Text and photosJohn Walker

Day 1: Wet forest in the vicinity of Lawson View Falls

A fragmented attempt to retrace the original Bruce’s Walk.

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Bruce's Walk originally began as a maintenance track in 1931. The Railway Department had agreed to supply electricity to the Blue Mountains Shire Council from the power station at Lithgow and a transmission line was put through from Blackheath to Lawson, with a track to provide maintenance access. The line went south from Blackheath, passed a little west of the Grand Canyon, through the bush east of Medlow Bath, across the ridges north of Katoomba, Leura and Wentworth Falls, across the gullies on the fringes of Bullaburra and into Lawson. The authorities then decided to promote the maintenance track as a walking trail, which was duly opened on 21 November 1931. The surveyor who planned the track was A. Bruce, as a result of which the track eventually became known as Bruce's Walk.

A pamphlet was published to publicise the walk, which passed through a variety of scenery, including glens and ridges. However, from World War II onwards, the track was forgotten and neglected. Parts of the track were also blocked off when the council constructed Lake Greaves in 1942 as a local water supply. Much later, however, a local

walker named Dick Rushton found a copy of the pamphlet published in 1931 and set out to clear and mark the track. In 1980 he led a party of walkers along the section of track between Bullaburra and Wentworth Falls, and in 1983 he created a written guide to the track.

By 1986, Bruce's Walk had come to the attention of two other walkers, Jim Smith and Wilf Hilder, who organised a group of volunteers to clear the track between Bullaburra and Wentworth Falls. In the process, they found many artefacts and features, including signs, shelter caves, seats and picnic tables. This part of the track was officially opened on 24 May 1986, by Alderman David Lawton. The opening was attended by 118 people, including Dick Rushton, who was by then eighty years old. (This opening was condemned by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Mayor of the Blue Mountains City Council.) Other stretches of the track, from Wentworth Falls to Medlow Bath, were also cleared by the volunteers and opened later in 1986. The track, however, is still patchy and largely without signposts.1

Day 2: Looking back at some of my morning’s handywork

The Journey, a tale of opposing directions

Day 1 - Bruce’s Walk East

Wentworth Falls to LawsonDistance: 9.90km

OK, I acknowledge that I started in the middle of the track and finished at one of the end points. That was because I thought it would be more interesting, and I was already familiar with the initial gully. I arrived by train at the Blue Mountains village of Wentworth Falls and walked through local streets to access the bush start point at the end of Lawson View Parade. I then headed down the track towards Lawson, walking this first increment west to east, the opposite direction of travel to what appears to have been recommended in 1931. Subsequently I became compliant, and walked the other sections of the track east to west.

This first section covered possibly the most interesting remnant parts of the old track with various artefacts to be discovered. It was a nice mini adventure that I completed in a few hours, steep, loose descents and climbs notwithstanding. I had little trouble navigating despite the absence of any significant signage. I passed through several gullies (or 'glens'), occasionally negotiating a rickety old ladder or visiting a cave with rustic furniture. Some of these may be original features, I can’t be certain, but they add to the ambience of the walk.

I had lunch at the signposted 'Shelter Cave' with a rustic seat and bench overlooking a pretty view. I wondered how people enjoyed this place all those years ago before World War 2. After lunch I got going through some of the steepest and prettiest parts of Bruce’s Walk. At one point, a loose, rickety metal ladder decided to part company with the small cliff it was attached to (or so I thought)

My lunch view at the Shelter Cave

Rustic seat in the Shelter Cave

The ladder of doom

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just as I was starting to descend it. That was somewhat exciting, as there was a big drop below the narrow ledge it occupied. Thankfully someone had installed some makeshift rigging to prevent the ladder from falling into the abyss. I gave thanks as I recovered my balance! Fortunately the next ladder that I encountered was more user friendly, despite its extremely weathered appearance.

I travelled through a number of landscape changes, from open forest to rocky descents with old cut stone steps, down to deep rainforest gullies and creek crossings. At one point I opted for a detour to find Lawson View Falls, but in hindsight I probably went the wrong way as a result of my non-compliant direction of travel. So I didn’t find the falls but my unintentional walk through the wet forest environment was pleasant enough. And I have an excuse to return some other time.

Unfortunately the original line of the track has been altered in many places by development over the years. I carried maps, both paper and online, but used no other navigation aids. There are often small markers on trees, which help through sections of deadfall and so on. I had to hunt around the Kent Street/Norfolk Street fire trail complex to locate the last (original) short section of Bruce’s Walk into North Lawson. Eventually I found it, which then provided access for a brief side trip into, better known and more visited, Dantes Glen to finish before walking out to Lawson railway station for the trip home.

Descending a steeper part of the track

Historic timber ladder and seat – sturdier than it looks

Traversing some nice open forest

Creek crossing

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Day 2 - Bruce’s Walk Central Wentworth Falls to Medlow Bath

Distance: 14.6km

The weather forecast for the upper Blue Mountains looked brilliant, so I decided to jump on the train again and attempt the 'central' section of Bruce's Walk, as defined by me, from Wentworth Falls railway station to Medlow Bath railway station. After getting the usual road walking out of the way, all went well crossing the three upper gorges of Wentworth, Govetts and Katoomba creeks, with no significant navigation issues. I had been studying documentation and maps of Bruce's Walk on and off all the preceding week, which possibly helped my ease of progress.

There were a few mini adventures negotiating steep obstacles where things have become very eroded and historic infrastructure has fallen into disrepair. Descending into the valley of Katoomba Creek handrails, steps,

Descending into upper Govetts Creek at Grace’s Glen

In Wentworth Creek gorge

The way ahead through the valleys of Govetts and Katoomba Creeks

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foot rungs etc were now missing. I had to substitute hanging on to plants, tree roots, rocks and so on, with a bum slide or two. By the end of the day my knees were killing me from the steep ups and downs, and I developed a toe blister over the 14 or so kilometres, but it was definitely a fun day and worth doing. In some ways this was possibly the best day of the three, although each of them had a lot to offer, and it was significantly different from the others.

The only real downside of the day was the amount of road walking involved at each end, but that couldn't be avoided. I finished the actual Bruce's Walk section at the edge of the Katoomba airfield, and I then walked out to Medlow Bath station along Grand Canyon Rd/Rutland Rd. Sadly there were fences and signs everywhere to the west of the road that prohibit entry to the Blackheath special area, where the next part of the original track once traversed. I met a wallaby as I finished the trail section approaching the airfield, my only warm-blooded companion on the walk. I didn’t see another soul all day.

A friendly reminder

The ascent from Govetts Creek looks clear ahead

The descent into Katoomba Creek has seen better days

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Bruce's Walk - Medlow Bath to Blackheath Cemetery

was mapped in 1931. I had previously been through some of those fragmented bush pads in the Braeside area, partly within and partly adjacent to the national park. I thought at least some of it would be doable, maybe all of it. I knew that I would have to deviate via the nearest fire trail or street where houses or other infrastructure now occupy the original route.

Again I arrived by train and walked from Medlow Bath railway station out past the Katoomba airfield via my previous end point, and picked up the old Point Pilcher track, descending into the Grand Canyon. That track was in very good condition, having been given some TLC from a volunteer/NPWS working party. As someone who gets nervous changing a light globe I found one short narrow ledge over an exposed big drop quite hairy while descending to the Grand Canyon track. Many others probably wouldn't be worried by it but it took me some deliberation

Some nice bush and swamp in places

Small waterfall in the upper Grand Canyon

Hitting the Braeside Trail

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The final destination - in more ways than one