Narrow Neck is a narrow and sinuous peninsula or plateau, which extends for about 15km in length and divides the Megalong Valley to the west and the Jamison Valley to the east. An aerial view (photo credit: John Graham) of the vertical cliffs on both sides of the narrow plateau suggests there are very few routes down from the top into the valley below. However, there are at least 13 recognised Narrow Neck passes which non-technical (but many have some exposure and some are best done with the aid of a rope or tape).
Narrow Neck would have served as a trade route for the Gundungara and Therabulat Aboriginal tribes for thousands of years, and Duncans Pass near the end of the plateau is sometimes also called the “Gundungurra Pass”. Many of the Narrow Neck passes were originally pioneered by miners or prospectors searching for access to kerosene shale and coal deposits in the valleys. Intrepid bushwalkers also sought different routes from Katoomba to Megalong Valley and the Wild Dog Mountains via Narrow Neck, which was the main route to access much of the rugged Kanangra Boyd Wilderness Area.
A bushwalking track along the length of Narrow Neck was replaced by Glenraphael Drive, an unsealed road built for firefighting purposes, in 1957-58 after bushfires devastated the Blue Mountains. It allows relatively easy access to the top of most of the Narrow Neck passes.
The precise number of non-technical Narrow Neck passes can be debated; it could be argued that Duncans Pass and Tarros Ladders at the very end of the Neck are two passes – for a total of 14 – but these are really two variations of a single pass.
- Black Billy Head (Hard)
- Carlon Head (Moderate/Hard)
- Coachwood Pass / Mitchells Creek (Hard)
- Diamond Head (Moderate/Hard)
- Dicksons Ladders / Water Board Ladders (Hard)
- Duncans Pass and Tarros Ladders (Easy/Moderate)
- Dunphys Pass (Moderate)
- Golden Stairs (Easy)
- Harmil Ledge (Moderate)
- Landslide Gully / Dogface Gully (Hard)
- Redledge Pass (Moderate)
- Rock Pile Pass (Moderate)
- Walls Pass (Moderate)
The Narrow Neck passes are mapped below (from north to south) with a bushwalking route (one of many!) that links them all. As a general rule, it’s easier to ascend than to descend the more challenging Narrow Neck passes.
Black Billy Head
A bluff on the western side of Narrow Neck, Black Billy Head was possibly named after William (Billy) Lynch, an Aboriginal Elder who lived in the Megalong Valley in the 1800s – this name has been used since the early 1900s. He used this route to walk between Katoomba and the Coxs River, and it’s thought to have been used as a pass by the Gundungara people.
Black Billy Head involves three exposed climbs, for which a rope/tape is essential for safety; this is one of the hardest of the Narrow Neck passes. The top of the pass is accessed from the Narrow Neck Plateau Trail via Fools Paradise, a very scrubby and generally unpleasant section of bush. The bottom can be accessed via the firetrail from Dunphys Campground or Green Gully, which is also off-track on a talus slope. (From halfway down Black Billy Head, you can also follow a series of ledges – which also have a few exposed sections – to Coachwood Pass).
| Difficulty | Hard |
| Exposure | Significant in places |
| Access | Scrubby bushbash throgh Fool Paradise to top Access base from Medlow Gap Mgt Trail from Green Gully |
| European History | First used early 1900s |
| Bushwalk/s | What Worked for Me – Rice Terrace & Black Billy Head |
Carlon Head
Named after the Carlon family (who lived at Green Gully in the Megalong Valley in the early 1900s) by Miles Dunphy, Carlon Pass was discovered in 1932 by Harry Whaite and members of the Warrigal Club. Legend has it that the route was negotiated by accident, with the Warrigal Club members thinking they were at Clear Hill. A series of chains, spikes and footholds were installed in June 1941 by John Manson; as a result this route was also called Mansons Ladders.
It’s a relatively challenging route on a bluff at the western end of Narrow Neck, and the shortest way from Dunphys Campground (Megalong Valley) to Narrow Neck via an established and obvious track. It’s much easier to go up this pass, then down; there are four set of chains and spikes; a rope/tape is optional to avoid reliance on the aging steel chains. From the top of the head, there is a distinct bushwalking track to the Narrow Neck firetrail.
| Difficulty | Moderate/Hard |
| Exposure | Significant |
| Access | Bushwalking track from Narrow Neck firetrail & Medlow Gap Mgt Trail |
| European History | First used 1932 |
| Bushwalk/s | Carlon Head and Tarros Ladder |
Coachwood Pass / Mitchells Creek
Mitchells Creek Pass (also called Coachwood Pass) is one of the most challenging Narrow Neck passes, utilising iron spikes in a Coachwood tree for the last descent. The pass is named after Campbell Mitchell (the son of surveyor Sir Thomas Mitchell), who owned land at the headwaters of the creek on Narrow Neck in the 1860s. The pass was first used by bushwalkers from the 1930s when a rough bush ladder was used to negotiate the lowermost cliff line; it’s unclear when the spikes were installed.
