The Broad Swamp to Birds Rock walking track was opened in September 2025; it’s part of a $49.5 million NSW Government investment to establish Lithgow as a world-class ecotourism destination. The Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area has some spectacular scenery, but until recently very few formed bushwalking trails. So it’s great that NPWS is opening up new trails – although I feel that the Broad Swamp to Birds Rock walking track has missed the mark. The 25km return distance makes it bit long for families and casual bushwalkers, and to do this as a shorter 17.5km one-way bushwalk requires a car-shuffle requiring 4WD vehicles. By comparison, I’d highly recommend the Lost City bushwalk.
As I’m walking solo – and don’t have a 4WD – I’m doing an “out and back” bushwalk from Broad Swamp to Carne View Lookout via the Birds Rock trail. The start of the Broad Swamp Trail is well-signposted (this first section of the trail is also the Broad Swamp loop walk).
The first kilometre is on a new trail before it follows the alignment of an old firetrail – but you can’t tell. It’s a narrow and very well built bushwalking trail all the way to Bird Rock Trail.
The trail passes the signposted Broad Swamp after about 2.2km: the the largest swamp in the Gardens of Stone and “home to threated species found nowhere else on earth”. These include Deane’s Boronia (Boronia Deanei… I could almost have guessed this Latin name), the Giant Dragonfly (Petalura gigantea) and the Blue Mountains Water Skink (Eulamprus leuraensis).
At the 2.5km mark (about five hundred metres after Broad Swamp) the track reaches the junction with the return leg of the 6km Broad Swamp Loop walk.
I’m continuing in a northerly direction along the Broad Swamp to Birds Rock trail, although there are a few twists and turns to avoid swamps and other geographic obstacles. Stepping stones and logs ensure dry feet across the occasional boggy patches.
After about 3.5km the track approaches the edge of one of the narrow valleys that dissect the Garden of Stone plateau, and there’s a view over the upper reaches of Carne Creek.
The Broad Swamp to Birds Rock trail continues to descent towards the cliff edge; on the opposite side of Carne Creek is an enormous overhang.
The first really impressive views of the spectacular dissected landscape is at the 5.8km mark. A short detour off the trail to the top of the cliffs provides a view down the sheer vertical wall and out to a number of knife-like ridges.
The trail ascends gently before reaching the first and smallest of three gullies that needs be traversed.
To the north-east you can see Firetrail Number 2 which is off the Glow Worm Tunnel Road and provides access to Carne Creek via an off-track bushwalking route.
The Broad Swamp to Birds Rock trail descends into a small gully and winds between towering cliffs as it crosses one of the (usually dry) tributaries of Carne Creek.
There is a small ascent above the dry creek to the top of a small ridge, which offers some nice views.
The second gully is the biggest one, as the trail drops down to Carne Creek, which is crossed via a series of large stepping stones.
There’s now a long ascent up a series of steps, although the total elevation gain is only about 170m (which is not a lot). While the gullies looks formidable with their vertical cliff-lines, the actual vertical height is much less than the cliffs of the upper Blue Mountains.
After the initial steep ascent track levels off as it crosses a long plateau; directly ahead is (I think) Birds Rock.
The trail gradually descends into the third and final gully, passing some tall cliff before crossing the (dry) Birds Rock Creek, which flows into Carne Creek. The Broad Swamp to Birds Rock trail now enters Birds Rock Flora Reserve, which was gazetted on 23rd September 1988.
The trail ascends again from the creek, passing some interesting rock formations.
Just before it meets the Birds Rock Trail, there are a large number of “platy” pagoda rock formations that are typical of the Gardens of Stone. There are two types of pagodas: smooth pagodas have relatively regular conical-shapes (without terraces), while platy pagodas are stepped and terraced cones that resemble Asian pagodas, ziggurats or step-pyramids. These terraced pagodas are easy to climb (but take care not step on the Pagoda Daisies (Leucochrysum graminifolium) that grow on them or break off the thin slices of weathered rock).
