Dalpura Canyon via Jinki Ridge

Dalpura Canyon

If you're looking for an adventurous yet family friendly hike in the Blue Mountains, Dalpura Canyon via Jinki Ridge is an absolute gem. This trail offers stunning canyon views, lush greenery, and just the right amount of adventure for both adults and kids. It’s long been one of our favourites and we’re excited to share it with you now. Here's everything you need to know for a fantastic day out!

Quick Details

Length: 5.2km

Elevation: 180m

Grade: Moderate

Best season: Spring, Summer, Autumn

Suitable for kids: Young kids will likely need help. Tweens and Teens should be ok.

Starting the Trail

The little adventurers had asked for one final water hike before the last of the hot weather gives way to autumn and we both instantly said “Dalpura Canyon!” - Unfortunately for us, the hot weather we’d had all week gave way to a miserable misty weekend. We decided to go anyway, hoping that the poor weather might dissuade others from also visiting. After parking the car at what would be our exit point, we wandered up the narrow foot track next to the road to start at the western end, aiming to complete the circuit anti-clockwise.

The weather really wasn’t looking ideal for a canyon adventure, but we decided to wait until we got down to the creek to judge whether it would be fine or not to travel through the canyon. The trailhead is marked just beyond the rusted gate by a couple of (relatively new) signs. It begins on clearly visible car tracks through a fairly open area of scrub and grass. The two parallel tracks merge together as you enter the bush and continue gently downhill.

Jinki Ridge

The track is easy to follow, and after a short time, the scrub falls away and opens up to a wide ridge leading you down to a group of pagodas. On clear days, you get gorgeous views out to the cliff walls of the valley beyond Jinki Ridge. On our visit, the fog was thick, and we couldn’t see much past the pagodas—but it looked magically beautiful!

The track leads you to the first pagoda, and standing on top, you get amazing views (when there isn't any fog). You’ll see the path continue down to your right. The easiest way to get down to it is to skirt around the base of the pagoda (to your left as you're standing on the pagoda looking out to the valley).

Once you’re around the base, there’s a sloping rock wall to scramble down. When it’s dry, it’s easy enough to walk down. As it was a little slippery in the foggy weather, we scooted down on our backsides! Although the little adventurers, keen to try out their new hiking boots, wanted to jump down instead—Boys, you’re gonna give me a heart attack! Slow down, three points of contact!

Descending to the Creek

Once back on the track, it leads slightly uphill, and you’ll be met with a fork. Take the track to the left. From here, you’ll hike down the hill on a narrow bush track past rock walls through the forest. In springtime, the gully to your left is full of Waratah flowers. At the next junction, take the track to the left again and continue down the hill. The track to the right leads to a beautiful honeycomb sandstone wall that’s worth the short detour if you have the time. 

There’s something so beautiful about foggy forests and we found ourselves lingering on the trail just taking in our surroundings. 

There’s a bit of a rock scramble as you get closer to the creek—the track is steeper, but nothing too difficult. As you start to hear the creek, you’ll be met by a small signpost pointing you to the left and the entrance to the canyon. We took a short detour to the right first and hiked down to the base of a small cascade. It’s beautiful down there and is a place often missed by others. 

Entering the Canyon

Now that we’re in the canyon, there’s really only one way to go—upstream! The track continues beside the creek on either bank for a short time before you reach a narrow section with deeper water, and from this point, you really can’t avoid getting wet. The little adventurers chose to go barefoot despite their fears of “What if there’s a crayfish and it nips my toes?” Well… I’ve never seen one in here before, so you’ll be fine—and I was then made to eat my words when the eagle-eyed youngest found two freshwater crayfish in the creek.

The first obstacle isn’t too far from the first wading section—a collection of old tree logs jammed between the walls. It’s a bit of a scramble and a tight squeeze to get past, but not too difficult. Once you’re past the logs, you walk through a lovely section of shallow water with narrow walls on either side of you—there’s a little rock hopping to be done.

The second obstacle you’ll reach is a long deep pool with a scramble at the end to pull yourself up to the next section. Here the water was up to our waists, so it was necessary to carry our packs over first before going back to help the little adventurers walk out along the fallen tree in the water.