The top of the pass is reached by leaving the Narrow Neck Plateau trail around GR 4665 6093 and heading for the distinctive Rhubarb Rock (an ironstone formation), and then following Mitchell Creek downstream. The route negotiates a couple of waterfalls, with the final cliff-line being negotiated via the Coachwood tree with iron spikes hammered into it. It’s easier to ascend this pass then to descend, and the spiked Coachwood tree is much easier to find from below. From the base of the Mitchells Creek Pass you can continue descending to the Medlow Gap Management Trail (the easiest option) or follow the cliffs to Black Billy Head Pass to the south-west (via Rice Terrace, which has some exposed ledges), or Rock Pile Pass to the north.
| Difficulty | Hard |
| Exposure | Minor |
| Access | Rough track to Rhubarb Rock to top of pass (GR 4643 6024) Bush-bash to Medlow Gap Mgt trail or Black Billy Head / Rock Pile Pass |
| European History | Used from 1930s |
| More Info | David Noble – Dog Face Gully Jamison Project – Landslide Gully |
Diamond Head
Diamond Head is one of the less frequently used Narrow Neck passes, and while it’s a little tricky to navigate it can be done with minimal exposure and without ropes (although it’s best to have some tape/rope). There is little history on when this pass was first discovered or used, other than a mention of an ascent of “Anderson’s Head” – the previous name for Diamond Head – during WW2 by Lindsay Paish and Jack Collins and possibly other members of the Volunteer Defence Corps. There may also have been used as a route to access an old shale mining area below Diamond Head.
The pass is most easily reached from the last carpark along Glenraphael Drive, where there is an obvious path 50m back along the road that heads down to a climbers ledge. Continue past Diamond Falls and descend the nose of Diamond Head with “very sensible unexposed scrambling the whole way down” – if you can find the correct. Other routes require short but exposed climbs/abseils. There’s no track at the bottom; other than returning the same way, you can continue down the slope to reach the old shale tramway, following this east to climb back up to Narrow Neck via Redledge Pass, or west to Dicksons Ladders and the Devils Hole track.
| Difficulty | Moderate/Hard |
| Exposure | Minor |
| Access | Climbers ledge to Diamond Falls at the top From the base can return via Red Ledge Pass / Devils Hole |
| European History | Documented use in WW2 |
| Bushwalk/s | N/A |
| More Info | David Noble Blog – Diamond Head and Redledge Pass What Worked for Me – Diamond Head & Rock Pile Pass |
Dicksons Ladders / Water Board Ladders
Dicksons Ladders were constructed in the 1890s by Bill Dickson (who was employed by John Britty North, a stockbroker and mining agent) to provide an access route from Katoomba to the Glen Shale Mine in the Megalong Valley. As part of the Fish River Water Supply Scheme, new steel ladders were installed in mid 1964 which followed the almost vertical water pipeline into the valley below. Responsibility of the ladders was eventually transferred to the local council, who deemed them to be unsafe and removed the top and bottom ladders.
In order to facilitate construction of the vertical section of pipeline at Narrow Neck, a steel ladder was fixed to the rock face. This ladder subsequently became a well-used means of access to and from Megalong Valley by bush walkers. In the early eighties, because of concerns for public safety, FRWS [Fish River Water Supply Scheme] proposed removing it, but the proposal was met by considerable opposition from the ladder’s many users. Instead of being removed, the ladder was transferred to ownership of Blue Mountains City Council, a more appropriate body to manage what had become, quite unintentionally, a useful public facility.
McLachlan, Barrett, Domis & Welling, (1997), Lets Have Water. A History of the Fish River Water Supply
It’s possible to still use this “pass”, but there is significant exposure and while a fixed rope may be in place at the top, it’s best to bring your own rope/tape. At the top there is a 3m concrete ramp, and then a narrow and awkward slot that is hard to safely negotiate. At the bottom, the old steel ladder starts about 3m above the ground, with ropes installed that you can use to access the ladders. There is a rough trail from the bottom of the ladders to the Devils Hole trail.
