Flat Rock Lookout and Echo Tree Lookout are two easily-reached lookouts on the escarpment in Katoomba just off Cliff Drive. They are right next to each other, offering almost an identical perspective over the Jamison Valley.
Flat Rock Lookout
Incorrectly called Flat Top Lookout on some maps, Flat Rock Lookout was established in 1936 as part of a number of improvements to the Prince Henry Cliff Walk. It was minuted on 24 July: That a lookout be enclosed with piping and netting between tbe proposed Echo Tree Lookout and Jamieson Lookout, on flat rock, and named “Flat Rock Lookout” (The Blue Mountains Times, Fri 24 Jul 1936).
The lookout offers views over Fern Bower, which is almost directly below, and out to the Jamison Valley and Mount Solitary.
Echo Tree Lookout
The same Council minutes in 1936 recorded “That a lookout be enclosed with piping and netting below the “Echo Tree,” and named “Echo Tree Lookout”. The Echo Tree, photographed by Henry King (one of Australia’s most significant early photographers), was a local landmark from at least the 1880s. In 1887 a pass was discovered from this tree down into the Jamison Valley, which is now the Fern Bower Track – a part of the Federal Pass.
The fenced lookout also offers a view over Fern Bower and the Jamison Valley.
Getting to Flat Rock Lookout and Echo Tree Lookout
Both lookouts – they are about 20m apart – are on the Prince Henry Cliff Walk, just below Cliff Drive, and accessed via the trailhead opposite the old Solitary Restaurant. It’s about 1.4km from Katoomba station, and 2.9km from Leura.
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