Date: 9/5/2026
Trip leader: Elias Dunstone
Party: Adriano, Arnaud, Clément, Haydar, Vyom, Zhan
From the start, this was a very ambitious trip. In planning this trip, I wanted to do a day hike in the Blue Mountains which was fairly challenging, and passed through some amazing scenery. The 34km, 2100 elevation gain Mount Solitary loop hike instantly stood out to me. Following the very prominent ridge along Narrow Neck, Ruined Castle and Mount Solitary, before dropping into and traversing the Jamison Valley, and finally climbing back up to Katoomba, it seems like the perfect hike to explore this area.
Since the trail is very long and challenging, with a few long, steep climbs and a fair amount of scrambling, it is typically done across 3 days. I felt confident that it would be achievable as a day hike though, but would still make for a great challenge. In the weeks leading up to the hike, multiple other members of SUBW expressed very valid concerns over the safety and achievability of this hike. Hiking the route alone, or with people whose hiking competency I had 100% confidence in, is one thing, but hiking it with a large group, many of whom I haven’t hiked with before, adds a degree of uncertainty. Because of this, I made sure that I was confident with the group’s abilities, and ensured that everyone brought sufficient supplies in case of an emergency. Vyom very helpfully created a route plan, with ideal times to reach major landmarks, which we relied on during the hike to ensure we kept on schedule to finish before it got too dark.
Finally, after much preparation and anticipation, it was the day before the hike. Our group had changed with people joining and leaving, to a final group of 7 experienced hikers. After (over)packing for the hike, I got a few hours of sleep before getting up at 3:30am for the 2:30hr up to Katoomba. After getting off at Katoomba at 6:25, we grouped up in the 6 degree weather and headed off down the main street towards Scenic World. Vyom had wisely decided to stay the night in Katoomba before the hike, so probably had slightly more sleep than the rest of us. He caught up with us at the start of the Narrow Neck firetrail (where we were already ahead of schedule!), where we shed our jackets and started off towards the Golden Stairs, with great views of the morning sun shining on the cliffs.
We quickly made it down the Golden Stairs and traversed along below the cliffs to the Ruined Castle junction. Thanks to the easy terrain and our fast pace, we were even further ahead of schedule, so we had our first break. Deciding to skip the Ruined Castle detour to save time, we headed along towards the Ruined Castle campsite (luckily I’d been to Ruined Castle a few weeks prior). At the campsite, we passed some other SUBW members who were hiking the same trail in the recommended time of 3 days, but didn’t stop, to keep up our incredible 11 minute pace. As we began the first ascent of the day up Mount Solitary, I was quick to complain about the brand new and very gradual stairs the track followed (not real hiking…), before the track promptly turned into a scramble up between massive boulders (much better).
As we climbed further up the ridge, great views over the whole valley gradually opened up behind us. After reaching the top of Mount Solitary, we descended down into Chinamans Gully, and enjoyed another break at a lookout on the West side of the ridge. Here we could see over Lake Burragorang, the Cedar valley and Korrowall ridge. After figuring out the best way to get a group photo, we headed off towards the Col, our next major landmark.
On the way, we had some more great views over the Jamison valley, and Haydar eventually managed to find some satisfactory “natural hiking poles”. After a (very minor) navigational error, we descended to the Col, another great lookout over the Kedumba river and the campsite of the recent Freshers trip. This was only the very start of our 650m of descent to the Kedumba river, so we kept going, with me and Zhan running ahead, trying to get to the river within 20 minutes without spraining our ankles. We stopped halfway down to wait for the others at a trail junction, and met a group from Sydney Bush Walkers doing the same loop as us, except in the opposite direction. We made it down to the river after 40 minutes, and found a spot for lunch. At this point we were just past halfway, around 19km, and everyone seemed to be feeling alright still, which was good considering we had the hardest and most tedious parts of the hike ahead.
After enjoying a nice relaxed lunch break, refilling our water, and debating over the correct consistency of peanut butter, we set off for the 350m climb up to the fire trail which would take us back across the Jamison valley. Over the course of the climb we split into a few groups, and eventually all made it up to the top to start the 10km of fire trail that would take us back below the cliffs near Leura. At this point we were definitely feeling the distance we’d already hiked, and were not looking forward to the final 700m climb that awaited us at the end of the hike. With the relatively boring scenery of the firetrack (although there were some great views up to the cliffs surrounding us) we fell into a rhythm, splitting into a few groups and continuously pushing through the undulating terrain, gradually watching the sun get lower and lower in the sky.
Eventually we reached Leura Falls creek, which marked the start of our final climb back up to Katoomba. The fatigue was pretty clear at this point, so we had another quick snack break, filled up some more water, and headed off again. Still keeping a fairly good pace (and still ahead of schedule!), we made our way up the track, which was thankfully not exceptionally steep, due it to it being a firetrail. Having a good group to chat with definitely helped distract from the climb, which would’ve been much less enjoyable hiking solo. Another distraction was the distance markers for the Ultra trail happening the next weekend, which seemed to be placed at very confusing intervals. On our way up the firetrail, we had a look at our planned path up to the cliffs, and ended up deciding to slightly change our route, opting to change to singletrack instead of continuing on the firetrail. At this point it was definitely starting to get dark, and we were just trying to push through the fatigue and get back to enjoy a hot dinner in Katoomba.
We reached the bottom of the cliffs below Leura Falls, and started the (actually final) final climb up the many stairs leading up to Katoomba. This last section was much steeper, and we took a couple of short breaks. Despite how tired we were, we made it to this section in around half the recommended time (damn tourists), and enjoyed a great final view over the valley. Throughout the second half of the walk, it was very rewarding looking back over how far we’d hiked, and from here we could see back out over the valley to Mount Solitary.
From here, it was a short 2km back through Katoomba, where we (half) joked about catching a bus back. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to coordinate dinner with the other SUBW group who were abseiling at Malaita Point, but we made it to the Mountain Culture Brewery for very well deserved burgers and chips. After enjoying our meal (and checking our activity from the day, around 64,000 steps, 37km, 2km of vertical), we quickly headed off to catch the next train, not wanting to be stuck waiting at Katoomba train station for an hour. We all made it onto the train and finally got some rest in the 2.5 hours back to Sydney. As we got back to Sydney, we all split off to head home. I ended up getting home around 9pm (probably similar for most of the others), 16 hours after leaving in the morning. In all, the general opinion seemed to be that despite how challenging this 11 hour hike was, it was well worth it (although probably wouldn’t do it again for a few months at least). We had a very good group, and although there were some struggles, there were no incidents of note. However, a less experienced would likely have had more issues, and there are few evacuation options in case of such an emergency. After the success of this trip, I’m looking forward to leading some similarly challenging trips in the coming months.
