Christies Pool is tucked away in a little visited corner of Ku-ring-gai National Park, just half an hour from the centre of Sydney. It’s a beautiful freshwater pool, with clear green water surrounded by an abundance of ferns and gum trees. It’s a peaceful spot and off the beaten track enough that even if you visit on a hot sunny weekend like we did, you are unlikely to share it with anyone else.
Some tree fall in the water means the swimmable part of the pool is not what it once was, but it’s still a serene place to have a dip if you’re not so worried about getting some lengths in!
Though the majority of the walk is on a fire trail, the final 500m are off track. It’s not difficult, but does involve a little bit of rocky terrain and some debris to navigate around.
Here’s how to find Christies Pool.
The walk to Christies Pool
The stats
Distance: 4.4km return
Elevation gain: 160m
Difficulty: Moderate
Summary: Almost 3/4 of the walk to Christies Pool is on a well maintained fire trail. It’s a mix of flat and downhill on the way. The last part of the walk is off track, but well marked with cairns and generally easy to follow.
This part of the walk is rougher, but pretty easy by off track standards. It is basically all downhill, but rarely very steep and the rocky parts are grippy when dry.
There is one steep section with some loose soil at the very end of the trail, but it’s really only a few steps.
Starting the trail
From the car park (full details below) the walk heads onto the Warrimoo Track. The first 320m are all flat and the wide well maintained trail make it very leisurely.
There’s a fair amount of tree cover providing welcome shade on a hot day and we were lucky enough to spot two swamp wallabies within the first five minutes of the walk!
The next part of the track is still predominantly flat, with a couple of little downhill sections. At the 470m mark you’ll pass the junction for the Darri Track on the left and continue straight, keeping to the fire trail.
Around 430m later (900m into the walk) the track heads more noticeably downhill, but it’s good terrain and therefore easy going.
Around 250m later there is one short (100m) descent, which is much steeper and this bit looked like it had loose stones and would be slippery. Surprisingly it wasn’t as there was a bit of cement which made it grippy.
At the end of this steep section you turn right and continue following the fire trail, with views out to dense bushland.
There are also some electricity pylons, but if you don’t focus on them, the bush views are lovely!
Finding the off track turn off
The next part of the walk is still on a good fire trail, but slightly more green and bushy than the earlier section. It’s not overgrown or difficult to walk on though.
The path has some gentle undulations until you come to a large pylon at the 1.55km mark (300m after you turned right at the end of the steep hill).
The path will bend left, around the pylon and you need to look out for a trail leading into the bush 50m later (on the right, 1.6km into the track). There is a small cairn here to reassure you.
The first few steps are a little steeper and rockier than the majority of the rest of the trail so don’t be put off.
Watch out for webs though as this is a little frequented track and it’s likely you’ll be the only person here on any given day so carrying a stick may be in order.
Continuing to Christies Pool
The bush track is obvious for the next 120m and though it heads downhill, it’s not overly steep, nor overly scrubby.
It’s definitely one of the nicer off track sections we’ve walked lately! When you lose the obvious trail (around 1.72km in), look for the cairns marking where to climb down the rocks.
This rocky section is not difficult and nice and grippy when dry. However, 30m later there is one awkward tree down over the track which requires carefully picking your way through.
The path bends right and follows the frequent cairns. Roughly 100m later you will see two more cairns marking where you descend to the next tier down.
Any rock clambering is straightforward and there are no technical moves or leg stretching required.
Approximately 150m later (2km into the trail) you’ll reach a rock shelf and need to head right. The path then bends around the rock shelf so you are walking inbetween the rock walls, almost like a little gully.
The next 50m down to the creek are slightly rougher than the rest of the walk, with one short steeper section.
A few steps of this has loose soil, but there are also some trees and rocks to grab if needed and it’s not that bad at all, but I would say a touch slippery if you’re not very surefooted like me.
After this you will reach the creek, 2.1km from the car park. You need to turn left and walk a few minutes further to reach easier access to Christies Pool.
Accessing Christies Pool
There are a number of places you can access the pool. The first is a little sandy area around 50m or so along the worn path heading left through the ferns.
The access here is steep, but it’s sandy, so almost like walking a few steps down a sand dune.
There is some debris in the shallow part of the water here, so take care just gliding over that before it deepens and you can swim.
The water is clear so you can see the debris (unless excess rainfall has made it cloudy).
If you don’t like the look of that you can continue another 50 or so metres to a shallow entry point to the pool. This is just before some boulders and cascades.
You can step off the riverbank into very shallow water here. The downside is that there is then a reasonable amount of rocks to negotiate before you get into a deeper part of the pool.
I didn’t use this entry as there looked to be a thin layer of mud on the rocks which I thought might be slippery. I preferred the steep sandy entry for that reason.
Swimming at Christies Pool
When the sun shines on Christies Pool, the gorgeous ferns reflect in the water and create the most beautiful vivd green shimmer.
When a cloud comes over the water looks a much darker green, but when you’re actually inside the water it appears much paler and more picturesque even if it’s cloudy.
It’s clean, clear and cool - cooler than I was expecting for Ku-ring-gai! It was really refreshing on a hot day.
The surrounding bush and trickling cascades make for a really serene place to take a dip. Sadly some significant tree fall and rocks in the water at either side make the swimmable area much smaller than it appears from above.
You can still swim a little way through the middle of the pool, but watch for rocks in the middle as you start to come level with the ferns on the left bank.
Though you couldn’t swim far, it was still lovely, but it would be even better if you could have a proper swim along the full length of the pool and not have to worry about bumping into rocks and debris.
If you haven’t yet been to Upper Gledhill Falls that is the better swimming spot in terms of a proper swim, but you have to time it right as it gets very busy. I would say Christies Pool is for those that love getting off the beaten track and exploring all that Ku-ring-gai has to offer.
When you’re ready to leave the pool you simply retrace your steps back to the car park.
Keep them wild
Please remember to take all rubbish with you and keep these places wild and pristine - as with anywhere in the outdoors. It’s important to leave them exactly as you found them so they will remain beautiful for generations to come.
Litter tends to breed litter, so if you do spot any and are able to pick it up and dispose of it outside the national park, it will go a long way to keeping the area clean.
Parking for Christies Pool
The car park for the trailhead to Christies Pool is located on Timbarra Road in St Ives, the exact location can be found on Google maps here. There is no fee for entering this part of Ku-ring-gai and no time limit on the parking. It is the start point for a few other trails and the car park is not that big, but even on weekends we’ve never seen it full.
Note that there are no facilities at the trailhead or along the walk, including toilets.
The car park is 24km and a 30 minute drive from Sydney CBD.
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