The third obstacle is another deep section of water, although here it’s only about thigh-deep, with a tougher scramble up the rocks at the end. It’s tough only because of the distance between the highest rock you can stand on and the section you’re trying to scramble up to. We had to place a knee next to the running water and then pull ourselves up by the rocks on the other side (I promise it’ll make sense when you’re there). It wasn’t the most elegant moment of our hiking careers, but it got the job done! The little adventurers needed a helping hand with the scramble, as they weren’t able to reach any holds in the rock to pull themselves up.

Again, you’ll walk through another lovely section of shallow water and high walls. The area opens up a bit with some trees and dry ground to walk on. Continue to follow the creek under a large rock arch, and the creek curves around to your left. This is the entrance to the beautiful waterfall pool that Dalpura is so famous for.

Dalpura Waterfall Pool

The walls above you are incredibly narrow, letting in only a sliver of light in the middle of the day when it’s sunny. It’s incredibly beautiful when the light reaches the pool from above, highlighting the vibrant colours of the sandstone surrounding the pool, which shines a brilliant shade of blue. On cloudy days, like during our visit, the water tends to look a bit more green than blue, but it’s still an incredible sight.

The water is cold, even on really hot days. A rock ledge just beneath the surface of the water curves around the pool on the right. The abseiling route enters the canyon right above the waterfall. We’ve seen it before on previous visits - People drop into the pool from above like they’re Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible. This time we were lucky enough to get the place to ourselves for a short time. 

From the pool, you can retrace your steps and return the way you came for an out-and-back hike. We like to hike this one as a circuit because, while the exit track is steep, it’s relatively short. We walked back out the entrance to the waterfall pool and took a steep hill on the left bank.

Completing the Circuit

The track leads through a short scrubby section and onto a rock ledge above the waterfall pool. It looks risky from a distance, but it’s actually not too bad so long as care is taken. You’ll need to scramble down a level about halfway along and then continue to the ground-level track. The little adventurers were a bit scared but loved this section of the hike. There is a second track that goes up higher if you want to avoid the rock ledge. 

Once you’re back on dirt-ground, the track leads up to the creek, where you’ll cross over to the opposite bank. Head slightly to your right and up a short, steep hill. There's another scrub section on the other side, but the track is fairly obvious. When you descend the hill, you’ll traverse over some large boulders to cross the creek. The track continues alongside the creek, and although there are still high stone walls around you, they’re much further apart here.

The misty fog that had been hanging around since we began was now turning into actual rain, and we were pretty glad to be on the way out. There are a couple more short sections of wading through the creek, but it’s only knee deep at best and occasionally there’s short scrambles up to our right to avoid the water altogether. Once we reach the final pool we can see the walls open out in front of us and we take a steep scramble up a short rock wall to our right and exit the canyon. This is another great area for Waratahs in the Spring - On our visit in late Summer though we had beautiful Banksias.

The track is fairly flat at first and gently winds uphill. It gets steeper closer to the road. It’s slippery with the ground being wet, but we’ve also been here when it’s bone dry and it can still be slippery then. As we reach the top of the hill there’s another closed gate just before the road. Since we parked at the exit, we already reached our car. If you parked at the larger car park, you’ll have about a 600m walk along Bells Line of Road. Fortunately, there's a foot track through the bush, so you don't need to walk directly on the road.

Getting There

You’ll likely find Jinki Ridge on Bells Line of Road in your vehicle navigation system. But it can be found around 23.5km from Lithgow, a few minutes drive (East) from the heavy vehicle weigh station at Bell. 

Tips and Tricks

Canyons are prone to flash flooding, so avoid visiting during or soon after significant rainfall.

Take water shoes and a dry bag. 

Please take out anything you bring in. We found three pairs of underwear and a bikini on our last trip… Are people walking round the bush commando after their swim?

There are a few (relatively) new signs out along the trail, likely due to the rising popularity of the hike in recent years. Dalpura has somewhat become the poster-hike for the argument to keep beautiful places in our National Parks hidden to stop them from being ruined by too many visitors. We’re not really fans of the gatekeeping approach - These are our National Parks, they belong to all of us. But that does mean that we all have a responsibility to take care of them. Lessons in how to travel through the bush, as well as a commitment to Leave No Trace Principles will go a long way to ensuring places like Dalpura are preserved while still being enjoyed.