This loop bushwalk which links Asgard Head and Thor Head with Ikara Head via Valhalla Head involves some off-track walking – but you can also get to these lookouts by doing two separate on-track bushwalks. In case you’re wondering about the origin of the names, they have been attributed to Myles Dunphy in the mid 1960s, who was obviously a fan of Norse mythology. (Dunphy helped to purchase the Blue Gum Forest lease in 1931-32 to save the area from logging, and is regarded as “The Father of Conservation” in Australia.)
There are spectacular views from all of the heads on the Asgard Plateau, which tower over the Grose Valley, and the loop walk also passes the old Asgard Mine.
Down the Asgard Swamp Track
You could do this walk in either direction; I’m going anti-clockwise, which in hindsight makes the route-finding a little bit easer. The Asgard Swamp Track starts along Victoria Falls Road, and is well sign-posted as it descends from the ridge, parallel to Asgard Brook. The firetrail doesn’t have much shade, so I’m hoping that the weather forecast of an overcast afternoon is correct… this would not be the best walk for a hot summer day.
After about 1.4km the firetrail crosses a swampy section along Asgard Brook – but this is not Asgard Swamp. It’s just a regular, unnamed swamp, with a couple of wooden planks ensuring dry feet. (At some point Asgard Brook was renamed; it was initially given the name Lamington Creek by Stan McGaghey and George Brown in 1948.)
The track passes Asgard Swamp after about 2.3km, although the swamp itself is not obvious – the more obvious landmark is Pagoda Rock (or Pyramid Rock), which is also an informal campsite. Another few hundred metres further is the (unsignposted) junction with the track to Thor Head.
Asgard Mine
Continuing along the Asgard Swamp Track, the track down to the Asgard Mine is reached after 2.8km. Some reports that the track down to the mine is easily missed – but it now has a shiny marker that is impossible to miss!
The bushwalking track descends – a little steeply at times – as it heads towards the cliff-line and past some large overhangs. (The mine site is the lowest point of the entire walk.)
It’s only 400m down to the mine – also known as the Asgard Mine and Coke Oven – which is a short prospecting tunnel driven horizontally into the coal seam (known as the Katoomba Seam). The tunnel is documented as being 20m in length, but feels a lot longer as you walk away from the brightly-lit entrance. A seam of coal was found in the tunnel, but not in sufficient quality as to make the mine commercially viable.
The mine and single coke oven comprise the only industrial relic of this kind in the state. They represent the enormous effort of prospectors large and small over the periods 1860-1920 looking for coal along the hazardous rock faces of the Blue Mountains valleys, an effort largely unrecorded and forgotten.
NPWS – Draft Heritage Data Form
Near the mine is the coke oven: “a small square structure approx 3.8 metres long and 2.0 metres high of dressed sandstone walls”. It’s believed the oven was never used.
Asgard Head
Once back on the Asgard Swamp Track, it’s another 0.5km along the bushwalking trail to Asgard Head. There’s still a few charred trees; signs of the last bushfires that swept through this area.
Asgard, in Norse mythology, was the dwelling place of the gods and comparable to the Greek Mount Olympus. The Blue Mountains version of Asgard is, I think, the most photogenic of the lookouts in this area. Asgard Head offers sweeping views of the Grose Valley and a glimpse of Victoria Falls in the distance, framed by a low overhang which also provides some shade.
Thor Head
Located at the north-eastern end of the Asgard Plateau, Thor Head is reached by a bushwalking track off the firetrail, which ascends gently until Thor Head comes into view directly ahead.
There are some unobstructed Grose Valley views from a large rock platform, on the way up to to the top of the bluff.
Thor Head is named after the hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, and fertility. Like Asgard Head, it also offers some great views down the Grose Valley as well as over Asgard Swamp and Ikara Head.
Valhalla Head
The next section of the walk heads off-track (you could also return the same way, and then take the Ikara Head Track as separate “on track” walk). After re-tracking my steps to the Asgard Swamp Track (firetrail), I take the turn-off to Pagoda Rock / Pyramid Rock where a trail crosses Asgard Swamp – which is more grassland than swamp. I’m not sure the purpose of the trail; it soon fizzles out and the grass is replaced by scrub. It’s not too bad as far as off-track walking goes – there are some thicker sections of scrub that you can skirt around.
