One of the best ways to see some of the indigenous cultural sites in the Blue Mountains is the Red Hands Cave Circuit bushwalk, which passes a shelter with Aboriginal rock art and a large set of axe grinding grooves. If you start at the carpark at the end of the Red Hands Firetrail, it’s a 4km loop walk that you can easily do in a couple of hours. Most of the loop has at least some shade, so you can do this bushwalk year-round.
From the large carpark and Red Hands Cave Picnic Area, head down the Link Track. It passes through the typical dry scrubby vegetation that you find along the ridges of the Blue Mountains: dry sclerophyll forest makes up about 85% of the Greater Blue Mountains.
As the Link Track gradually descends, the vegetation changes to wet sclerophyll forest with more understorey ferns and palm sustained by the more fertile soil of the gully.
The Link Track reaches a tributary of Camp Fire Creek after just over a kilometre, and Camp Fire Creek after 1.5km. Camp Fire Creek starts near the junction of the Red Hands Firetrail and the Oaks Firetrail and flows into Glenbrook Creek. While the creek is fairly shallow, it flows all year even during periods, and must have been a reliable source of water for the Dharug and Gundungara tribes that were the traditional custodians of this area.
Almost exactly halfway around the Red Hands Cave Circuit are an the Camp Fire Creek grinding grooves, an extensive set of axe grinding grooves along the sandstone bed of the creek. At least 40 grooves were created over thousands of years by the Aboriginal people sharpening axes or forming axe blanks.
There are several more remote shelters with Aboriginal rock art in tributaries of Camp Fire Creek, providing more evidence of how the creek sustained life in this area.
The Link Track continues for just under 500m along the shaded gully as it follows Camp Fire Creek to it’s junction with Red Hands Gully Creek. This is also the junction of the Link Track and Red Hands Cave Walking Track. The Red Hands Cave Walking Track follows Camp Fire Creek all the way down to where it meets Glenbrook Creek near the The Oaks Trail causeway. To complete the Red Hands Cave Circuit, turn left to follow the Red Hands Gully Creek upstream.
The Red Hands Cave Walking Track ascends gently up the shaded Red Hands Gully. The creek has a little water in it, but is barely flowing (it hasn’t rained for a while) and is often dry.
It’s a pleasant walk despite the constant but gentle ascent, with some nice rock overhangs above the trail.
At the end of a long but low cliff-line is the Red Hands Cave, which is considered one of the best showcases of Aboriginal rock art in the Blue Mountains. The shelter was “discovered” by Europeans when searching for a lost child in 1913, and suffered some graffiti damage before a steel cage was erected to protect the site.
The hand stencils were created in red, yellow and white ochre between 500 and 1200 years ago (it’s extremely hard to accurately date Aboriginal rock art). The shelter is thought to have been a ceremonial cave for the initiation of young warriors.
From the Red Hands Cave, it’s about 500m back to the Red Hands Cave Picnic Area and carpark to complete the Red Hands Cave Circuit.
Getting to the Red Hands Cave Circuit
The “short” Red Hands Cave Circuit as described here starts at the end of the Red Hands Cave Firetrail, which is 13km (25min) from the Glenbrook entrance to the Blue Mountains National Park, or 14.5km (30min) from the town of Glenbook. Most of the route is unsealed, and while it’s suitable for all vehicles there are some rough sections along the Red Hands Cave Firetrail.
You can also do the Red Hands Cave Circuit from the Glenbrook Causeway, which makes it an 8.2km bushwalk. Look for the parking area soon after you drive across the causeway along the Oaks Trail, and take the Red Hands Cave Walking Track which follows Camp Fire Creek upstream. This is the best option if taking public transport, as Glenbrook station is a 2.5km walk from the trailhead.
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