Date: 23/4/2026
Trip leader: Elias Dunstone
Party: Abhiraj, Martin, Wei
This trip was created as a replacement for Vyom’s original Lyrid meteor shower trip to Hanging rock. I was really looking forward to this trip, so when he cancelled the trip due to a cloudy forecast, I created this trip in the hopes that maybe it wouldn’t be as cloudy as the forecast suggested (unfortunately I was wrong). Out of the 30 people going on Vyom’s trip, only 7 joined this one.
By the time I was leaving for Central, at 11:40pm on Wednesday night, only 5 people were coming. We got to Central to see our train had been cancelled, and one person had been ushered onto an earlier train, which was way too chaotic of a start to the trip at midnight. Thankfully the train got uncancelled and ended up leaving on time, although one person ended up missing the train. Martin rejoined us at Strathfield, and we all tried to get some sleep in the 2 hours it took to get to Katoomba.
Getting off the train at 2:16am in Katoomba into the 6 degree weather, we saw the whole sky free of clouds, contrary to the forecast. This far exceeded my expectations, and we started walking down the main street of Katoomba towards the trailhead while looking up at the milky way (no meteors yet though 🙁 )
The first half of the 9km hike to Ruined Castle was nice and easy, just along roads and a fire track. Going down the Golden Stairs in the pitch dark was somewhat less easy, but we all got down fairly quickly. We got to the bottom of Ruined Castle around 4:25, and then had to figure out how to actually get to the top. Since none of us had been before, and it was dark, it took a few attempts of following different tracks up to the boulders to find one that was doable for the whole group. So we ended up getting up to the top of the main? tower around 4:45 after a difficult scramble… only to see that the sky had completely clouded over, with zero star visibility. Should’ve trusted Vyom.
After getting to the top, I went to check out some of the other towers and set up my hammock, before heading back to the top with the others to rest (on the very cold rocks) for a while before sunrise.
As it gradually got lighter, we tried to see where the sunrise was, without any success due to the clouds. After 6am, some of us had breakfast and took in the incredible views. From my limited experience in the Blue Mountains, this was definitely the best lookout spot I’ve been to, with uninterrupted views of Mt Solitary, Castle head, and the cliffs and valley. After getting some more photos, we set off at 6:30 for the 6km back to the bus stop.
Heading back the same way we came, it was nice to see the track in the daylight, and see some more wildlife, including many lyrebirds. Making it back up the Golden Stairs was pretty tough going, but the views on the way up were great, and we made it to the top with plenty of time left to get the 8:40 bus. The rest of the walk to the bus stop was fairly easy, apart from an Alltrails “shortcut” and another set of stairs, which brought the total elevation gain on the way back to 400m.
After making it to the bus stop, it was a short trip back to Katoomba’s main street in search of some food before our train (only one person ended up getting a coffee). The train ride was a good opportunity for us all to get some much needed rest.
As this was my first time leading a trip, I was very happy with how it went. Even though we didn’t see any meteors, our expectations going in weren’t very high, and it was a great experience for everyone seeing Ruined Castle for the first time. Although it was a shame that more people couldn’t make it, it was nice having a small group as well. I’d definitely do this trip again on a night with clear skies, as stargazing from Ruined Castle would’ve been incredible. Also, this trip helped prepare me for the Mt Solitary loop hike I’m leading in 2 weeks, I could really see how ambitious the hike is.
Thanks to everyone who came (or signed up), it was a very enjoyable trip!
