Once Leura Cascades Picnic Reserve upgrade has been completed and then re-opened by local Blue Mountains Council, both reserves will be duly serviced respectably by for instance:

• generous off-street bitumen car parking
• public toilets
• drinking water fountain
• hiking information board
• picnic tables
• weather shelters
• lawn open spaces
• in a location that is reasonably sheltered by wind and close to town amenities
• each hold local heritage values (that few know about)

This is why Nature Trail favours both these picnic reserves as alternative track heads (takig either direction, or both) for its hiking tours.  Both reserves will be disability accessible, which is appropriately egalitarian and so facilitating most to get out into the great outdoors healthy natural environment of the Australian Blue Mountains.

Also, what this hiking track conveniently facilitates is a car shuffle to avert back tracking; that is with two cars for two or more hikers a car can be parked at either end (hiking either direction) so allowing for a one-way hike and a cruising ride back to get the other car.  This is a long-held touring tactic of Nature Trail, and of course bushwalking clubs initiated car shuffle idea about a century ago.   It’s when hiking ‘loops’ are not feasible. Both track head locations are ideal for flexibility of meeting up and heading off on a choice of tracks.  We keenly await the re-opening of Leura Cascades Picnic Reserve.

Anyway, on Thursday 17th July 2025, Friends of Nature Trail undertook a reconnoitre of the ‘Grand Cliff Top Walk’ (2024) trail section from Gordon Falls to Leura Cascades.  This herein article is our tour yarn.  It is one in a series of seven critiquing this particular trail.

The weather that day was rather swell as our above photo indicates – clear skies, sunny, cool winter temperature, no wind.  That’s why we went, since over previous days the weather conditions have been unsuitable with gale force winds and so too dangerous in our view.

This track section is the eastern end of Prince Henry Cliff Walk.  It conveniently starts at the Gordon Falls Picnic Reserve adjacent to the Jamison Escarpment edge of south Leura in the Australian Blue Mountains.

This public reserve was recently upgraded in 2024 by the local Blue Mountains Council thanks to a $2.4 million grant funding from the NSW Government.  This makes for an excellent track head starting/finishing location for different hiking route choice options.

It features generous dedicated parking for a dozen or so cars (no room for bus parking), brand new public toilets, picnic tables and seating options, weather shelters, helpful hiking information  board, free electric BBQ, level open lawn spaces, and a children play area.  The reserve has been made all disability accessible, so well done Council!

Transport wise, we have ‘ground truthed’ here that the Blue Mountains Explorer Bus (hop-on/hop off) shuttle service frequently stops close to the reserve in Olympian Parade.

Also, there’s even a locally private venture coffee caravan daily onsite, which we’ve happily sampled.

As with all our tour preparatory reconnoitres (we term ‘recces’), Nature Trail writes journal notes for future guidance.  This includes noting key waypoints and timings such as track junctions and signage, details such as attractions like lookout vistas, any observed hazards, and we take many photos along the way for our Tour Plan digitised documentation.

Fun hiking is welcome, but safety is paramount.  For instance, what happens when one trips and is injured, or gets lost, or the weather deteriorates, or it gets dark?  This is why Nature Trail always undertakes recces of our intended tour routes to prepare and to try to  mitigate such inherent hiking risks.

Of note, this particular track section, situated just over half-way along the Grand Cliff Top Walk trail, is the first occasion we have actually been hiking along a clifftop since commencing at the start of the entire trail at the track head of Charles Darwin Walk track.

The naming of this hiking track would thus seem more appropriate to commence from Gordon Falls, else in reverse to finish at Gordon Falls, and the other end be at Cahill’s Lookout.  This would serve justice to the naming since it would be completely along an actual clifftop!

Whilst we hiked that day, indeed two fellow hikers heading in the opposite direction appropriately commented that it was best to do a track in both directions so one could observe features from different perspectives – a brief conversation with two wise senior ladies, thanks.

As we have previously emphasised, we support recognising all the original naming of such tracks out of respect for the heritage of those who originally carved them from scratch and to the community naming decision at the time of their first opening.  The workmen of this track (and others) were younger unemployed men at the time during the Great Depression (1929-1939), vitally paid by the NSW Government so them and their dependant families could survive.  It was one of a number of ‘sustenance projects‘ (dubbed “susso”) during the Great Depression.

“By 1932 more than 60,000 men, women and children were dependent on the susso, a state-based sustenance payment that enabled families to buy only the bare minimum of food.” [^SOURCE]

 

So this track section in their honour remains the Prince Henry Cliff Walk track’s first section opened on Saturday 20th October 1934.  It extends from Gordon Falls Picnic Reserve in Leura 9.5km westward along the clifftop of the Jamison Valley Escarpment to Scenic Railway (now Scenic World) in Katoomba. See extract below about this tracks heritage.

After a brilliant onsite wee caravan coffee charge, from the track head starting point, we first side track 300m to visit Gordon Falls Lookout itself off to the south of this picnic reserve.

We note an historical track feature, a directional dial, but long stolen and not replaced.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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References and Further Reading:

[1]  ‘Prince Henry Cliff Walk‘ extract from ‘Upper Blue Mountains Geographical Encyclopaedia’, printed book by Brian Fox, 2nd. Ed, 2001, page 134 ISBN 0 957873 1 9, Bathurst.

[2] ‘Defining Moments – Great Depression‘,  ^https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/great-depression

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