Frank Hurley Head & Mount Banks - Blue Mountains National Park

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Route: Mount Banks picnic area, Mount Banks One Trail, Banks Wall, Mount Banks Road Extention, Frank Hurley Head, Mount Banks, Mount Banks picnic area

Date: 18/08/2024
From: Mount Banks Road

Parking: Mount Banks Road
Start Point: Mount Banks picnic area
Finish Point: Mount Banks picnic area
Region: Blue Mountains

Route length: 12.5km
Time taken: 03:25
Average speed: 4.5km/h
Ascent: 437m
Descent: 435m

Points of Interest: Frank Hurley Head, Mount Banks

Mount Banks dominates the background views of the Grose Valley, particularly if you visit the popular lookouts near Blackheath. Its distinctive domed shape is its defining feature, resulting from ancient volcanic lava flows forming a tough layer of basalt overlying the surrounding sandstone. 

A track leading to the summit of Mount Banks can be found in the quieter northern area of the Blue Mountains. It is accessed along a short unsealed road branching off Bells Line of Road (the unusual name stems from the fact that the route was surveyed by Archibald Bell in 1823—it is Bells Line of Road).

At the base of Mount Banks, there’s a small parking area where a gate restricts vehicle access to a fire trail. This trail, known as the Mount Banks One Trail, forms a route around the base of Mount Banks to Frank Hurley Head. The trail meanders pleasantly for 2.5 km through the high Eucalyptus bushland of the Blue Mountains, passing a sign indicating the route to Mount Banks’ summit - I'd be returning this way later in the day.

The Mount Banks One Trail

Entering the Grose Wilderness

Mount Banks

The summit track - the be tackled later

The trail curves around the head of a small valley, one of the countless creeks that create a maze of valleys throughout the Blue Mountains - most of which remain pristine and largely inaccessible. In the Wollemi area of the national park, there is a spot that harbours an exceptionally rare tree species. This species was believed to be extinct until its discovery in 1994 in a secluded series of narrow, steep-sided sandstone gorges.

Termite mound

The track passes beneath some interesting rock formations

After 2km you will emerge from the taller trees below Banks Ridge where the track skirts the edge of the 300-meter cliffs of Banks Wall, offering a breathtaking view of Govetts Gorge and the Grose Valley.

Mount Banks One Trail

The Blue Gum Forest and Govetts Gorge

Lockleys Pylon and Fortress Ridge

Lockleys Pylon and Fortress Falls

Taylor Griffith Wall and Pulpit Rock

Blue Gum Forest in Govetts Gorge

Govetts Gorge

Govetts Gorge and Grose Valley split by Docker Head

I continued a short distance over a rise at the edge of Frank Hurley Head to another point on the cliff tops, gaining a different view of the valley and the tall cliffs at Butterbox Point.

The rim of Banks Wall

Mount Banks Road

Approaching Frank Hurley Head

Lockleys Pylon and Fortress Ridge

Grose River

Butterbox Point

Grose Valley

Edgeworth David Head

After savouring the views, I retraced my route back along the fire trail to the sign I mentioned earlier, beginning the climb to the summit of Mount Banks. This route back gives you an interesting view of Mount Banks itself as well as that sensational panorama over the Grose Valley.

The interesting face of Mount Banks

Mount Banks Fire Trail

Mount Banks is part of the Explorers Range, which forms the northern arm of the Grose Valley. Many of the peaks along this ridge are named after the renowned explorers who documented the range in the 1800s. Standing at over 1,000m, Mount Banks is no small peak, yet the total ascent to the summit is relatively modest, around 150m.

Climbing Banks Ridge

You'll glimpse some views through the trees

Golden Wattle

Banks Ridge

The mountain was named after Sir Joseph Banks by George Caley, an English botanist and explorer who was the first European settler to reach the summit of Mount Banks in 1804. Joseph Banks, an English naturalist and botanist, had employed George Caley as a botanical collector in New South Wales at the end of the 18th century.

After the climb, you’ll reach the summit marked by a trig pillar with a metal ‘lollipop’ on top, although the views are obscured by trees. The basalt at the summit creates fertile soil that supports rich vegetation, distinct from other parts of the Blue Mountains, hence the dense vegetation on the summit.

Mount Banks

Mount Banks

Dense vegetation caps the summit

A path departs from the summit heading north, initially traversing the slopes near the hilltop before descending towards the parking area. As the trees thin out, the path offers sweeping views of the Greater Blue Mountains wilderness on the way down to the car park.

Mount Banks Road snakes off into the distance

Mount Bell

The Blackheath Walls above the Grose Valley 

Docker Head

The north ridge of Mount Banks

The beginning of Banks Gully

The path leading back to Mount Banks Road

It wasn't long before I was back in the car and heading back towards Sydney. As you make your way back along Bells Line of Road, you may want to stop at one of the many cider makers that line the road through Bilpin. Being such a glorious day, it would have been rude not to sample some of their wares.