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| Grand Cliff Walk-Blue Mountains AUS, WW | |
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| | Grand Cliff Walk-Blue Mountains AUS, WW | | | |
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Grand Cliff Walk-Blue Mountains AUS, WW
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| Hiking | 19.88 Miles |
3,516 AEG |
| | Hiking | 19.88 Miles | 9 Hrs 40 Mns | | 2.13 mph |
| 3,516 ft AEG | 19 Mns Break | | | |
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| no linked trail guides |
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| no partners | | This is a signature hike in the Blue Mountains and is usually hiked in sections or over multiple days. But, given our itinerary, we tackled the whole enchilada in one bite.
In the weeks prior to our arrival in Australia, the country's east coast had been hit by some unusual torrential rain, which resulted in landslides, road closures, and damaged many trails that were closed for safety issues. Parts of the Grand Cliff Walk were affected and we ended up taking a detour in the early stages around a closure and were prevented from doing some extracurricular exploring along the trail due to repair work underway (most of the trails leading down into the canyon were closed, including the Giant Stairway below the Three Sisters, as well as the Six Foot Trail, which leads to some amazing [but currently flooded] caves). Guess we'll need to come back!
Even with the closures, we enjoyed an amazing day on the trail, which skirts below the Blue Mountain rim with frequent lookouts along the way and innumerable waterfalls--chief among them being Wentworth Falls, Empress Falls, the Pool of Siloam, Leura Falls, and Katoomba Falls.
The trail/track concludes near the famous "Three Sisters"--a striking set of rocks jutting out on a point into the canyon which provide a scenic backdrop for sunrise/sunset and around which the most touristy portion of the trail is constructed, with a tram constructed to cross a portion of a major gorge and a lookout which was bustling with tourists late in the day.
As this was a point-to-point hike, we took public transportation back to our starting point to retrieve our car. Public transport was very user friendly and presented no issues.
Originally, we thought we might be able to cram another adventure into the day, but with the short days (it was dark by 5 pm) and the long mileage, we contented ourselves with conquering the Cliff Walk as sufficient for the day's exploring! |
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