| Difficulty | Hard |
| Exposure | Significant |
| Access | O’Sullivans Folly Road along Glenraphael Drive to top of ladders Rough track along bottom of cliff-line to the north to Devils Hole Track |
| European History | Ladders first installed in 1890s |
| Bushwalk/s | Alternate entry/exit to Devils Hole Loop |
| More Info | Bushwalk Australia – Old Water Board Ladders |
Duncans Pass and Tarros Ladders
This Narrow Neck pass was no doubt used by the Gundungara Aboriginal people as a trade route, and in the late 1800s by oil shale prospectors. The first recorded use of Duncans Pass was in June 1928 by bushwalkers Frank Duncan, Ern Austen and Jack Debert who set out to find a route down from Clear Hill:
Soon our efforts were rewarded, and we climbed down the gully to the west of the southernmost point of the hill. The descent was in the form of steps or ledges extending in the direction of Mount Mouin. After repeated deviations and retracing of our steps, we came to a sheer cliff within fifty feet of the bush-clad foothills below. These last fifty feet were the only serious difficulty of the descent, but even here it was not long before three of us had climbed down a chimney-like crack and solved with a shout of pride the descent of Clear Hill.
Frank Duncan in The Bushwalker (April 1964, re-printed from 1934) – The First Descent of Clear Hill
Flimsy ladders constructed from saplings and fencing wire were installed in 1933 by Walter Tarr, who frequently bushwalked in this area. They were destroyed by bushfires in 1939 and replaced by iron spikes in November 1940 by Warrigal Club members Frank Craft and Rae Else-Mitchell. This gave the pass the now more frequently used name of Tarros Ladder (originally spelled Taros Ladder). There is a good and regularly used track from the base of Duncans Pass / Tarros Ladders to Medlow Gap.
An alternate or bypass route (the Wallaby Track or Wallaby Parade) avoids the spikes and vertical rock face: at the top of the ladders there is a faint pad to the east, which then follows the bottom of the cliff through the scrub before reaching a gully which can be easily negotiated.
| Difficulty | Easy/Moderate |
| Exposure | Minor |
| Access | Bushwalking track from end of Narrow Neck firetrail to Medlow Gap |
| European History | First documented use 1928 |
| Bushwalk/s | Carlon Head and Tarros Ladder |
| More Info | David Noble blog – Dunphys and Duncans Passes – Narrow Neck Frank Duncan, The Bushwalker (1964) – First Descent of Clear Hill Bushwalk Australia – Which one is Duncans Pass? |
Dunphys Pass
Dunphys Pass was discovered and first used in 1926 by a party led by the pioneering bushwalkers Myles Dunphy and Raphael Doyle. It’s most likely the first bushwalkers pass discovered on Narrow Neck, all the other Narrow Neck passes up this point having been used to access mining sites. (Dunphy had explored this area in 1914, but did not identify the pass on this visit.) It’s one of the easier Narrow Neck passes, with no major exposure or tricky scrambles.
Situated on the western side of Narrow Neck, Dunphys Pass is one of the southernmost Narrow Neck passes and is most easily accessed from Dunphys Campground. Reaching the top of the pass requires some scrub-bashing from the Narrow Neck Plateau Trail, athough you may pick up a rough track that skirts the southern end of Glenraphael Swamp to a cairn (at GR 4651 5685) at the top of the pass. The bottom of Dunphys Pass is reached from the Medlow Gap Management Trail, via an off-track route that ascends from near Sliprail Creek up towards Glenraphael Head. A gully forms the lower part of the pass. The bottom of Harmil Ledge is not far away to the west, and these two passes are often combined.
| Difficulty | Moderate |
| Exposure | None |
| Access | Bush-base / rough track to Narrow Neck firetrail Descend talus slope from base of pass to Medlow Gap Mgt Trail |
| European History | Discovered 1926 |
| More Info | Bushwalking NSW – Dunphys Pass and Harmil Ledge What Worked for Me – Harmils Ledge and Dunphys Pass |
Golden Stairs
The Golden Stairs is a route from Pitts Amphitheatre in the Jamison Valley up to Narrow Neck, originally used by miners to access oil shale mines near the Ruined Castle and in the Megalong Valley. The pass was first called Parkers Track when opened in May 1899, but within a few years was called the Golden Stairs. The name Golden Stairs may come from their resemblance to the stairs leading from Hades to Heaven – or from the “Walking Up The Golden Stairs” hymn sung by members of the Salvation Army who conducted Christian services in the Jamison Valley.
The mines are reached from the Narrow Neck by a scratch in the side of the mountains known as the Golden Stairs. It is some places scarcely more than twelve inches in width, in others as much as three feet. Half way down the path it is thrilling to look up at cliffs 1,000 feet above you, and then over your toes to the bottom, 600 or 700 feet below. The path is nowhere very level, and it requires a cool head to traverse it at any time.
