Empire Pass 21-02-2021
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Route: St Bernard Drive, North Lawson Park, Empire Pass Track, Dantes Glen, St Michaels Falls, Empire Pass, Frederica Falls, North Lawson Trail, North Lawson Park
Date: 21/02/2021
From: Lawson
Parking: St Bernards Drive
Start Point: North Lawson Park
Finish Point: North Lawson Park
Region: Blue Mountains
Route length: 3.2 miles (5km)
Time taken: 02:15
Average speed: 1.4mph
Ascent: 212m
Descent: 197m
Points of Interest: Dantes Glen, St Michaels Falls, Frederica Falls
Sara and I were back in the Blue Mountains again this weekend, exploring one of the lesser-visited areas near the village of Lawson which resides along the Great Western Highway, between Sydney and Katoomba. Our aim was a hike around Empire Pass, a short loop through the canyons of Blue Mountain Creek and includes several small, charming waterfalls.
There's a modest parking area at the end of St Bernards Drive which provides the ideal place to park for this hike. A path heads into the bush before it descends steeply down a set of steps into the canyon. This is a good hike for the warmer months as much of the track is in the shade of the rainforest gullies. It is best after rain, as the waterfalls will be flowing better, as was the case today.
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| A narrow path leaves the parking area |
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| Starting our descent along Empire Pass |
The Empire Pass Track was constructed at North Lawson Park in the early 1900s, and improved and opened on Empire Day, 1913, hence the name. It was an attempt by the local township to tap into the popularity of nearby Katoomba and Wentworth Falls. At North Lawson Park, the main attractions lay on the western and eastern sides – Dante’s Glen and Fairy Falls on the one and Frederica Falls on the other. The “pass” (probably named to make it seem more impressive than it actually is) was constructed to join these two areas.
The original steps descend to a very precarious-looking bridge that crosses the creek at Dantes Glen. So precarious in fact that a warning sign discourages more than one person at a time. In Dantes Glen you'll find the first waterfall of the day, tumbling out of a crevice in the rocks.
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| Heading down the original 1900 steps |
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| Reaching Dantes Glen |
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| Dantes Glen |
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| Dantes Glen |
Next is St. Michaels Falls, arguably the best of the falls we'd see today. From Dantes Glen, the track makes its way along the creek a short while before crossing over and heading up to St. Michaels Falls. Given that we were not hiking a long way today, I had my tripod and SLR with me, enabling me to take some rather nice shorts of the waterfall and plunge pool.
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| The rickety bridge at Dantes GLen |
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| Sara heads towards St Michaels Falls |
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| St Michaels Falls |
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| St Michaels Falls |
We returned to the Empire Pass track from St Michaels Falls where the well-signposted route is easy to follow. The path follows the creek downstream, perched on the side of the valley for a while before it drops down to the creek itself. It’s very picturesque, with cascades and big boulders but requires crossing via some pretty slippery boulders.
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| Blue Mountain Creek |
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| Empire Pass |
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| Looking down to the creek from Empire Pass |
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| Blue Mountain Creek |
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| Crossing the creek |
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| Looking downstream along the creek |
After a couple of kilometres of pleasant track, you’ll begin heading uphill for a while and the rainforest starts to give way to drier bushland. It was far sunnier in this section but the flatter path can get pretty muddy, as Sara found out. The path leads to Frederica Falls, the final small waterfall on this circuit. I was going to give it the DSLR honours but there aren't many clear spots and those that were clear were occupied by picnickers.
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