A series of ladders lead down through an impressive boulder cavern and out into a little tree fern wonderland. To add to the fun there are also a number of gnomes hidden in the walls and amongst the crevices, making for a whimsical adventure that’s for kids and adults alike.
You can easily combine the Ladders Defile ‘track’ with the Valley of the Dinosaurs loop which makes for one of the best walks in NSW. A shorter alternative would be to follow in our footsteps and first visit the diamond mine, where you can go inside an old miners hut, complete with dusty bottles and overalls!
However you choose to visit, you won’t be disappointed!
Ladders Defile
The stats
Distance: 2km return with a 4WD, 7.4km with a 2WD
Elevation gain: Virtually nothing with a 4WD, up to 410m with a 2WD
Difficulty: Easy - moderate
Trailhead: Genowlan Summit Track, Mugii Murum-ban
Summary: The part of the walk that goes through Ladders Defile is quite easy, as the ladders provide straightforward access down the boulder caverns that would otherwise be very tricky to pass through. The ladders are not part of a maintained trail and are used at your own risk, however, they felt solid and sturdy to us!
Depending on what car you have you may need to add on walking a section of steep road and this is what makes the walk longer and slightly more challenging.
We’d recommend accessing Ladders Defile from above, close to the mine site, where it’s very easy to spot the track. You can then descend the ladders and either retrace your steps, or follow the scrubby track down to the road and the closest parking point to the Valley of the Dinosaurs.
The walk isn’t signposted and though you will initially have phone signal, you will likely lose it once you head into Ladders Defile.
We’d recommend having an offline map downloaded and we will also mark the relevant turns in the track notes. This is a remote area so you might want to consider carrying a PLB.
Where to park and reaching the trailhead
Here are the one way distances you need to walk along the road to the mine site:
With a 2WD: 3.3km if you don’t drive any dirt road at all, you could drive another 500m if you don’t mind it being stony
With a 4WD but missing the scary section: 2km
With a 4WD all the way: 0m
Where you start the trail will depend on your car and your confidence driving steep unpaved roads. We have a 4WD, but didn’t feel comfortable when the road became very steep (in fact we tried to do it once before and then had to reverse down the steep road for 500m!)
There is one part of the road which is quite challenging, where there are two hairpins bends on a very steep section that has an exposed drop to one side.
After this the road becomes even steeper, so we’d only recommend driving to the furthest parking point if you are very comfortable with off-road driving.
To reach the Diamond Mine there are some rocky sections of road which we saw a 4WD have to attempt several times.
You can still go quite far along the road if you have a 4WD, but want to avoid the hairpin bends and steep section (this is what we eventually did!).
The parking point for this version of the trail is just off the road on a tight corner at these coordinates: -33.1204430, 150.0509602.
There’s enough room for a couple of cars to park here. To get to this point still requires driving up a steepish section of dirt road, but it’s not challenging.
If you think you can take on the difficult road, then you can continue beyond this point all the way to the Diamond Mine site, which is where we’ll start the trail notes.
If you only have a 2WD you will need to park earlier and walk the road.
Starting the trail: Reaching the Diamond Mine
If you’ve driven all the way up to the diamond mine you can park right beside it and begin having a look around. If not, you will have already walked quite a steep hill, but it’s definitely worth it.
If you are walking the road it will fork just under 700m after you turned onto the signposted Diamond Mine fire trail and there are mining relics on both routes (which meet up at the top).
We took the right fork and passed an old relic with the remains of a fire place 100m after turning off. The road flattens a couple of hundred metres later and you’re then 180m from a couple of huts.
We initially took these huts to be the relics we were looking for, but on closer inspection they are private property and locked.
The bits you can look around are just over 100m away, heading left from the first buildings and right at the fork. The coordinates are: -33.1068239, 150.0483225.
The Diamond Mine
The Diamond Mine was a small scale private venture set up by Col Ribaux in the 1960’s and whilst there is no information at the site, it’s a fascinating place to explore.
Most interesting to me was the old miners hut complete with five bunk beds, an old fireplace and fridge, plenty of dusty bottles and a few weathered jackets, giving the impression the miners had just popped out and were planning to return.
It’s a really cool piece of history, albeit quite recent and well worth seeing before you head onto Ladders Defile.
Outside the miners hut there are also some rusted cars (more like buggies) and other bits of machinery. It’s all set in bushland and feels like an impossibly remote place to start a mine!
Please remember not to touch or move any of the items to preserve this little piece of mining history.
Before you head onto the ladders, continue on from the miner’s hut for 50m to check out the incredible view from the pagodas. It looks out over the mountains and down to Airly Gap far below.