Illustrated Sydney News, 3 June 1893
Even during the period that the Golden Stairs were used by miners, it was also accessed by bushwalkers and continued to be used for leisure after the mines closed in 1903. The wooden ladders and chains gradually deteriorated and suffered from vandalism, and by the 1930s it had become a dangerous route. Steel ladders were installed in the 1980s, making the Golden Stairs the easiest and most-used Narrow Neck pass. (Bushfires in 2019 and a landslide in 2020 has resulted in the Golden Stairs being temporarily closed for repairs.)
| Difficulty | Easy |
| Exposure | None |
| Access | Signposted track along Glenrapheal Drive Meets Federal Pass / Ruined Castle track at the bottom |
| European History | First used in 1899 |
| Bushwalk/s | Access to Mount Solitary and Ruined Castle |
Harmil Ledge
The most recently discovered and documented Narrow Neck pass, Harmil Ledge was named by Michael Keats during a Bush Club walk in 2006 after George Harley and Alfred Milton who bushwalked in the area in the 1950s. A logbook was placed at the top in July 2006.
Located on the western side of Narrow Neck between the top of Sliprail Creek and Glenraphael Head, the pass is a narrow ledge varying in width from two to five metres, between the top and bottom cliff faces. The steepest drop is near the bottom, where a fixed rope may be in place. Access to the top of Harmil Ledge is from the southern gully of Sliprail Creek, which is only about a few hundred metres through the scrub from the Narrow Neck Firetrail. The descent into the gully is fairly steep and slippery. At the bottom of Harmil Ledge, follow the base of the cliffs to the main ridge, and descend the ridge to the Medlow Gap Management Trail. You can also continue a short distance along the base of the cliffs to connect to Dunphys Pass.
| Difficulty | Moderate |
| Exposure | Minimal |
| Access | Short off-track walk from Narrow Neck Firetrail to top Descend main ridge at base to Medlow Gap Mgt Trail |
| European History | First used in 1950s; named in 2006 |
| More Info | Bushwalking NSW – Dunphys Pass and Harmil Ledge What Worked for Me – Harmils Ledge and Dunphys Pass |
Landslide Gully (Dogface Gully)
A lesser-known Narrow Neck pass, Landslide Gully (also called Dogface Gully) is a route from the Federal Pass in Jamison Valley to the start of Glenraphael Drive (a variant starts/end near Hildas Lookout on Cliff Drive). Thew first known use of the Landslide Gully was by Fr Frank Bendeich and Tony Boyd of the Catholic Bushwalkers Club in 1975: “Some of the party stated they would never go there again”.
The challenging Landslide Gully route is one of the hardest Narrow Neck passes, and includes a few difficult scrambles, the crossing of a slippery waterfall and a final ascent up a 7 metre high chimney. Some fixed ropes may be in place, but it’s essential to bring your own tape or rope for this pass.
| Difficulty | Hard |
| Exposure | Moderate |
| Access | Signposted track along Glenraphael Drive Meets Federal Pass / Ruined Castle track at the bottom |
| European History | First used 1975 |
| More Info | David Noble – Dog Face Gully Jamison Project – Landslide Gully |
Redledge Pass
An old miners route on the side of Narrow Neck, Redledge Pass was used from the mid-1860s to reach the Glen Shale Mine (although no specific date is recorded). It was accessed by Surveyor William Marshall Cooper in 1884 when he looked at potential routes for the Six Foot Track. As one of the few natural passes along Narrow Neck that doesn’t involve exposed scrambling, it would most likely have been used by the Gundungara Aboriginal people.
Redledge Pass is located near the start of Narrow Neck, with the route crossing Corral Creek before reaching a large overhang, and then the Red Ledge – named after the red-coloured Mount York Claystone that forms part of the ledge. At the bottom of Redledge Pass are the remains of the Glen Shale Mine, including the easement of the tramway that ran all the way to what is now the Scenic Railway, crossing Narrow Neck via the Mount Rennie Tunnel.
| Difficulty | Moderate |
| Exposure | Minimal |
| Access | Climbers track to top of pass Follow old tramway at the bottom to Devils Hole track, or continue along ledge to Rock Pile Pass |
| European History | First used 1860s |
| Bushwalk/s | Redledge Pass to Rock Pile Pass |
| More Info | Bushwalking NSW – Redledge Pass David Noble – Diamond Head and Redledge Pass |
Rock Pile Pass
This is one of the more recently discovered Narrow Neck passes; the first documented use of Rock Pile Pass was by Graeme Holbeach and Don Rice from the Sutherland Bushwalking Club in November 1988. The name of the pass comes from a pile of rocks that was placed at the base of one of three scrambles along the route to help climb the small cliff. Somewhat confusingly, there have been more recent reports of at least one more Rock Pile Pass that follows a different route.
