This secret canyon waterfall might just be the best plunge pool in Mount Wilson you’ve never heard of! It’s set beneath sculpted cliff walls and a forest canopy so dense that only occasional shafts of light penetrate the water, giving it a mysterious air.
To reach the waterfall, you’ll traverse a crystal clear creek surrounded by towering tree ferns and endless cascades. There’s some debris to negotiate and a bit of light scrambling required, but it’s a fair price to pay to reach this gorgeous and atmospheric spot.
It’s easily combined with the small waterfall at Happy Valley making for one of the best short adventures in the area. Here’s what to expect at Waterfall Creek Canyon.
Waterfall Creek Canyon
The stats
Distance: 3.1km return (plus 100m return for the Happy Valley waterfall)
Elevation gain: 180m
Difficulty: Moderate
Trailhead: Mount Irvine Road, Mount Wilson
Summary: The first 1.1km of the track to the waterfall is a good dirt path and when dry, it’s a relatively easy descent. The path does head quite steeply downhill, but stairs and zig zag slopes make it straightforward - though after heavy rain the track can become muddy and slippery.
Once you’re at the creek, you leave the maintained path behind and from here you’ll be heading through the canyon. The majority of the route is directly through the creek, which during times of normal flow is usually only ankle deep and rarely above the knee, if at all.
If water levels are high this would be a more difficult walk and it shouldn’t be attempted following heavy rain, or when rain is forecast due to the risk of flash flooding and unstable ground.
There are a few cascades to scramble up or around and some debris to negotiate inside the canyon, but overall this is not a difficult walk. It doesn’t see a lot of footfall though and you will lose phone signal inside the canyon, so it’s wise to go with someone and to carry a PLB in case of emergency.
It’s worth noting that the route we describe is for hikers and doesn’t involve any abseiling. To see the full canyon would require dropping in from above and abseiling.
Starting the trail: The Happy Valley Track
From the parking area (full details below) you head over the road and onto the bush track, following signs for Happy Valley.
You’ll reach a junction after 215m and can make a short (550m return) detour to Cathedral Creek if time allows.
It’s similar forest to what you will see as you head into Happy Valley and the creek is very shallow, so it’s not a must do, but it is pretty.
I won’t go into too much detail on the Happy Valley Track as we have a whole post dedicated to it, but from the junction with Cathedral Creek you are approximately 900m from the creek at Waterfall Creek Canyon.
There are a few short flat stretches, but the majority of the way you will be descending.
The dirt path is in good shape and it’s a mix of wooden or stone steps and zig zagging sloped track which makes the descent quite easy.
Just before you reach the creek it can get a little muddy and you need to climb down one cascade, it’s more of a wet rock, which can be slippery (I just went down on my bum which makes it easy and means you can’t slip).
Continuing through the creek
At the creek, going left/straight depending on how you view it takes you to the small waterfall grotto of Happy Valley.
It’s a very pretty spot and worth a look if you haven’t already visited, the last few metres to the grotto can be slightly tricky, but we detail exactly what to expect in this guide.
To head through the canyon you’ll turn right at the creek, heading upstream. Don’t worry about trying to keep dry boots early on because they will get wet no matter what, so just head straight into the creek.
The water is shallow, barely ankle deep at first. There are stones and rocks underfoot, but it’s not overly slippery, though take care with your footing just incase.
Roughly 40m into the creek walk you’ll come to a huge area of debris. This is currently the worse debris on the track, but it’s easier than it might first appear to get through.
A large tree fills much of the creek, but you can walk along the tree trunk to avoid the majority of debris.
Once you’ve crossed this section you’ll continue through the creek, climbing up or around several very small cascades, which is easy.
This is a particularly scenic part of the canyon, with numerous gorgeous tree ferns providing a stunning backdrop to the dainty cascades.
As you round the corner you’ll come to a larger cascade and log jam. We chose to climb up the ledges to the left, which is slightly awkward in that you need to hunch as there’s an overhang, but it’s otherwise straightforward.
Once you squeeze past the fallen log you’ll emerge to a more open bit of creek. There are fallen logs in most of the pools you’ll encounter and some sections of water are a little deeper, but none were above knee height on our visit.
Reaching the waterfall pool
As you continue upstream you’ll come to several cascades where you can choose to take either the right or left side depending on what looks easiest to you.
At almost every point Joe and I took opposites sides and there didn’t seem to be much difference in difficulty, though I would say at the cascade beside the long overhang, the left side is easier and hugging the overhang as far as possible was the quickest route.
After a couple of hundred metres creek walking you’ll come to a more closed in canyon like section of the walk, with taller walls on either side.
The overhang on the left is especially impressive, it really reminded me of the Grand Canyon. From the overhang you have a couple more shallow pools and log jams to negotiate before you’ll hear the sound of the waterfall.
Just before you reach the stony ‘beach’ at the foot of the falls there is one last log jam to negotiate. These particular logs are a little soft, so test each place you are going to put weight on first incase one gives way (you wouldn’t fall far as they are low to the ground, but it would still hurt!).
With care it’s easy to climb over the logs and then you’re just metres away from the falls.
Waterfall Creek Canyon Pool
When you reach the canyon waterfall you can go no further, but what a spot to finish! The double drop waterfall cascades into a small but deep swimming hole and the canyon walls create a dark and mysterious grotto. It’s an incredibly atmospheric spot.
We visited on a bright sunny day and at points light shafts illuminated part of the pool, at other times it was relatively dark, but honestly it was beautiful either way. The water appears quite dark in the pool, however where the light shone it was almost blue.
It’s easy to access the water as you can step straight off the stony bank and into shallow water. It gets deeper the closer you get to the waterfall and despite appearances from the outside, was well over my head at the deepest point.
It’s not a large pool, so you can really only swim a few strokes, but in terms of atmosphere it’s a real treat. There is a log in the far right of the pool, so watch out for that when swimming.
From inside the pool you can look back to where you enter the water and the canyon walls feel especially high and dramatic. I loved it.
When you’re ready to leave the pool you simply retrace your steps back to the Happy Valley Track. You’ll probably find it’s much easier going back as you know roughly where to go.
When you head back along the walking track, it is quite steep, but it doesn’t take too long to reach the top.
Give yourself a quick check for leeches when you’re back at the car, we didn’t get any this time, but Joe did get one on our previous trip during a very wet period.
Keep them wild
Please remember to take all rubbish with you and keep these places wild and pristine - as with anywhere in the outdoors. It’s important to leave them exactly as you found them so they will remain beautiful for generations to come.
Litter tends to breed litter, so if you do spot any and are able to pick it up and dispose of it outside the reserve, it will go a long way to keeping the area clean.
Getting to the Waterfall Creek Canyon Track
The Waterfall Creek Canyon Track (which starts as the Happy Valley Track) begins just beyond Cathedral Reserve on the junction between Mount Irvine Road and Boronia Point Trail in Mount Wilson. There is no car park as such, but just enough room for a couple of cars to pull off the road and not block the fire trail. The track then begins on the other side of the road to the parking area and is signposted.
The track is roughly a two hour drive from Sydney, 45 minutes from Katoomba and 30 minutes from Bilpin.
Note that there are no facilities either in the parking area or the walk itself. The nearest toilets (long drop) are at the Cathedral Reserve Campground.
