Our Favourite Hikes
Our Favourite Hikes
We’ve both loved hiking for years, and at the start of 2025 we decided to team up and share the things we love most about the trails. Over the past year we’ve revisited old favourites, discovered new hikes, been challenged, grown, met some incredible people — and we can’t believe what an amazing year we’ve had.
Happy birthday to Hike Your Story, here’s to another year of getting lost, bruised, bitten, scratched, falling over… and finding our way home again.
Pool of Diana
The walk to the Pool of Diana is short and unassuming, following a rough fire trail before slipping into a faint, overgrown footpad. It doesn’t look like much on the way in — just bush, fallen branches, and a track that asks you to pay a little attention — but that’s part of what keeps this place feeling quiet and rarely visited.
At the end of the trail, the landscape opens into a small fern-lined oasis. Water spills gently into a dark, calm pool beneath a low rock overhang, with sandy edges and deep water near the falls. You can swim, sit in the shade, or even walk behind the waterfall along a narrow ledge just below the surface — a simple, peaceful reward for a very short hike.
It’s an ideal spot for hot days and confident kids, offering that rare mix of feeling remote while still being close and manageable. From the car, it’s only a short walk in, but it feels like you’ve stepped somewhere far more hidden — the kind of place you half expect to keep to yourself, and quietly hope stays that way. You can check out our last visit to the Pool of Diana here.
Mount Solitary by Kedumba Pass
Mount Solitary via Kedumba Pass is not a hike you drift into casually. It’s the kind of walk that asks for an early start, steady legs, and a willingness to keep going long after the novelty wears off. From the first descent into Kedumba Valley, it’s clear this is a serious day out, with big distances and bigger climbs ahead.
The journey takes you deep into the valley floor before the real work begins. Fire trails give way to bush tracks, creeks are crossed, and eventually the climb — relentless stairs, rock scrambles, and long stretches where progress is measured step by step. Reaching The Col feels hard-won, opening up wide views back across the valley and reminding you just how far you’ve come under your own steam.
What makes this hike unforgettable isn’t just the scale of the landscape, but the way the challenge unfolds over the day. Hours of effort, changing light, tired legs, and that quiet satisfaction of reaching the end of the trail. It’s demanding, humbling, and deeply rewarding — one of those hikes that stays with you long after you’ve made it home. You can check out our last visit to Mount Solitary via Kedumba Pass here.
Serendipity Canyon
Serendipity Canyon is a full canyoning experience — wetsuits, helmets, ropes — moving through narrow sandstone walls, cold pools, and sections where the only way forward is down. From the first abseil, it’s clear this isn’t about speed or distance, but about committing to the terrain in front of you.
Inside the canyon, the pace slows as the environment takes over. Sunlight filters in from above, reflecting off clear water and smooth stone, while slippery ledges and tight constrictions demand focus and trust — in your footing, your gear, and your guides. There’s laughter, the occasional ungraceful landing, and plenty of moments where nerves give way to confidence as you realise you’re more capable than you thought.
What makes Serendipity Canyon so memorable is the way it balances challenge with pure fun. It’s demanding without being overwhelming, technical without being intimidating, and constantly rewarding as the canyon opens and closes around you. By the time you emerge into the Wollangambe, cold, tired, and grinning, you’ll already have plans to do it all again. You can check out our last visit to Serendipity Canyon here.
Porters Pass to Centennial Glen
This is one of those rare tracks that manages to fit a little bit of everything into a relatively short walk. In just a few kilometres, the trail moves between dry forest and temperate rainforest, skirts sandstone cliffs, opens to wide valley views, and delivers a string of small but memorable waterfalls along the way. It’s an easy track to recommend because it shows off so many different sides of the Blue Mountains in one hit.
One moment you’re exposed to wind along the cliff line, the next you’re tucked into mossy forest beside a creek. There are rock-hopping crossings, shaded staircases, cascades flowing directly across the track, and sections where the sandstone walls tower close enough to touch. The changes in terrain keep the walk engaging without ever feeling overwhelming, especially for families or first-time visitors.
