Blue Mountains ‘Grand Cliff Top Walk’ Our Critique – SEGMENT 6: Echo Point Lookout to Katoomba Falls
(A) Brief Background:
On Thursday 31 July 2025, Nature Trail managed to reconnoitre the 2024 ‘Grand Cliff Top Walk’ trail version what we have labelled ‘SEGMENT 6: Echo Point Lookout to Katoomba Falls. It was morning; the ambient winter weather was cold, low cloud , but not raining.
Nature Trail’s bespoke approach to touring recommends our guests select doing half-day segments of this 20+km mega trail. Us, having now fully reconnoitred this entire 20+km trail, we recognise that some segments offer superior experiences and enjoyment moreso than other segments.
Nature Trail is not about marathon hiking nor head-down paced bushwalking club power walking missions.
Rather, we are about sharing the values of the Blue Mountains beautiful natural environment – relaxed hiking, interpretative guiding (Nature, history, stories), savouring quality lookout vistas, decent pausing, exertion breaks, bench seats, and outdoors experience sharing, all unrushed! Many of our tour guests are from overseas and seek a quality in-depth savouring experience to their preferences and physical abilities.
This is what Nature Trail focuses on.
(B) Introduction to this Trail’s ‘Segment 6’:
We must say that the upgraded hiking track between Echo Point and Reid’s Plateau has recently become a quality easy experience which for the first kilometre section is likely a level Grade ‘0’, as in ‘wheelchair friendly’ before any staircases emerge further westward.
The now side track from Reid’s Plateau lookout down to being close and personal in Katoomba Falls spray is our variation recommendation from the ‘Grand Cliff Top Walk‘ trail, and we deliver this guided.
Thereafter, the hiking track is likely Grade ‘1’ or ‘2’ – so undulating up and down stone staircases and easy. We consider this very popular and visited segment of the 2024 version of the ‘Grand Cliff Top Walk‘ trail to be 5 star in quality, particularly for non-hikers.
Echo Point is an iconic vista and famous globally, so it gets busy and crowded particularly from around midday. So, to better experience this vista we recommend early morning before the multiple coach-load hoards. Hence stay over night locally the prior day.
(C) Photo Gallery:
We publish here our photos (in time, videos as well) of our reconnoitred hiking trip of this trail segment. The images are in sequence order of the officially recommended hiking direction for the ‘Grand Cliff Top Walk‘ trail, being from east to west.
At this juncture, on this half-day ‘Segment 6’ here we commence from Echo Point lookout (Katoomba) and head towards Katoomba Falls, however, due to track closures thus far we have reached most of the way to Reid’s Plateau lookout (Katoomba).
We point out that we are also experimenting with software applicable to best enable this photo/video gallery to be of top quality. Once we have better mastered this particular software we shall continue to publish further photos (and eventually videos) to this trail segment end at Katoomba Falls, and of the other segments of this trail. So please bear with us while this task remains a work-in-progress for us.
(D) This Trail Segment 6: Specifications:
| This Nature Trail Tour Title: | Grand Cliff Top Walk Trek |
| NT Tour Code: | MT-GCT/6 |
| NT Tour Code Description: | Multi-Day Trek |
| Tour Category | Tailored |
| Trail Official Opening Date: | Monday 25th March 2024 |
| Tour Current Status: | Scouted> Recce > Fully Open |
| Nature Trail Version: | Grand Cliff Top Walk – Original Bicentennial Version |
| Trek Segment Title: | Echo Point to Katoomba Falls |
| Trek Segment ID: | Segment 6 |
| Trail Hike Length: | 2 to 3 km (depending on lookout choice diversions) |
| Trail Hike Duration: | Allow 4 hours, plus lunch 1.5 hours |
| Tour Starting Location: | Echo Point |
| Tour Finishing Location | Katoomba Falls |
| Tour Style: | Easily paced, interpretative Q&A, photo/rest pauses, physical grades 0 to 3 |
| Transport Transfers: | Transfers included – available within the Blue Mountains stays/or alternate choice as with all Nature Trail hiking tours and trekking tours by pre-arranged car shuffle at each tour end location. One or two of our tour guests will need to pre-arrange a second vehicle for shuffle (start <> finish). |
| Transfer Distances: | From Tour Starting Location: (Katoomba Railway Station) to Hike Start: 2km
From Hike Ending Location shuttle back to Hike Starting Location: 2 km |
| Tour Price: | No charge (Free). Nature Trail has decided to no longer seek to operate commercially. Food not included. |
| Nature Trail’s business logo encountered en route has been plagiarised by Council and Parks Service how many times?: | 10 plagiarised copyright logos
(see below) |
(E) Trail Segment Lookouts:
- Echo Point
- Lady Darley Lookout
- Allambie Lookout
- (Unnamed) Lookout
- Wollumai Lookout
- Cliff View Lookout
- The Watchtower Lookout
- Solitary Lookout
- Duke & Dutchess of York Lookout
- Witches Leap Falls
(F) Trail Segment Critique:
We choose not to extend this segment to ‘Scenic World’ because that corporate mass tourism multi-million dollar corporate mega complex can readily afford its own marketing. and visitation. Tourists may choose to pay to visit such busy commercial ride destinations whilst on expensive overseas holidays, but this is not what Nature Trail offers.
Scenic World tickets start at minimum $61 each for only multiple public rides – (1) steep ‘Scenic Railway’, (2) ‘Cable Car’, (3) ‘Skyway’ gondola, and (4) Boardwalk through a rainforest. Plus payable extras – eateries, bar, guided tour. But with hundreds of tourists, it’s a crowded mass tourism approach to observing Nature from a commercial distance. [Photo by Steven Ridd, Thursday 31st July 2025].
(G) Conclusions to Date:
(H) Nature Trail Variations:
(Content TBA)
References and Further Reading:
[1]
[2]
This webpage updated 31-July-2025.