Ruined Castle
Ruined Castle
Giant sandstone towers rise from a narrow ridge, surrounded by thick forest and enormous Blue Mountains views. Scramble between the rocks for views of cliffs stretching along the valley boundaries and Mount Solitary rising from the forest below. This is Ruined Castle.
Quick Details
Total Length: 12.5km
Elevation: 570m total across the hike
Grade: Moderate
Best season: Spring and Autumn
Suitable for kids: Older kids and teens comfortable with steep climbs
Starting the Trail
It’s been ages since Jess and I have been on a hike together… or really on any hike… So with the weather starting to warm up, we decided to go out to an old favourite — Ruined Castle. The day was sunny but not too hot — a perfect hiking day. We got lucky and managed to grab a parking space right at the trailhead. We threw on our packs and headed into the bush.
The last time we hiked this trail was a year ago when we crossed Mount Solitary and camped in the Kedumba Valley — thankfully today we weren’t going quite that far. The stairs from the carpark take us down the hill to join Narrow Neck Road. Normally you can cut this first part of the walk off by driving down the road, but it’s been closed for a while now thanks to a landslide.
We’re not complaining about the extra trail to hike today though. It’s been too long since we’ve been out here and the views through the trees are incredible.
Once we reach the road, we catch views on either side of Narrow Neck. Thankfully, unlike our last trip here, there’s no wind today — giving us a chance to take our time and enjoy the views.
The Narrow Neck section of the hike seemed to take a lot longer than we remembered but eventually, we found ourselves at the turn-off to Golden Stairs.
Golden Stairs
The views are still there, at least at the start. There’s a great viewing area where you can see the Three Sisters in the distance. People passed by in both directions, huffing and puffing coming up the stairs, or quickly making their way down. While it may not be as popular as other tracks in the mountains, this track is still well loved and travelled by many.
We made our way down the stairs. On our last visit the stairs had only just reopened — with their sandstone steps looking “golden” all the way down. A year on, they’re a little muddy and not quite as bright, but this is still one of our favourite pockets of the mountains around Katoomba.
Apparently the name Golden Stairs isn’t because of the colour of the stairs though. We’ve heard stories that in the late 1800s the Salvation Army and miners used this track a lot, and sang hymns along the way about climbing the golden stairs to glory…
Federal Pass
Once we reached the bottom of the stairs, we hit Federal Pass, and as we did we were hit by an idea. Instead of climbing back up the stairs to glory on the way back, we could return via the Scenic World train. Sure, it costs money, but we haven’t been on a hike in a while and our legs were already starting to hurt…
The trail is mostly flat, and beneath the canopy of the trees it’s cool and shady. The forest down here is really beautiful to hike through. It’s the kind of area where you’d be happy to just keep wandering for hours.
The light through the branches above does that incredible “dappling” effect, which just adds to the ambience. The ferns down here are massive and tower over us.
Close to the ground, new ferns are starting to sprout, their thin branches still spiralled at the ends. We’re not sure if these are low ground cover varieties or tall tree ferns — we just like that they look like something out of a storybook.
Ruined Castle
We reach the turn-off to Ruined Castle and climb up the stairs — which are not kind to our already sore legs and have convinced us that we should definitely take the train back up the hill (also that we shouldn’t leave it so long between hikes again, because damn are we feeling unfit!).
At the top of the stairs there’s a bit of a rough and rocky track — again, we remembered this section being much shorter than it was. We wander under overhangs and past boulders, running our hands over the wildflowers that are just starting to come out in bloom.
The sound of voices through the air reaches us before we reach the castle — sounds like more than a few people had the same idea as us today. This part is a real rock scramble and a bit of a squeeze between the rocks. Of course, it was only as we were leaving later that we actually found a much easier way up the rocks than the one we know.
The tall sandstone pieces stand like turrets, towering into the sky. Some are easy to climb up — others look impossible. Although, on this trip we did see one guy free-climb up the side of one of the taller ones. “Reckon you could do that for a photo?” asked Jess. “How ’bout you do the climbing and I’ll take the photo?” I countered. Friends, neither one of us did the climbing…
The views in all directions are just incredible on a clear day like today. This is probably the closest view you can get to Mount Solitary and still see all of its face. We traced the line where we hiked last year up the Korowal Knife and tried to figure out where Cleary’s Clearing is in the valley.
People came and went — we ended up staying for ages. We poked around the rocks and found a way up one of the taller rocks we hadn’t found before. It was such a beautiful day to just enjoy the sunshine, the view, and the catch-up.
Eventually one of us thought to check the time and realised we’d stayed far longer than we intended. And even though we enjoyed every minute of it, that also meant that now we wouldn’t have time to walk over to the train. So, with one last look at that incredible view, we packed up our things, scrambled down, and made our way back to the stairs to glory (much to the dismay of our sore legs).
Getting There
The walk starts from Narrow Neck in Katoomba, with access from Cliff Drive onto Glenraphael Drive. Follow the Narrow Neck fire trail to the signed Golden Stairs turn-off.
Parking is available along the road near the start of the walk, but check current road and track conditions before heading out, particularly around Narrow Neck and the Golden Stairs.
Tips and Tricks
Don’t wear good clothes out there. With rock scrambling and a few tight squeezes between the boulders it’s not unlikely that you’ll tear a hole in your clothes.
There are several exposed drops and scrambling sections around the sandstone tors at Ruined Castle. You don't need to climb to the highest point to enjoy the area, so stick to whatever you're comfortable with.
Returning via Federal Pass to the Scenic World train makes for a really great trip, just make sure you have enough time to get over there.