I’m heading for Valhalla Head, passing a few pagoda-like formations on the way. There’s no view from the top of Valhalla Head, which is named after the palace of slain warriors, roofed with shields, where the warriors feast on the flesh of a boar slaughtered daily and made whole again each evening. But I realise after my walk I should have continued another couple of hundred metres to the edge of the cliffs below Valhalla Head. Next time…
From Valhalla Head I head in an easterly direction across a gully. This is also pretty easy off-track walking, with just a bit of easy scrambling up some low bands of rock on the other side.
I soon meet a bushwalking track that heads along the ridge, to the Ikara Head Trail. I’m more or less heading in the wrong direction to avoid a fairly deep gully that would be challenging to traverse.
Once on the Ikara Head Trail – a firetrail – I’m going in the right direction again, on a ridge that’s parallel to Ikara Ridge. Its passes some interesting rock formations, with some nice views from the ridge.
Ikara Ridge soon comes into view… and it’s a little confronting. There’s a track down to the bottom of Ikara Gully – but my maps show no track up to the other side, which looks pretty steep.
The track drops very steeply down to the bottom of the gully, where there’s a creek with a few small pools. Along the creek to the north (downstream) is a long shelter at the base of the cliffs. I walk along here a short distance – you could continue along the base of the cliffs to the bottom of Ikara Head, and then onto the overgrown Engineers Track which follows the Grose River.
Ikara Head
But… my challenge is getting to the top of Ikara Ridge (or Ikara Neck), named by Dunphy after the Aboriginal word for a throwing stick or club, due to its shape. A rough track seems to go in the right direction – which is straight up, towards a narrow slot in the cliff-line.
The route is very steep but not particularly challenging, as it goes straight up the slot under towering ferns towards the top of the ridge. Looking out from the top of the slot are some nice views towards Asgard Head.
From the top of the slot there’s no obvious track, but it’s fairly easy walking up to the top of the ridge with some nice views out to the east. I meet the Ikara Head Track at Ikara Head – the highest point along the ridge – but there’s not much of a view from here.
Continue along the track to the end of Ikara Ridge, where a large rock platform offers some great views over the upper reaches of the Grose River and across the Grose Valley towards Bells Line of Road. This was one of the routes that Hamilton Hume attempted to use in 1827 to reach the Bells Line Road, until he reached Ikara Head with its precipitous drop; he eventually found a more suitable route along the next ridge to the west, which is still used today (the Darling Causeway).
The rest of the bushwalk is pretty straightforward, with the Ikara Head Track following the ridge or neck back to Victoria Falls Road.
The trail mostly follows the top of the ridge and is fairly exposed to the sun – it’s not the best walk for a hot day – but it does drop under a few rock outcrops.
It’s worth doing the side-trip down to Girraween Cave, via a short but steep track down from the ridge (there’s no signage and it’s easy to miss the track, so keep a close eye for a very discreet stone cairn). The long and tall shelter would make a good camp site, behing located near a fairly reliable creek.
The cave was given the name “Giraween” by George Brown and Stan MacGaghey in 1948 after the Aboriginal word for abundant wildflowers – which seems quite fitting, as it’s the only place I’ve seen waratahs today (it’s very late in the year to see them in flower).
There are a few more interesting rock formations and vantage points along the Ikara Head Track for the last two kilometres along the ridge back to Victoria Falls Road.
Allow a full day for this bushwalk – it’s not overly challenging, but there is some route-finding involved, and the potential for a few side-trips. It’s slightly easier to do this loop in an anti-clockwise direction, but you could also start with Ikara Head. If you prefer not to walk off-track, you can do Asgard Head and Thor Head as one trip, and Ikara Head as either an easy out-and-back bushwalk, or a harder loop walk by taking the steep “pass” up the eastern side of Ikara Neck.
Getting to Asgard Head and Ikara Head
All of the firetrails which provide access to Asgard Head, Thor Head and Ikara Head start from Victoria Falls Road, about 4km from the Great Western Highway at Mount Victoria. Victoria Falls Road is unsealed, but suitable for all cars. The trailhead is about 120km (1:45min drive) from Sydney and 20km (25min) from Katoomba.
More information
- Blue Mountains Gazette – Myles Dunphy: The Father of Conservation
- Blue Mountains Heritage – Asgard Mine and Coke Oven [PDF]
- Mt Wilson Mt Irvine Bushwalking Group – Ikara Ridge to Ikara Head [PDF]
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