Originally developed as a maintenance track which followed electricity transmission lines between Lawson and Blackheath, Bruces Walk is named after Arthur Albert Bruce – a railway surveyor who mapped out the route. He also suggested that it be promoted as a walking trail, and it was officially opened 21 November 1931, supported by a detailed pamphlet: “The New Walk across the Blue Mountains”. Bruces Walk fell into disuse after World War II, until the 1980s when Jim Smith and Wilf Hilder organised a group of volunteers to clear the track between Bullaburra and Wentworth Falls. This section of Bruces Walk was officially opened on 24 May 1986 by Alderman David Lawton.
While Bruces Walk was “officially” re-opened, this was not supported by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and as a result the trail has very little signage. The Wentworth Falls trailhead is a locked gate at the end of Lawson View Parade, and for the first kilometre follows a wide firetrail.
The firetrail abruptly ends above a valley, next to an electricity pole, originally referred to as Pole 289 the lookout as “Lee’s View”. As the original Bruces Walk brochure promised: “THE FEATURE OF THIS WALK IS THE OVERHEAD TRANSMISSION LINE, ALWAYS TO BE SEEN, AND WHICH IS A SURE GUIDE TO TOURISTS”. A constant view of electricity lines is not what I generally consider a desirable feature of a bushwalk…
Bruces Walk starts (or ends) here – I’m doing the walk in the opposite direction as it was originally documented. A small NPWS warning sign is the only acknowledgement of this historic route. Originally called Skarratts Track, the trail is a bit overgrown but fairly easy to follow as is descends to the bottom of the valley.
The trail crosses Blue Mountains Creek, which has a small cascade a very short distance upstream of the trail.
Bruces Walk follows Blue Mountains Creek for a short distance, before ascending the opposite side of the valley.
Not surprisingly, Bruces Walk soon reaches a power pole, and the route follows the powerlines up to the top of the ridge. Near Pole 294, is Miller’s Lookout, which may have offered a nice view when the trees were cleared; there’s no longer any obvious vantage point.
Bruces Walk now descends quite steeply: “On each side of the creek are precipitous cliffs”. The start of the trail is a bit indistinct, but is marked by a few steel markers on the trees.
This one of the most interesting sections of Bruces Walk, with multiple ladders providing a route down the steep side of the valley. The first (steel) ladder is very sturdy.
The second, longer, steel ladder is also in pretty good condition.
The third, wooden, ladder has seen better days…
After the three ladders, Bruces Walk traverses a beautiful section of rainforest as it descends to the bottom of the valley.
The current Bruces Walk route no longer seems to follow the original one: the track notes describe the trail descending into Burgess Glen (named after after Leonard Burgess, Examiner of Overhead Lines in the 1930s, and now labelled as Auburn Glen on recent topographic maps). However Burgess Glen / Auburn Glen is 600m north-east from here.
A small, off-track detour up the creek heads towards Podgers Glen: “a secluded narrow glen walled in by precipitous mountain sides clad with a luxuriant growth of a native flora”. Within Podgers Glen is the secluded Lawson Cave Falls; it’s only a few hundred metres but very slow-going, with slippery rocks and scrambling.
Lawson Cave Falls was “lost” for many years before it was re-discovered by Brian Fox in 2005 after an extensive search. Cascading into a small, natural amphitheatre, it’s a small but quite spectacular waterfall.
It’s taken me an hour or so for this side-trip, including some time enjoying the waterfall, before I’m back on Bruces Walk which now climbs out of the valley.
There’s one more small ladder on this section – the fourth and last of the Bruces Walk ladders.
The vegetation rapidly changes from semi-rainforest to dry sclerophyll as the trail reaches the top of the ridge near the end of Booth Road.
Like the two previous ridges, the bushwalking trail ends at a firetrail which provides access to electricity pylons. The firetrail continues to the end of Booth Road, which provides access to Bruces Walk – although there are signs suggesting part of the firetrail traverses private property, there is an easement that provides legal access.
I’m not exiting here, but continuing along the last section of Bruces Walk.
The trail zig-zags down into the gully, through a sea (or carpet?) of dense ferns.
The thick ferns are replaced by tall Coachwood trees as the trail descends, crossing a small creek (which unlike the other creeks has just a trickle of water).
The trail then ascends the valley, again the ferny undergrowth soon transitioning to eucalypt forest.
Bruces Walk starts (or in my case finishes) here at Kent Street; you can turn right to head towards Bullaburra station, or left down the Kent Street Firetrail to pick up the last section of Bruces Walk to Lawson.
I’m continuing down the Kent Street Firetrail, with the intent of forming a loop by returning via the Lawson View Parade Extension Firetrail. After about 500m along the Kent Street Firetrail, another firetrail branches off to the left.
This soon turns into a bushwalking track, which starts to descend with increasing steepness to the bottom of the valley.
The bushwalking trail ends at Blue Mountains Creek – the same creek which Bruces Walk crosses upstream. It’s a beautiful, shaded spot, with tall Coachwood trees and ferns shading the creek.
Unfortunately, my planned loop is foiled when I lose the trail that climbs up to the top of the ridge: a few markers indicate the strart of the route, but soon peter out – and while it’s only about 500m up to the firetrail along the ridge, there about 100m of elevation gain and its starting to get dark. I re-trace my steps back up to the Kent Street Firetrail and finish at Kent Street.
I’ve enjoyed Bruces Walk, but it’s more demanding than I expected as it traverses multiple valleys and ridges – but it’s also a lot of fun with its ladders and “secret” waterfall. I’ve rated it Moderate with the off-track detour to Lawson Cave Falls, otherwise it’s Easy / Moderate.
Getting to Bruces Walk
There are a few trailheads that provide access to this section of Bruces Walk between Bullaburra and Wentworth Falls; it can also be easily accessed by train:
- Wentworth – end of Lawson View Parade (2.5km walk from Wentworth Falls station)
- Bullaburra – Kent Street (1.7km from Bullaburra station)
- Lawson – St Bernards Drive / North Lawson Park (1.3km from Lawson station) – this is the start point of the original Bruces Walk.
More information
- NSW Railway Commissioners – The New Walk across the Blue Mountains [PDF]
- OzUltimate – Bruces Walk original route
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