The real highlight comes near the end, where the track delivers three very different waterfalls. Slippery Dip spills and curves down a smooth rock face. The Grotto sits tucked away in its own short canyon, dark and sheltered. Then there’s Centennial Falls — where the track leads you behind the curtain of falling water. Much like the rest of the walk, it’s a small stretch of trail that somehow manages to show off several completely different sides of the Blue Mountains at once. You can check out our last visit to Porters Pass here.
Kamarah Gully Canyon
Kamarah Gully Canyon is tucked away on the edge of the Grose Valley, reached by an unassuming fire trail that gradually drops away from Darling Causeway. Most of the distance is easy walking, but the sense of being somewhere remote builds steadily as the views open out over the valley and the old road surface begins to show its age — cracked bitumen, stone walls, and signs of a working past slowly being reclaimed by nature.
Leaving the fire trail behind, the walk slips into cool forest where the creek becomes your guide. Footpads fade in and out, fallen trees demand small detours, and the light softens beneath the canopy. Following the gully feels intuitive rather than prescise — staying close to the creek, climbing around boulders when needed, and eventually walking beside mossy stone walls where the air feels still and damp, even on warm days.
The canyon itself is beautiful — dark green walls twisting around you. Narrow squeezes open into darker chambers before the canyon ends at a deep pool beneath a dripping wall of stone. There’s something about it that just makes you whisper when you’re there, as if the slightest sound would ruin the magic between those walls. You can check out our last visit to Kamarah Gully Canyon here.
Lost City
This is one of those places where the scale sneaks up on you. From the lookout, the pagodas look scattered and distant, but once you start walking, the landscape pulls you down into the valley and suddenly you’re moving among them — towering sandstone forms rising on all sides, their shapes shifting as the light changes.
Down on the valley floor, the trail follows the creek past low overhangs, shallow crossings, and the remnants of earlier human use — old dam walls and mining traces softened by time and moss. Every angle tells a different story, and it’s easy to understand how this place earned its name, with pagodas stretching away like the ruins of an ancient city.
Late in the day, Lost City shifts again. As the sun drops, shadows stretch across the valley and the pagodas catch the golden light along their edges. Staying on for sunset — and later, under a sky full of stars — feels like a quiet reward for taking your time. It’s not a place you rush through. Lost City is best experienced slowly, watching the landscape change around you, and realising that even after a full day wandering its paths, there’s still more you haven’t seen. You can check out our last visit to Lost City here.
Grand High Tops
Grand High Tops is the heart of Warrumbungle National Park — a high volcanic plateau surrounded by spires, walls, and tors shaped by ancient eruptions and long erosion. From the top, the landscape stretches in every direction, revealing the full scale of this old, rugged range. The terrain feels both open and immense, with rocky outcrops rising sharply from quiet bushland below.
What sets this area apart is its geology. Formations like the Breadknife, Belougery Spire, and the surrounding cliff lines give the landscape a sculpted, almost architectural feel. The rock here carries names and stories tied to early conservationists and mythic imagery, lending the place a sense of weight and permanence that’s hard to ignore once you’re among it.
Grand High Tops isn’t just a single viewpoint — it’s a vantage point into the wider Warrumbungles. Whether you approach it at dawn, in full daylight, or as part of a longer circuit, the area leaves a lasting impression. It’s a place that feels ancient, expansive, and quietly powerful — and one that defines what makes this park so special. You can check out our last visit to Grand High Tops here.
Tips and Tricks
Our favourite hikes aren’t always the most famous or the most dramatic. They’re the ones that surprised us, challenged us, or asked us to slow down and look a little closer.
Whether it’s a short walk to a quiet pool or a long day deep in the mountains, the hikes that stay with you are usually the ones where you let the experience matter more than the outcome.