SydneyAdventurers40+

This gorgeous loop through Sydney's north shore is a delight of epic vistas across the wild northern waterways, pretty trails through Garigal national park's lush coastal forest, heath and mangrove ecologies, impressive rock formations like the Natural Bridge, picturesque waterfalls, and the magical lake shores of Manly Dam. Afterwards if there is interest, we can car pool to dinner at one of the fab restaurants nearby in Mosman, Cremorne or Neutral Bay.

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THE PLAN

Meeting point:
Gather for a 10am start in the car park of Seaforth Oval (on Wakehurst Parkway, Seaforth). Walk to the far right of the bitumen car park, past the sports facility building and playing fields, and look for us at the metal archway and information board at the start of the Timbergetters Track/Engravings Track.

The walk:
The route is a 12km loop that takes us over and back again across the ridge that separates North Harbour valley and Manly Dam valley.

- We start easy, heading down the ridge along the old logging trail for a kilometre to sea level at Bantry Bay with mangroves and the relics of the old logging machinery and boat docks.

- Then we ascent 100 metres for 1 km long up a rocky trail (nothing dangerous or technical. We'll take it very slow, and help each other over the stone steps, and pause lots to check the views. Best of all this ascent means we have conquered most of the elevation for today's walk, yay!

- At the top we are rewarded with the impressive Bluff Lookout where relax on the rock outcrop for morning break and enjoy sweeping views across north harbour estuary, the wild forested hills of northern Sydney, and the Sydney CBD skyscrapers on the southern horizon.

- We now drop down another rocky trail to reach the remarkable Natural Bridge rock formation .... yep, you won't be the first people to do a selfie in front of this dramatic cavern. We'll stop here for lunch break by the beautiful creek that flows right through the cavern.

- We continue on a gentle ascent through exquisite tall forest and lush fern glens to emerge at Forestville, where we can use the toilets.

- And now we weave through some secret forest trails to cross from North Harbour over the ridge into the catchment of Manly Creek. Here we follow a really easy trail downwards, passing a beautiful waterfall, lush rainforest, casuarina groves, and placid lake shores lined with water lilies, reeds and foraging birds, to come out at Manly Dam.

It is now just an easy, slow ascent for 1km up another bush trail to loop us back to to our start point at Seaforth Oval at about 4.30pm.

After-party:
If there is interest in drinks and dinner afterwards, we can car pool to one of the many excellent restaurants in nearby Mosman, Cremorne or Neutral Bay (with very fast public transport on express buses to the City if you need it after that).

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DIFFICULTY - IS THIS ACTIVITY RIGHT FOR ME?

This walk is graded MODERATE because it is 12km long, it has a couple of short steep ascents and descents, and some trail sections are rough rocky steps (nothing technical or dangerous).

It is not the right choice for an absolute first time bushwalker, but if you feel comfortable on uneven rocky bush trails and have done walks of about 10km length before you will handle it just fine.

We will take the day at a relaxed and social pace with lots of pauses (especially the 100 metre ascent soon after the start).

If you get tired at any point through the day, there are multiple easy exits from the trail with bus connections at

• 5km (after the first ascent to the Bluff and the descent to Natural Bridge, exiting into Killarney Heights),
• 7km (crossing Wakehurst Parkway at Forestville), and
• 9km (exiting at Manly dam before the final ascent to Seaforth Oval).

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TRANSPORT

By car: Seaforth is very easily accessed from

• the City ... via North Sydney, Neutral Bay and Mosman along Military Rd and Spit Rd, cross the Spit Bridge, and turn left at Seaforth shops to follow Frenchs Forest Rd / Clontarf St / Wakehurst Parkway, OR
• from northern Sydney ... head to Warringah Rd in Forestville, and turn south onto Wakehurst Parkway.

There is plenty of free parking at Seaforth Oval, but remember to park in the dirt area with no time restrictions rather than the bitumen car park with a 4 hour limit.

By bus:

• from Wynyard station (Carrington Street, bus stand A, stop ID 200021), take bus 173X (Warringah Mall service) at 9.00am, arriving at Sydney Rd, Balgowlah (bus stop just after Warringah Gold Club and just before Wanganella Street) at 9.21am, then
• cross at the traffic lights to the bus stop (ID 209332) on the opposite side of Sydney Rd, and
• take the route 141 (Austlink via Seaforth and Frenchs Forest service) at 9.30am, arriving at Seaforth Oval on Wakehurst Parkway at 9.37am.

Come and wonder at the huge Katoomba Falls, the biggest waterfall in the Sydney region, while we follow the famous Prince Henry Cliff Walk with endless jaw-dropping views of the Blue Mountains wilderness, lush rainforest with roaming lyrebirds, and a close-up visit to touch the iconic Three Sisters crags. And if you think walking the mountains is unavoidably hard work, we've designed this route with optional detours if you want to avoid the sections with steep steps while still seeing the good stuff, and the organiser will give everyone a car ride from the trail end back to Katoomba station at the finish of the day. Epic views, amazing rock pinnacles, huge water falls, crisp clean mountain air, and beautiful moderate walking to see it all ... it doesn't get nicer than that!

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THE PLAN

Optional pre-walk gathering:
If you like, join us from 9.30am for coffee / brunch at the Savoy Cafe (on the left in Katoomba Street, just 30 metres from the train station).

