One of the most spectacular vantage points in the Blue Mountains, Pulpit Rock is a multi-tiered lookout on an isolated pinnacle, which juts out from the cliff-face at Blackheath on a massive blade of rock.
A fenced walking path traverses the top of the pinnacle to a lookout at the end, before dropping down to another lookout on a lower level of the rock.
The views are outstanding, with an almost 360˚ panorama across dramatic cliffs and deep valleys. To the east and north-east you can see all the way down the Grose Valley to Mount Banks.
To the south and south-east is Govetts Gorge, Fortress Ridge and Lockleys Pylon; the gap in the cliff face on the opposite side of the Grose Valley is Fortress Creek Falls, another spectacular lookout which is reached by a fairly challenging bushwalk.
Pulpit Rock was opened to the public in 1935 by Ernest Buttenshaw (Minister for Lands in the New South Wales government).
The majesty and grandeur of nature in its immensity, is seen with awe from the two new sites which were opened near BIackheath on Saturday last by the Minister for Lands (Hon. E. A. Buttenshaw). The first site opened was Pulpit Rock, and it is reached via Hat Hill Road, being directly opposite Govett’s Leap Reserve. A shelter-shed, built entirely of stone—the work of the trust—and a road recently finished to within a short distance of the lookout, enables tourists to visit this locality and view the magnificent gorge of the Grose Valley, from Mount Tomah to Govett’s Leap.
News of the Mountains District: The New Lookouts in The Katoomba Daily, Thursday 19 Dec 1935 (p5)
Bushwalks from Pulpit Rock
You can walk from Evans Lookout to Pulpit Rock via the Pulpit Rock Track (which continues to Evans Lookout as the Cliff Top Track, and then to Neates Glen via the Grand Canyon Track).
Getting to Pulpit Rock
The lookout is reached via a short walk from the end of Pulpit Rock Road, which is off Hat Hill Road, 6km from Blackheath. It’s a 17km (20min) drive from Katoomba and 120km (1:45min) from Sydney.
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