Mount Cloudmaker from Kanangra Walls, Kanangra-Boyd National Park, NSW
Fairly remote walking on your way to Mount Cloudmaker (1164m), in Kanangra-Boyd National Park, with great views along the way.
This challenging day-walk to the summit of Mount Cloudmaker (1164m) offers a remote walking experience and excellent views. Most of the views are early on in the walk, but for a sense of adventure and to bag some peaks you’ll want to continue on to Mount Cloudmaker.
There is varied topography and vegetation along the way. The surrounding landscapes are attractive, with deep valleys, cliffs, and remote looking country to the south. It’s a satisfying if rather long day out for fit walkers (the middle half of the walk is quite rugged). Track notes at the end.
Mount Cloudmaker from Kanangra Walls: The Scenery
Mount Cloudmaker centre right, my target for the day. Thurat Spires in the morning. I spent time taking lots of photos in the pleasing light. I got up at 5am to make it here for an early start, so I was determined to get my money’s worth. (It was a 1:45 minute drive even from Katoomba, and I don’t mess around). Wider angle of Thurat Spires.
Looking back at Thurat Spires, with either Kanangra Falls or Kalang Falls to the left (I’m not sure which).
Remote country to the south.
Is it me, or has Mt Cloudmaker gotten further away! You can see some of the onward route on the right. From here I climbed down off the plateau onto a ridge and over a series of peaks and knolls to reach the summit. Last of this sort of shot. Finally, I hear you say. I had to scramble down a narrow gully. I took this near the bottom, and with a wide angle lens (so its all a bit closer than this is real life). Taken on Fitzpatrick Causeway. Steep slopes below Crafts Wall. The trees were all growing outwards. Walking along Crafts Wall. Conglomerate rock is weird. Lots of banksia once off the tops. Autumn colours, Australian style ;-) Looking at Crafts Wall from Mt Berry. The route takes you under those cliffs. (This shot was actually taken on my way back. ) Like me some grass trees. These were in the latter stages of the outward leg, between Mt Stormbreaker and Mt Cloudmaker. Once off the plateau there weren’t many viewpoints (Mt Berry was an exception). It was a hard slog through rough terrain on an often indistinct track. These are views from a vantage point about 10 minutes before the forested summit of Mt Cloudmaker. You can see Craft Walls roughly centre, and Kanangra Walls centre right. The start was a little beyond those. I hope it looks far away. It certainly felt it. Layers of ridges from near the summit of Mt Cloudmaker. Broken views on my way down. I didn’t take another photo for two hours until I got to Mt Berry. Looking up at the plateau. One final climb with an injured leg. I managed the scramble up the gully despite this injury. Obviously. Otherwise I’d still be there now. I took this from Brennan Top at sunset, looking north-east. I finally felt a bit relaxed after scrambling my way up the last difficult section (a boulder filled gully). From here it was roughly an hour’s easy walk across the tops back to the start. I stopped to talk to a group of young people who were camping on the cliff’s edge up there. Needless to say I finished in the dark. Kanangra Walls at the start. It was darker than this – my phone does a good job lightening things up.
Route Notes
The walk to Brennan Top is straightforward. From there you have to scramble down a gully. The rest of the walk is along a ridge over increasingly rugged terrain, and on a sometimes indistinct track.
The walk to Brennan Top is straightforward. If you have time on the way back you can check out the lookout and Dance Hall Cave. See my post for the Cottage Rock walk in this area.
At the end of the plateau you will come across a deep fissure in the rock. This becomes a narrow gully. Climb down into the gully from the end of the fissure, and scramble down to where it opens out. From there you cut across the slope back towards the cliff line, picking up the track again through a grassy section and into thicker bush.
It is fairly easygoing along Fitzpatrick Causeway to the sandstone and conglomerate cliffs of Crafts Wall. Continue on with the cliffs on your right. Keep right at Mount Berry until you see a way up to the tops on your left. From there walk across the rocky tops. After Mt Berry you descend to the low point of the walk, Gables Gap. This descent and the initial climb up Mount High and Mighty are fairly steep.
Climb on over Mount Stormbreaker, and three knolls – Rip, Rack and Roar Knoll. It’s a bit of a scramble to get up Roar Knoll, and there’s some boulder hopping to be done in these final kilometres.
Before you get to the forested summit of Mt Cloudbreaker there is a clear section a little off track from which you get good views south and south-west. These are essentially your summit views and worth looking out for on your way back – roughly a 5-10 minutes walk away.
The whole walk is about 20km and 900m of ascent and descent. Take lots of water with you and expect the middle half of the walk to be slower going than the rest. The terrain is quite rough and the track sometimes indistinct. I lost it a few times. I’ve seen it estimated as roughly 9 hours walk, but I took a bit longer. I was lacking fitness a year after returning from NZ, and found it hard going.