It’s exactly 12km by my GPS reading to where the Broad Swamp bushwalking trail meets the Birds Rock Trail, a firetrail once open to 4WDs and now converted to a bushwalking route. The firetrail descends to a lookout at the edge of the cliffs.
Carne View Lookout – described as the “the jewel in the crown of the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area” – is on the edge of the sheer cliffs above Carne Creek.
There’s a great view down Carne Creek and its impressive cliffs to the south.
From Carne View Lookout there are a few options (even without a 4WD car shuffle) for completing this bushwalk:
- Finish at Birds Rock Lookout to make this a one-walk (you’ll need to have left a car here and it’s 4WD access only) – 16.5km total
- Return via the Broad Swamp to Birds Rock trail and North Ridge Road firetrail – 24.3km
- Return the same way along the Broad Swamp to Birds Rock trail – 25.2km
- Return along the Broad Swamp to Birds Rock trail but take the second part of the Broad Swamp Loop – 26km
- Continue to Birds Rock Lookout and then walk back along the unsealed roads on foot – 29.2km
On a cooler winter’s day I’d have been tempted to walk back along the unsealed roads from Birds Rock, so that I could complete the entire Broad Swamp to Birds Rock trail and visit Birds Rock Lookout. This would adds 4km to the total length of the bushwalk, but it’s also a flatter route that avoids the three gullies traversed by the walking track.
Being a warm and sunny day, I opt to (mostly) re-trace my steps along the Broad Swamp to Birds Rock trail. It allows me to explore a few more pagodas that rise above the trail,p roviding views over the Gardens of Stone.
Carne Creek also offers a nice spot for a break, with a few small cascades a short wade up from the stepping stones. (Although you should be self-sufficient with water, unless it’s very dry there are a few creeks where you can fill up your water bottle.)
About halfway back along the Broad Swamp to Birds Rock trail I take a small detour, which shaves about one kilometre and a small gully off the return trip. Look for a charred upright tree trunk next to the trail, which has a narrow bushwalking track that soon becomes a firetrail.
I’m soon on the North Ridge Road, a firetrail which follows the ridge – it’s roughly parallel to the Broad Swamp to Birds Rock trail but avoids the undulations of the bushwalking trail. I think the firetrail has been closed to traffic, and I don’t see a single person or car so it’s not an unpleasant walk.
Near the end of the North Ridge Road the firetrail has logs placed across it to stop traffic. I veer left onto another firetrail which soon crosses the Broad Swamp to Birds Rock bushwalking track, which I re-join for the last few hundred metres back to the car.
You have to respect the result that NPWS has achieved in turning degraded motorbike tracks and firetrails into a great bushwalking trail. Unfortunately there’s a lot of walking involved for not a lot of views, and for experienced bushwalkers there are many more rewarding off-track walks you can do that offer equally spectacular views and deep canyons. (The Broad Swamp to Birds Rock walking track is the first section of a planned three-day, 30km hike which will end at the Glow Worm Tunnel.)
Getting to the Broad Swamp to Bird Rock Trail
As one of the bushwalks promoted by NPWS, access to both ends of the Broad Swamp to Bird Rock Trail are well signposted. To reach the large Broad Swamp carpark from Sydney take the Old Bells Line of Road from the Zig Zag Railway at Clarence. After 8.4km turn right onto Glowworm Tunnel Road. Look for a signposted turn-off on the left after another 5.2km. All the roads are unsealed but suitable for 2WD vehicles.
If you’re doing a car-shuffle, the Birds Rock carpark is accessible by high-clearance 4WD. From the junction of the Old Bells Line of Road and Glowworm Tunnel Road, continue for 2.2km to the Bungleboori Day Use Area. Turn left onto Old Bells Line of Road and follow this for 2.6km. Turn right onto Sunnyside Ridge Road and continue for 7km to the junction of Birds Rock trail.
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