The pass is easier to locate from the bottom (at GR 4651 6213), which is at the base of the cliffs on the western side of Narrow Neck, between Redledge Pass and Mitchells Pass. The top of the pass is below Corral Swamp – a climbers track off the Narrow Neck Plateau Trail goes almost all the way to the pass, avoiding thick scrub. At the bottom, you can follow the base of the cliffs to either Redledge Pass or Mitchells Pass.
| Difficulty | Moderate |
| Exposure | Moderate |
| Access | Climbers track to top of pass Informal track from base of pass to Redledge Pass (hard route to Mitchells Pass) |
| European History | First used 1988 |
| Bushwalk/s | Redledge Pass to Rock Pile Pass |
| More Info | David Noble – Rock Pile Pass – Narrow Neck Fat Canyoners – Redledge, Rock Pile & Mitchells Creek What Worked for Me – Diamond Head & Rock Pile Pass |
Not counted as additional pass, about 100m south of Rock Pile Pass is a climbers pass that provides an alternate route. It is arguably easier than Rock Pile Pass – it’s steeper and has more exposure, but it more direct and has a fixed rope in place – there’s also a well-defined path from the top of the cliffs to the Narrow Neck Plateau Trail.
Walls Pass
Located on the eastern side of Narrow Neck, Walls Pass was first used by brothers Damian Wall and Ignatius Wall, who took up coal mining leases in the area in 1889. They placed ladders on sections of the cliffs to access the coal seams. The pass was rediscovered the pass in the early 1960s by Wilf Julius Hilder, who name it after the Wall brothers. In the mid 1960s the Bushwalking Federation Search and Rescue section installed chains on the pass. It has also been called the Miners Pass.
Walls Pass has fixed chains and spikes on some of the vertical sections of the cliff face, with at least one awkward drop. While the chains make the rope arguably easier than some of the other Narrow Neck passes that require scrambling, it has been described as “treacherous. It’s hard to understand why bushwalkers would want to risk a 10m fall on a vertical face with a further drop below it.” This is the only Narrow Neck pass that is easier to descend, than it is to ascend.
The top of Walls Pass is reached via a 7km walk down the Narrow Neck Fire Plateau Trail to Bushwalkers Hill, then along a old firetrail to the east before following the ridge. A large cairn at GR 4755 5856 marks the start of a faint trail to the start of the pass. From the bottom, you can exit via a fairly long walk which follows ths cliff line to below Cedar Head, descends to Cedar Creek and then follows a ridge up to the Ruined Castle track.
| Difficulty | Moderate |
| Exposure | Moderate |
| Access | Old firetrail then follow ridge from Bushwalkers Hill Long walk to Ruined Castle from bottom |
| European History | First used early late 1880s |
| More Info | Bushwalking NSW – Walls Pass |
Other Narrow Neck passes
There are infinite Narrow Neck passes if you include cliffs that require abseiling or technical climbing – and few passes that no longer exist…
- Blue Gum Pass is perhaps a mythical pass, with just a few references online to a “gentle sloping fallen tree up the difficult lowest cliff of Fools Paradise”. The tree is most likely long gone…
- Castle Head is an abseiling route, but was described by Jim Barrett in “Narrow Neck and the birth of Katoomba” as having been used as a pass by the miners to access the Jamison Valley (which seems unlikely)
- Cedar Head was described by Jim Barrett as having “Old steps cut into the rock … on the nose of Cedar Head” but there is no evidence of these.
- Glenraphael Head was most likely first climbed by members of the Warrigal Club in 1933, and required an exposed scramble or abseil. Harmil Ledge provides a non-technical ascent/descent of Glenraphael Head and can be considered a variant of a Glenraphael Head pass.
More information on Narrow Neck passes
There are many bushwalking books and blogs covering the different bushwalking routes along and off Narrow Neck; a few helpful resources provide information on all of the Narrow Neck passes:
- Keats, Fox and Bolotin – Narrow Neck: Walks, Passes, People, Places. The definitive book on the history, bushwalking routes & passes and features of Narrow Neck
- What Worked for Me – 14 Narrow Neck Passes. An overview of an epic 53km bushwalking trip that covered all of the passes in one (long) day.
- Jim Barrett – Narrow Neck and the Birth of Katoomba (1996). A detailed book covering the history of Narrow Neck and surrounding area.
- David and Roger Collison – The Passes of Narrow Neck [PDF]. An overview of the 12 different Narrow Neck routes known at the time, which was published in Wild magazine (Autumn 1992).