The Wrights Lookout Track combined with the Cascades Trail is one of the most beautiful and diverse walks in New England National Park. You can hike each track separately, but they share the same connector trail, so walking them together saves you 3km if you’d like to see both.
Wrights Lookout offers an incredible panoramic view over pristine rainforest and vast mountain ranges which you take in from a rocky plateau, the remnant of an old volcano. The Cascades Trail takes you down into a mystical stretch of Antarctic beech forest, which is dripping in luminous green moss. The combination of both tracks is unbeatable.
Here’s what to expect from both trails, and how to connect them up.
How the tracks connect
Both the Wrights Lookout Track and the Cascades Trail begin at Robinsons Knob trail car park. The Robinsons Knob Track is a fire trail which you’ll follow for just over 1.5km before you reach the junction with the lookout and the Cascades Track.
From this point, Wrights Lookout is just 700m away and the Cascades Trail is a 2.8km circuit. You wouldn’t want to walk these trails separately as you’ll have to cover the 3km of fire trail twice.
The Wrights Lookout Walking Track
Trail Stats
Distance: 8km
Elevation gained: 333m
Difficulty: Moderate
This grand loop trail is a moderate hike. Whilst it isn’t that long, it is slow going in places as the path can be rough, steep, narrow or all three (this doesn’t really affect the Wrights Lookout Track though)!
We recommend allowing three hours for the whole trail, especially if you plan on enjoying the sunrise and taking in the waterfall at a leisurely pace. You could walk it quicker but you’ll probably enjoy lingering in a few different spots.
Starting on the Robinsons Knob Track
The walk begins on a fire trail which is lined with pretty forest on both sides. The first 600m takes you downhill on a wide path. It’s in good condition and whilst it does get a bit muddy after rain, it’s nothing you can’t skirt round or pass through easily enough.
After that, the track is either flat or very gently downhill. We wanted to visit Wrights Lookout for sunrise, and walked this stretch in the dark. The good terrain makes this a very easy walk to do without light, and if you can stomach such an early start there really is no better time to head up onto the plateau.
Heading up to Wrights Lookout
After you leave the fire trail it’s just under 700m to the lookout. You’ll head up on to a rocky track which takes you steeply uphill. Although it is rocky, I wouldn’t call it a scramble, most of the rocks are more like stairs and it doesn’t require using your hands.
The uphill stretch lasts for just 250m before you’ll arrive up on the plateau, where you’ll follow the little arrows marking the way to the end of the trail.
It’s a flat track and it was easy to spot the arrows even in the dark. We didn’t see until later just how beautiful this part of the walk is!
After 450m you’ll reach the trail’s end and whilst there is no marker you will know you’re there because you can’t walk any further without heading into dense bush. There are lots of smooth rocks to sit on and take in the absolutely jaw dropping views.
It would be spectacular at any time of day but in the soft light of sunrise, when the whole forest was beginning to wake up, it was magical.
You could hear the calls of the lyrebirds echoing through the valley as the colours went from orange to purple to golden. As far as the eye can see there are layers of mountains and dense rainforest. It’s a very special spot.
After enjoying the view we walked back along the plateau and took in the full surroundings that we’d missed in the dark. It’s beautiful in every direction, particularly as you get up close to one of the mountains.
The walk down doesn’t take long and then you’ll be back at the trail junction and can either head back or walk the Cascades circuit. If you have the time we’d highly recommend adding on the circuit.
The Cascades Trail
From the Robinsons Knob Track junction you’ll take a left straight into the forest. The path is narrow and well maintained and the forest is a beauty. If you decide to go just after sunrise like we did though, grab a stick, because unfortunately being first on the trail means you are the official de-webber and there were a lot of them!
Other than the webs, early morning is a wonderful time to be on the trail, shafts of golden light shine through the gaps in the trees and the forest takes on an ethereal quality. You’ll only hear the sound of the birds and the cascades running in the distance.
The path will take you downhill for almost a kilometre, on a mix of stairs and sloped trail. This first part of the walk is easy and the terrain is great. It wasn’t even muddy or slippery despite us visiting after monsoon style rains.
As you descend you’ll start to see changes in the vegetation, with more and more ferns and the odd fungi covered mossy log. It’s a sign of what’s to come when you hit the forest floor.
Into the magical Antarctic beech forest
When the fern density reaches an all time high and the sound of the cascades is like a roaring waterfall, then you know you’re about to enter the Antarctic beech forest. It feels like entering another world.
Suddenly moss is dripping from all the tree branches and rocks and you are standing at the most breathtaking rainforest stream.
I was taken aback by just how gorgeous the whole scene was and it took me back to my favourite forest in Barrington Tops. The water is crystal clear and it’s a refreshing spot to go for a paddle.
For me, the only downside to this walk, is that the next section of track is both the most spectacular and the most slippery!
The trail takes you alongside the creek on what is incredibly slippery rock - or was for us. Make sure you don’t cross over the creek like we did at first, the path up the other side of the cliff looks beaten down, but it’s everyone making the same mistake.
On the correct path, there is often a bit of a drop to the left side of the narrow track too, which is quite unnerving. All I wanted to do was admire every detail of the forest, but to do that I had to keep stopping because otherwise I was looking at my feet and choosing every step carefully.
The trail along the Cascades
After 400m along the sketchy path you come to a couple of logs with foot holds cut out. They are quite far apart and not the easiest to get on to, I took the route underneath and then climbed up the bank!
It was manageable but everything is made more difficult by how wet and slippery all the terrain is. After the logs, the path improves a lot and there are only a couple of tiny slippery bits to get through, which are dispersed amongst easy track.
Around 200m from the logs you’ll reach the biggest set of cascades which is a great place to sit on a rock and take in the atmosphere of this very special rainforest.
The path after the cascades wasn’t 100% obvious to us. In the end we noticed that there was some stripey tape which guided us along the rocks.
Just make sure you stay on the right side of the stream and then rock hop over to continue on the path (don’t cross the creek) and you’ll pick up signposts again.
The track will take you up a few stairs as you start to make your way out of the Antarctic beech forest. You’ll soon see a waterfall from above.
If you want to see it from the base, before heading up the stairs continue following the stream and you can rock hop your way to the falls.
From the top of the waterfall you’ll begin climbing uphill on a mix of stairs and sloped path. The track is not slippery from this point on, it’s a straightforward climb up through the forest, which begins to get drier the higher you climb.
The loop back to where you started is well signposted and easy to follow. It continues to be really pretty throughout, although it can’t compare to the mossy forest in my eyes!
Once you meet the junction with the Robinson Knob Trail, you will have just over 1.5km to walk back to the car park. The first 900m is flat or so gradually uphill that you can’t feel it. You then have a short climb before it flattens again and you’ve finished the trail.
All in all, this is easily one of the most gorgeous walks in the area, and the only downside to it is the slippery section. Despite that, I loved this walk and it is definitely one of my favourites in NSW.
Essential information about the trail
Getting there
The car park for this trail is the Robinsons Knoll Car Park (it’s a small signpost just after Thungutti Campground). It is a 15 minute drive off the Waterfall Way (B53 Highway) and the closest town is Ebor which is 25 minutes away.
Alternatively, Dorrigo is 1 hour away, Armidale is just over 1 hour away and Bellingen is 1.5 hours away from the start of the trail.
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