The long but interesting walk into Monolith Valley will reward the enthusiastic hiker with 360 degree views of large rocky outcrops and shear cliffs.
One of the classic NSW day walks, the trek into Monolith Valley is often overshadowed by an ascent of the Castle. For sure the Castle is a must-do walk, but Monolith Valley is an excellent alternative for a different kind of spectacular. The walk into the area along the Castle walls is already awesome, and the views of Monolith Valley are first seen by continuing just past a chained section of Nibelung Pass. There you can climb one of the smaller monoliths for 360 degree views of huge textured rock landforms and distant cliff faces.
More lush vegetation at the start. It soon dries out as you climb up towards the Castle.
Typical forest on the approach to the Castle from Long Gully Car Park.
A spider web of roots.
A kind of Drumstick. A bit different than in the coastal areas around Sydney.
Interesting rock colours and patterns, possibly caused by water dripping across the rock face, although I could be wrong.
You can see how the brown conglomerate changes to sandstone higher up the cliffs.
One of a few new flowers I encountered on this walk. I very much liked these rather delicate blooms that I saw in just one spot. (It was a moist area).
Sophia admiring the views towards Mt Owen.
Cliffs on the way up between Mt Nibelung and the Castle.
The walls of the Castle (840m of elevation).
The Castle walls. You get some idea of the scale on this photo.
At one point a grass tree spine poked my eyeball, but somehow the eyeball remained intact. This photo re-enacts that moment.
Interesting textures and colours of bark. The mottled one in the foreground is a Banksia I think.
Colourful rocks near the entrance to Monolith Valley.
The entrance to Monolith Valley.
An arty farty shot of a very unusual pool in Monolith Valley.
That pool in wide angle.
The rocky outcrops started appearing as we began to climb from the rainforest vegetation near the entrance to the valley, but the best views came after the chains up a steep section of rocks.
Sophia posing in front of Monolith Valley. We continued ahead for a while but the track eventually descended into thick vegetation.
I occasionally coax Sophia to take a picture of me. This is her shot of me climbing one of the monoliths to take more pictures of more monoliths. It was pretty steep but the rocks were very ‘sticky’ so it wasn’t hard getting up.
Sophia down below, taking a picture of me taking a picture of her.
This rock in the foreground looks quite big here, but on the next photo you can see it was dwarfed by some of the other rocks.
Sophia down in the valley, bottom centre.
The cliff face on the left was pretty big.
Rocky outcrops galore.
Rocky outcrops a bit further down the track before it descended into thick vegetation.
These flowers were all over, and i took a few too many pictures of them. They were quite vibrant.
Sophia fell into a bog further down in Monolith Valley, so here she is drying herself out at our lunch spot near the chained section of Nibelung Pass.
The bark on rainforest trees is quite different to eucalypts.
Ferns
A new flower for me. We’ve not walked in this area at this time of year so I saw a few new wildflowers.
The walls of the Castle on our return.
The Castle walls to the left.
I liked these plants growing on rock. I just saw a picture on Instagram actually, and I think they may be rock orchids.
Looking towards misty mountains on our way back down from the southern end of the Castle.
Sophia and I tried to fill our water bottles at a kind of waterfall (just water dripping off the rock face really). It was a slow process. You can go under or over the rocks at this point (on the outward leg): going over is a little easier I think.
Note that once you have walked the length of the Castle walls you will ascend to a fork in the track. Going right takes you to Meakins Pass, which is the tunnel through the Castle’s “tail”. Don’t go this way: take a left instead to go to Castle Saddle, and then another left to hug the south-eastern side of Mt Nibelung, and before long you’ll enter Monolith Valley. Continue until you reach the chained ascent of a short but steep rocky section: at the top of this is where the views open up. You can continue on into the valley amongst the rock formations and there are various adventures to be had around Mt Owen, Mt Cole and the Shrouded Gods, but as a day walk you could choose to have lunch here and return back to Long Gully Car Park. Plan for a full day’s walking.
2 thoughts on “Monolith Valley to Nibelung Pass, Budawangs NSW”
Hi, My wife and I are preparing to do the Three Capes walk in Tasmania unguided. As part of our traing I would like to do the hike from Long Gully Car Park to Monolith Valley return as a day walk. Can this walk be achieved comfortably as a day walk with rest stops, explore the valley, have lunch break and return to Long Gully? Should we take rope or is this more needed to summit The Castle? Can you recommend any track notes or maps to assist with navigation, Ive just purchased Bushwalking in the Budawangs but wont get it before I do the walk. Any other tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much. Phil
Hi Phil. Yes, the walk from Long Gully Car Park can be done in a day but you’d need all daylight hours in winter I think. There’s no need for ropes, just one section already with a sturdy chain to climb up some rock – nothing like the Castle. I just read my own track notes which are brief but keeping left at the junctions for the Castle turn off will take you to Monolith Valley. Once in the valley we just followed obvious tracks for a while until we’d seen enough of the big rock formations and then we returned. The following map from Bushwalking NSW shows the route to the Castle but also the tracks going into Monolith Valley. If you consult a topographic map or even Google maps then you can probably work out the last of the land to add a bit of confidence to these hand drawn maps. https://bushwalkingnsw.com/show_sketch_map.php?walk=807&image=the_castle_01.png&width=612&height=841
Hi,
My wife and I are preparing to do the Three Capes walk in Tasmania unguided. As part of our traing I would like to do the hike from Long Gully Car Park to Monolith Valley return as a day walk. Can this walk be achieved comfortably as a day walk with rest stops, explore the valley, have lunch break and return to Long Gully? Should we take rope or is this more needed to summit The Castle? Can you recommend any track notes or maps to assist with navigation, Ive just purchased Bushwalking in the Budawangs but wont get it before I do the walk. Any other tips would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much.
Phil
Hi Phil. Yes, the walk from Long Gully Car Park can be done in a day but you’d need all daylight hours in winter I think. There’s no need for ropes, just one section already with a sturdy chain to climb up some rock – nothing like the Castle. I just read my own track notes which are brief but keeping left at the junctions for the Castle turn off will take you to Monolith Valley. Once in the valley we just followed obvious tracks for a while until we’d seen enough of the big rock formations and then we returned. The following map from Bushwalking NSW shows the route to the Castle but also the tracks going into Monolith Valley. If you consult a topographic map or even Google maps then you can probably work out the last of the land to add a bit of confidence to these hand drawn maps.
https://bushwalkingnsw.com/show_sketch_map.php?walk=807&image=the_castle_01.png&width=612&height=841