Formal start:
Meet at 10.30am at subway entrance to Katoomba station on Bathurst Street (on the footpath in front of CafeXpresso and the Blue Mountains Explorer shopfront).

The walk:
- We'll follow quiet back trails along the headwaters of the Kedumba River, descending to where Katoomba Falls plunges over the cliffs with jaw-dropping views into the immense valley.

- We then follow the steep 1km loop trail plunging 150 metres down through the dark rainforests around Katoomba Falls, stopping at a couple of plateaus to see the falls up close. This has amazing photography potential and is really worth the 30 minutes of puffing to walk back up to the cliff line.

- Easy walk option: If you want to miss the 1km loop with the steep descent and ascent below the falls, we'll drop you off temporarily at the beautiful picnic area (with a cafe and toilets) at the top of the cliff line to relax for an hour while we go down to the falls. The group then comes together again at this picnic area for lunch.

- After the falls we follow the gentler undulations of the beautiful Prince Henry cliff track around to Echo Point, get right up close and personal to actually touch the Three Sisters, and continue for another 2km through gorgeous forests on the cliff walk.

- Finally we exit in the back streets of Katoomba - a total of 8km walking for the day. And guess what ... we will have a car here so you won't need to walk up the last 2km of steep residential streets back to our origin at Katoomba station, luxury yay!

After-party:
You can head straight home after the walk, or better still join us at the italian place next to Katoomba station for fantastic food and stylish decor with pics of Sophia Loren.

If there is interest after dinner, we'll drive down to Echo Point to catch the sandstone faces of the Three Sisters lit up in the dusk.

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IS THIS ACTIVITY OK FOR ME?
This walk is graded moderate, with an optional hard 1km loop for close up views down around the water falls.

The total loop back to Katoomba station is 8km, most of it on easy well-constructed dirt trails or carved stone steps with gentle undulations.

If you choose to miss the 150 metre ascent (and 150 metre ascent) at Katoomba Falls, then that is 1km less distance to walk.

It is not flat but is ok for beginner walkers, with at least basic fitness, who have done at least one or two 5km walks on gently undulating trails.

The pace will be relaxed, we will pause frequently to take in the many epic lookouts, so you should feel confident to complete the course and have a really great time too.

As there are many steps along the route (both on the long steep descent into the falls and along the gentler sections of the Prince Henry cliff walk), it is NOT a good route for people with significant knee joint problems.

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TRANSPORT

By train:

Muogamarra Nature Reserve, in Sydney's northern suburbs, puts on the most spectacular explosion of wildflowers at the start of Spring. Don't miss this opportunity as it's fragile and stunningly beautiful ecosystems, aboriginal rock engravings, and epic vistas over the Hawkesbury River are open to the public for just 6 weeks a year. You’ll see swathes of waratahs, majestic angophoras, old-man banksias, pink boronias, delicate native orchids, and native animals like echidnas, wedge-tail eagles and lyrebirds.

There are expensive structured guided tours run by the park staff, but we are doing our own self-guided tour of the wildflowers and scenic lookouts with entry tickets to the park being just $15.

To join us ...

• book your own entry ticket to the nature reserve (see details below), tickets sell out in the weeks before the season opens in mid-August so don't leave it to the last minute,
• RSVP on this meetup page ONLY AFTER you buy your ticket to the reserve (if you RSVP and then drop out you get banned, we mean it).

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THE PLAN

Meet at 9.30am sharp in the car park outside the Muogamara visitor centre. To find us look for the organiser's car - metal grey Hyundai Tucson SUV.

We will commence our walk on the loop trails around the nature reserve. It's likely that the flower nerds (we do love you) will stop alot to gawk and take pictures of everything so expect a bit of stop start walking, but we will make an effort to cover the planned distance in an efficient time to finish by about 3.30pm, as follows:

- The reserve has four main trails fanning out along ridge lines that radiate from the central Visitor Centre that we will start and return to.

- We will do the first 5km loop which follows a ridge line descending 200 metres down to wind through a gully full of lush vegetation, before ascending the 200 metres up again - expect a large number of steps - to return us past the Visitor Centre.

- The second loop is a much easier 3km course along the crest of another ridge, again heading out and returning us to the Visitor Centre.

- These two loops will total 8km of walking, with a good number of steps down and up the ridges included in the workout, and bring us back to our origin by about 3.30pm.

- You can finish your day here and head home, or if there is energy we can do one or two additional 3km loops to explore the third and fourth ridges - phew!

Bring your lunch, snacks and drinks - we will sit at one of the scenic lookouts for a nice lunch break.

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DIFFICULTY - IS THIS WALK FOR ME?

The two planned loops total 8km of walking and include a descent and ascent of 200 metres with many steps. We are therefore grading this walk as MODERATE (or hard if you are not used to many steps).

If you have done some undulating walks such as the waterfall routes in Wentworth Falls / Leura / Katoomba / Blackheath in the Blue Mountains, you will handle this one just fine.

Given the large number of steps, this walk is not a good one for you if you have bad knees.

As each of the loops comes back past the visitor centre, there will be opportunity for you to exit and head home if you are tired (or have gone blind from the amazing sight of so many flowers).

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HOW TO BOOK

Do NOT RSVP on this meetup page until AFTER you purchase an entry ticket to the nature reserve.