Mount Piddington
The track down from Mount Piddington was developed by degrees between 1869 and 1872. Coxs Cave, named after George Henry Cox, who was a fellow member of Parliament with William Piddington, was reached by a wooden ladder and track in 1879, while the track north along Fairy Bower Creek to the Toll House was formed between 1888 and 1898.
Address:
There are two pretty definite starting points for walks in the reserve. The one at Mt Piddington lookout at the end of Mt Piddington road has a couple of picnic tables with an extraordinary view and toilets.. well.. of a sort. You may want to use both points to cover all the walks over a couple or several days.
The Second starting point is at the end of Kanimbla valley road.
Distance:
There are many tracks to many locations. I went to most locations as a rather large loop that took about 7 hours in total. That included a lot of the small side tracks I came across as well as quite a bit of exploring (both intentional and incidental) The Rienits and little zigzag loop done from Mt Piddington would take roughly 3 hours and takes in So much amazing scenery. There are some awesome caves in the small circuits at Mt. Piddington to see. If you’re not up for the 7-8 hours it will take to see it all then you could break it up over a couple or several days.
From Mt. Piddington lookout:
Baronia Point: 1km (1 hour return) Medium
Ferris Cave Circuit: 1.2km Loop (1 hour) Hard
Cox’s Cave Circuit: 1.5km Loop (1.5 hours) Hard
Toll House via Fairy Bower: 1.5km (1 hour each way) Hard
Pulpit Rock: 1.5km (1 hour each way) Medium
Hornes Point: 2km (1 hour return) Easy
From Kanimbla Valley rd:
Ross Cave: 1.5km one way (1 hour return) Hard
Bushrangers Cave: 1km one way (30 minute return) Medium
Little ZigZag and Rienits Pass Loop: 3km (1.5 hours Loop) Hard
Mt Piddington: 1.5km one way (1 hour each way) Medium
Pulpit Rock: 50 metres (5 minute return) Easy
Mt. Piddington at 1,094 metres is one of the highest lookouts in the Blue Mountains.
This walk is probably not terribly toddler friendly, In fact it probably isn’t particularly friendly to a lot of adults either. Lots of cliffs!
Lots of cliffs with lots of breathtaking views! Most of this walk is just a huge lookout..
Some parts of this track are actually quite daunting. Sloped and sometimes sandy or gravelly surfaces are on cliffs edges with quite high drop offs. It was amazingly beautiful but be careful where you place your feet!
This particular track.. and yes the track continues by stepping over that tree on that ledge.. Is unmarked on most maps and probably with good reason. I don’t often back out of a walk but this was the point I turned around. I had too clear an image in my head of either me or the dog going over the cliff edge and it was a very long way down from there!
But besides the lookouts and cliff top walks something that Mount Piddington has a lot of is some really neat caves!
Someone seems to have made themselves very at home in this cave on a cliff overlooking the rainforest in Witches Glen.
This was Ross cave. Quite Homey really. Comes complete with a large window to let in natural light and a view of the forest outside.
This is the entrance to the Bushrangers cave, just so you know what to look for when you get there.
and after quite a fun climb over the rocks this is the deceptively large interior of the cave. Also these bushrangers had an amazing view!
Cox’s Cave. This was one of the more interesting ones to get to. Climb up a rather long steel pipe ladder, followed by some careful walking on a narrow cliff while stooped to avoid the lowish roof, then a short scrub trail before climbing up the slippery, sloped and sandy steps.
Scary stuff but totally worth the effort.
Buffy good-girling it. Waiting for me at the bottom of the ladder whilst I explore the cave.
There are a LOT of steps.. Like really… A LOT. Some are quite steep and it could be argued, barely steps at all but just rocks that happen to be piled in such a way that you can climb from one to the other if you are careful and determined enough.
Here is a good example of such steps..
..and here some steps clearly made by druids or something.
From up here you can see little glimpses of the rain forest underneath the tree canopy way down there. How cool is that?
It wouldn’t be a great blue mountains hike without a waterfall!
..or two? This one has the most amazing view while standing underneath.
It really is an amazing way to destress though. Its hard to worry about the outside world when you’re surrounded by all this..
and by unbelievable views like this
or this.
If you are ever in the area this is one walk that is a must do. Even if you only have time to do a small section of it. All of it is beautiful!
Check out my other walks..
