If you live in Sydney and have driven across the Blue Mountains, you would have passed by the unassuming Mitchells Ridge Lookout, which is right next to the Great Western Highway at Mount Victoria. The historic lookout and rest area was named after Sir Thomas Livingston Mitchell, who supervised the building of the Victoria Pass by convict labour in 1832.
The lookout offers some pretty impressive views, and makes an ideal spot to stop for a break. A loop road passes a couple of vantage points: the first lookout is an informal and unfenced rock platform. From here you look directly out over the Kanimbla Valley to Mount Blackheath.
The main lookout is fenced, and over a similar perspective out to the south.
At the northern end of the loop road is a great view over Victoria Pass: it’s one of the oldest and most significant engineered works in Australia that is still in use today.
Mitchells Ridge Lookout has a shelter and some picnic tables.
Getting to Mitchells Ridge Lookout
The lookout is just off the Great Western Highway, after the town of Mount Victoria and just before the speed cameras on the highway. It’s 20km (20min drive) from Katoomba and 22.5km (20min) from Lithgow.
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