National Pass Walk, Blue Mountains NSW.

There are lots of great walks in the Blue Mountains and this is surely one of them.  It's a must do for the area, but it's not for the unfit or fainthearted.  It's an easy walk down via a steep staircase to the start of the cliff ledge section of the walk. This is a magical staircase in itself and affords great views of the cliffs and mountain ranges.  The walk is interesting with waterfalls, flora and fauna to see on the way and of course fantastic valley/mountain views.  Going up again is a different story, it's plain hard work, so you need to take your time and go at your own rate.  Going up is also very interesting as you follow the Empress falls upwards ( if you go the way we did).  On this leg you can sit and watch the abseilers doing their thing.  It gives you a chance to rest with nobody noticing.  We hoped to find some orchids on this walk and we did, not what we had hoped for but a new orchid, none the less.  We took around 3.5 hours as we often stopped to take photographs and look around for orchids.  The photographs start at the Wentworth Falls Lookout.

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Click on a photo to start a slideshow with larger photographs.

We started at the Wentworth Falls Lookout.  Here is Mt Solitary in the distance.	Sheer cliffs line the valley.  We descend down these soon to get to the lower walking level.	Again looking around the vast view from the lookout
		Looking down at the lower Wentworth Falls.
3 photos (above) were used to make this widescreen photograph.
This is a map at the lookout.  We start at the 'You are here' sign and head left then down to the National Pass walking track (Red), go all the way to the right and walk up along  side Empress Falls and up to the Conservation Cafe and then back via the 'Shortcut' track to our car at the Wentworth car park.  If you have time the Undercliff walk is a longer but more scenic way back.	Past the falls one starts the steep journey down the stairs. This is at the start in a rather sheltered area.	Moving further down we get to the open steep area of the walk
Looking back across at the Wentworth Falls.	A number of plaques are adjacent to the track and give information on the tracks history.	Added stairs and natural rock stairs.  The flats are good spots to rest if you're walking up.
The Wentworth area cliff face.	This photo shows the cliff face that the you descend down to the lower level (taken the day before)	A closer look.
Another across the cliff face view showing the interesting nature of the track in this area.	If you look closely you can see people on the Undercliff Walk, the National Pass is another 100 m down below them.	Barriers are used to stop you falling - over the vertical cliff face.
Rough rock steps	Going down rather quickly	But the views are great.
Another stunning panorama taken half way down the staircase.
	As you can see the stairs are steep.
Down the bottom - Keep on this level Don't turn off and go down Slack's Stairs.		We pass by Wentworth Falls again
	Just one of the many stages the creek goes over	on the way to the canyon floor.
		Hand carved Sandstone spans the Wentworth
Initially the walk heads out into a wet cliff face.		with steep drop-offs.
		A low spot - watch your head.
	There are many wonderful plants on the walk - This is one of my favourite Sundew's - Drosera binata.	Looking back at the Wentworth falls.
	Looking up - barren cliff face - straight up for a 100 + m
	Drosera again.	Epiphyte orchid leaves.
	Another waterfall - this one you walk under/through.
Again more vertical cliff faces.
Even in high Summer - wet spots along the way.
Mt Solitary again - always out there on this walk.		Stepping stones in the really wet sections of the path.
Nice to know we have made it half way.	The habitat along the path gets drier from here to near the ascent point.
More vertical cliffs.
		Amazing stuff!
A skink found along the way	Yes another waterfall - quite cooling	The habitat gets wet again.
	A beautiful part of the walk
		I was surprised we had to go down -
But in doing so it open up some great views.
	Yes we are here - Seems everyone points to that an have rubbed out the detail.	An orchid in flower - Rimacola eliptica
	The turning point - up we go	Spectacular views all the way up!
	Rough steps
		Rounding a bend and about to 'jump' through the break in the rocks I saw a Water Dragon.  Safety shot
A close up	Then a bunch of excited tourists who don't care about noise and Dragons	Make the lizard scurry to safety
		To our surprise we saw a guy in a wet suit standing in the water.
It was an abseiling group		Some went slowly - some looked good
	Some had trouble
But all got down safely.	We were reminded later that 2 of our kids had done this abseiling tour - and had a ball
	Up, up again
We  went out to a small lookout	Just as we were moving on out popped an abseiler.	It looks much higher than when we were at the bottom.
The final panorama - taken from the lookout.
Last shot before we 'walked' up to the Conservation Cafe and back to the car via the Short Cut track.  This took another 25 minutes	On the Short Cut Track we did find a few common but still loveable orchids.  Left: Cryptostylis subulata - Large Tongue orchid Centre:  Caleana - major Flying Duck orchid and Right: Dipodium variegatum - Common Hyacinth orchid