Martins Lookout to the historic Lost World Lookout

Martins Lookout to Lost World Lookout has been on my to do list for a while – and it’s been a while since my last Blue Mountains bushwalk. I’ve finally found half a day to tackle this hike, on a sunny Spring Sunday. [Edit: I’m back to Lost World Lookout about 18 months later, as part of an overnight walk from Faulconbridge to Glenbrook.]

The start of the Martins Lookout to Lost World bushwalk is easy to find, and is not too far from the main highway. Once we’re on Farm Road, there’s a parking area just before the unsealed road narrows a little, with a few parking spots. I leave the car here – I later realise we could have gone a bit further to the end of the road, where there is a larger parking area. From the carpark it’s a very short (100m) walk to Martins Lookout, where there is a small plaque in memory of Reverend Raymer, a local bushwalker who died in 1953. The view from here across and up Glenbrook Creek is fairly ordinary by Blue Mountains standards – I wouldn’t bother driving here just for this lookout. On the other side of the valley is our destination, Lost World Lookout, where a small crucifix is just visible at the top of the cliffs.

Most Blue Mountains walks take you down into a valley, and then back up. The Martins Lookout to Lost World walk takes us down to Glenbrook Valley, up the other side and then back down and up! The track starts descending from Martins Lookout.

It’s a well-built track that goes past a few nice caves and overhangs as it heads down to the bottom of the valley. After a final set of stone steps, a sign marks the intersection of the Kings Link route we are taking up to Lost Worlds Lookout.

We need to cross the creek here and head up the other side… but there’s no obvious track. There is a pair of rather old underpants wrapped around a branch – but we’re not sure if this is a remnant of the last flood or an improvised marker. After a brief search, we spot a cairn on the other side of the narrow creek that marks the start of the track up the other side of the valley.

The Martins Lookout to Lost World route up this side of the valley is fairly steep and less shaded than the track down – I’m glad it’s not the middle of summer. There are a few places where the path is not obvious, but a number of cairns mark the way. In some sections very solid stone stairs leave no doubt we’re on the track.

The track reaches the top of the valley at Bunyan Lookout, which has views back across Glenbrook Creek and sandstone cliffs of the valley. There’s a large, sandy area which would make a nice camping spot – as long as you’ve got enough water with you!

The ascent has been surprisingly slow; it’s only about a 200m vertical climb from Glenbrook Creek to Bunyan Lookout. But it feels like a lot more. From here it’s flat again and doesn’t take us long reach the turnoff from Kings Link to Lost World Lookout, with another 10 minutes or so of very easy walking to the lookout.

Directly opposite the small plaque that we saw the start of our walk is a white crucifix on the edge of the cliff at Lost World Lookout, which also commemorates Reverend Raymer.

Although the view from here is as not impressive as further up the mountains, there are nice views over Glenbrook Valley, with the Blue Mountains stretching as far as the eye can see to the west.

After a few photos from Lost World Lookout, we descend (via the same route)  – which is much quicker than the way up!

A brief stop at the bottom and a few more photos of Glenbrook Creek, which has a decent flow of very clear water, despite the lack of rain for many weeks. Despite being in the lower Blue Mountains, the Waterways water quality report found Glenbrook Creek to be in good health (although the water needs to be boiled before drinking).

From here we take a slightly different route back, following the Kings Link Route along Glenmore Creek. There are a few nice camping spots along the creek, which gets quite wide in places.

It’s only about 500m before we reach the junction with an unnamed track that goes steeply up to our Martins Lookout (the track is marked on our map). Somehow we seem to have lost the main track – which a short distance uphill from the creek that we’ve been following quite closely – and we have a short scramble to reach the intersection.

From here, it’s about half an hour back up to the top. It’s taken us just over three and a half hours to cover just under ten kilometres. We saw five people in total during the Martins Lookout to Lost World Lookout bushwalk, including a couple with whom we had a chat while enjoying lunch at Lost World Lookout. The lack of crowds makes Martins Lookout to Lost World is a good weekend alternative to many of the more popular Blue Mountain routes. Definitely not the most scenic of walks you could do, but some nice views, interesting rock formations and a few physically challenging sections of track.

More information on Martins Lookout to Lost World Lookout

• Wildwalks – Martin’s to Lost Worlds Lookout