Deep Pass - A Campground, A Canyon, & A Split Rock
Deep Pass is a much loved area found in Wollemi National Park, not far from the regional city of Lithgow (around three hours drive West of Sydney).
Quick Details
Distance: around 1km (from North car park to campground)
Elevation: 130m
Grade: Easy
Best Season: All Year round.
Suitable for kids: Yes (see post for more details)
The Campground
After parking the car you’ll walk down the hill on a rugged track, the sign says “Deep Pass 500m walkers only” but our map puts it at about 850 metres to the campground.
The track narrows as it curves down the hill. As you reach flat ground you’ll see the campground ahead beyond the trees. After crossing Nayook Creek you’ll find yourself standing on the edge of a wide open campground edged by short ferns, grasses, and trees that grow out to the tall grey and orange stone walls that enclose the area. Nayook Creek winds its way around the camping area to the base of the stone walls ahead of you. A bush track to the right leads up to the second car park area that’s found by travelling further down Deep Pass trail.
The campground is suitable for tents only, as there’s no vehicle access into the campground. But it's one of our favourite campgrounds, and a great place to go for a first hike-in camping experience. You can book a camping site through the NPWS website.
Deep Pass Canyon (Otherwise known as Nayook Canyon)
Deep Pass Canyon, otherwise known as Nayook Canyon, has long been a favourite hike of ours and many others who have visited.
In mid-2024 a significant rock fall inside the canyon saw NSW National Parks and Wildlife Services temporarily restrict access to the canyon for around five months while waiting for geotechnical assessment and remediation for the safety of visitors. Thankfully that work was completed mid-December 2024, in time for the end of year holiday period. As soon as we heard the canyon was open again we quickly added it to the top of our hike list for the Summer.
For those familiar with the canyon already, the rock fall occurred between the first and second fixed rope sections (presuming you enter from the campground end of the circuit). The entrance to the little sandy beach around Nayook Falls and pool is now covered in large sandstone rocks, and much of the trees here have fallen. Standing on top of the waterfall looking back towards the rockfall left us a little sad to realise we’ll never see it again how it once was, and at the same time, we’re grateful we got to experience this place as many times as we did before the rock fall. It was a reminder that canyons can be dangerous places and care should always be taken when visiting.
[The first image was taken January 2024 and the second was taken January 2025]
At the time of our last visit there was a fair amount of branches and debris in the upper section of the canyon and recent rainfall has resulted in the water level in the canyon being higher than we’ve seen it before. The water level in the pool is quite high so there's really no ground area to sit on around the pool at the moment.
We’ve written a separate post about our latest trip to Deep Pass Canyon here.
Split Rock
Split Rock is a narrow corridor the shape of a “T” through tall stone walls found just the other side of Deep Pass Campground and Nayook Creek.
Many canyons in this part of NSW are formed slowly over time by the gentle eroding of stone by running water. Split Rock however seems to have occurred by a fracture through the stone that widened over time (perhaps there’s a clue in the name). The walls are quite straight and parallel to each other. There are a few similar experiences to be found in the adjacent Gardens of Stone, but we'll leave those experiences for another story....
To get to Split Rock from the campground, continue to walk away from where you just crossed Nayook Creek and the entry track, crossing through the campground. As you reach the ferns there are a couple of different foot tracks you can take, all leading you to cross Nayook Creek again as it bends to your right (which here has higher and muddier banks than the previous crossing). In late January 2025 a large burnt gum tree has fallen across the banks where the creek bends. Because of where it's laying it's quite difficult to get over, so we'd recommend crossing the creek on the fallen tree closer to the campground (I promise, it'll all make sense when you see it in person).
The path ahead on the other side of the creek is quite clear beneath the stone walls in front of you. If you look up you’ll see a tall vertical crack in the wall. This is one end of the “T” of Split Rock.
Continue to walk around the base of the walls, there’s a large overhang above you that provides welcome shade on hot sunny days, and cover when there’s rain. The foot track beneath you is a little obstructed by ferns and other plants but you don’t walk through them for long. As you reach the corner of the stone wall there are boulders and much higher scrub bushes in front of you. Turn to your left and you’ll see the hidden entry to Split Rock (the bottom of the “T” shape). From here you have three options, they all involve some rock scrambling, and two involve a tight squeeze.
The first option is to scramble up the rocks in front of you, and slide through a hole between them. The second option is to continue around the boulders a short way to the right, before again, climbing up and slipping between the rocks. The first option will have you sliding through like you’re lying on the ground, the second option you can stay mostly vertical. Both options are tight fits and will have you twisting and stretching to reach footholds to try and stay balanced before dropping into Split Rock. Neither option is comfortable, but the second option to us seemed the less risky of the two. Care should always be taken, even though the rocks are large, they could still move under the right (or rather wrong) circumstances. The third option is to go up higher from option two, and drop into Split Rock from above. You do need long limbs to reach the footholds, but you're unlikely to get squished by a rock!
The two narrow corridors that make up Split Rock are cold and shaded, even under a hot midday sun in the middle of Summer. We didn’t explore as far as the ends of each corridor this time, but the side to the left of the entry looks out towards the campground and the path you just walked in on.
Apparently there’s a small tunnel or cave in here that often hides a small colony of glow worms. There are a couple of spots where the ground falls away beneath the walls that may hide a tunnel or cave, but the thought of getting trapped under the stone walls was a little too claustrophobic for us.
To exit, simply retrace your steps back the way you came in. It’s a fairly straightforward and short hike. The biggest challenge really lies in entering and exiting as it’s a tight fit, and long limbs certainly help. For that reason we wouldn’t recommend it for young children, but tweens and teens should be fine.
Getting to Deep Pass
This section of the Newnes Plateau is littered with fire trails and a wrong turn may see you lost for hours. There’s little to no phone reception, so we would recommend having an offline and up to date map of the area. As at the time of writing this, all directions are 2WD accessible.
Deep Pass can be found at the end of the Southern branch of Mount Cameron fire trail on the Newnes Plateau. You likely won’t find Mount Cameron fire trail in your vehicles navigation system, but you will find one of the roads you take to get to it. The first road you want to find is Glow Worm Tunnel Road.
From Bells Line of Road, turn onto Old Bells Line Road at Zig Zag railway, then turn right onto Glow Worm Tunnel Road at the T-intersection. From Lithgow, use State Mine Gully Road which merges into Glow Worm Tunnel Road as you enter the Newnes Plateau.
From the T-intersection drive around 11.3km and turn right on Deep Pass Trail (there’s a yellow signpost on the road). From here, you’ll drive up the hill and the area will open right out to pale sandy gravel, turn left (this is the second turn on the left, about 600m from Glow Worm Tunnel Road).
You're now on Mount Cameron fire trail (there are no signposts). The road was upgraded in mid to late 2023 and is accessible to 2WD (although if there’s been recent significant rainfall we wouldn’t recommend driving on it in a 2WD). It’s pale sandy gravel the whole way from here, so if you find yourself suddenly on a narrow vegetated bush track, you’ve taken a wrong turn! There is one fork in the road, you want to take the road to the right (the road to the left takes you to River Caves Canyon). At the end of the road is Deep Pass North car park.
Remember to take any rubbish with you when you go. National Parks belong to all of us, and we’re all responsible for looking after them!
Tips and Tricks
If you’re camping at Deep Pass Campground keep your gear to a minimum. Anything you bring in, you need to take out!
Avoid entering Deep Pass Canyon after recent significant rainfall.
Keep an eye out for freshwater crayfish, in Nayook creek they’re red!