Heading onto Ladders Defile
From the pagoda viewpoint you’ll head back to the private buildings just before the miner’s hut and follow the fire trail signposted as Point Hatteras, (250m from the pagodas).
Follow the fire trail for 350m until you come to a large pagoda on the right (there’s also a pink flag showing you that you’re in the right place).
This is the entrance to Ladders Defile.
Turn right, hugging the pagoda wall and head into the bush. There’s a bit of a worn ‘path’ but this is not a maintained track by any means.
You’ll mainly be walking on peeled bark and leaf litter and it’s downhill all the way to the ladders, though it’s not particularly steep.
You’ll stick close to the pagoda wall for around 100m, at which point some debris means it’s easier to briefly curve away from the wall.
Around 50m later, or 150m into the turnoff to Ladders Defile, you’ll reach the bottom of the descent. You’re now in a very different environment, surrounded by tree ferns and tall rock walls. It feels like another world.
You’ll walk through the tree ferns for just over 100m when you will then reach the start of the canyon/boulder caverns.
Oh and keep an eye out for the gnomes before you begin the descent as we saw a couple, though there may have been more : )
Descending Ladders Defile
The first ladder takes you down a steep rock wall, and there’s a nice little side gully just afterwards. Keep an eye out for fairies!
There’s a second ladder almost immediately afterwards and this takes you into a dark boulder cavern. It’s very atmospheric, especially when the sun shines and illuminates the ladder and tree ferns above.
You have a tiny (easy) scramble down one rock to reach the third ladder.
This ladder takes you from the boulder cavern and into a little tree fern paradise. There are tall cliff walls on either side and you’ll pass through the fairy’s doorway.
Well maybe it’s a bit big for fairies, but it gives Alice in Wonderland vibes. There are a couple of side slots and more gnomes (we counted four in total, though I have no doubt we missed some!).
It’s over all too quickly when you arrive at a big pile of debris. The whole route from the first ladder to the debris is only around 160m, but it’s a really fun 160m!
Incidentally, we have Col Ribaux to thank for the wonderful ladders (and I think the gnomes!). Without them we wouldn’t have been able to explore this beautiful little part of Mugii Murum-ban.
Heading back down to the road
Once you reach the debris and tree fall, you can either retrace your steps back to the diamond mine, or continue down to the road.
You would reach the road at the nearest parking area for the Valley of the Dinosaurs. If you drove up to the mine it makes more sense to return and then bring your car down to the VOTD parking area if you’re planning to do that circuit too.
If you’ve walked up to the mine, then as long as you don’t mind an off track walk, it’s quicker to descend to the road. It also avoids walking back uphill to the mine, only to have to descend all the way back down the road.
There is no real path down from Ladders Defile to the Valley of the Dinosaurs parking area, but there are frequent ribbons on the trees marking the best route.
It’s almost all downhill, with some debris and some short steep bits, but if you follow the markers, it’s not too challenging. We measured the distance from the tree fall at the end of Ladders Defile to the parking area to be just under 850m.
At the tree fall, there’s a narrow path on the left side. From here continue straight across the clearing to the next pagodas/walls and head uphill and right.
Just over 250m from the tree fall you will stop going uphill and come to a gully that heads downhill between two cliffs - do not descend this gully.
The correct path is up the side gully to the right (which has a pink flag marking it) and leads to a big view 70m later.
The route continues to the right of the pagodas and there are one or two steps of steeper descent as you head down, but it wasn’t too bad.
Around 180m after the pagoda view, the descent pauses and you’ll traverse a little right, before making a hard left 50m later. The road and VOTD parking area is then 300m away and the path is easy to follow.
At this point you can walk back down the road to your car, or add on the Valley of the Dinosaurs loop track.
You could ascend to Ladders Defile from here if you didn’t want to do the mine site, but it’s so close to the top of the ladders that I really wouldn’t miss it, which is why we’ve described the route in the direction outlined above.
Getting to the Ladders Defile and Diamond Mine Trailhead
The trail is located in the Mugii Murum-ban State Conservation Area, close to Capertee. It’s around 10km and a 15 minute drive from Capertee, 91km and a 1 hour 20 minute drive from Katoomba and 193km and a 2 hour 45 minute drive from Sydney.
As soon as you turn off the Glen Davis Road, the road to the trailhead is unsealed and it becomes very steep. If you only have a 2WD you will need to park earlier on at these coordinates -33.1205809, 150.0473474 and walk the road. We walked a little extra too as mentioned above despite having a 4WD.
The closest parking area to the Diamond Mine is at these coordinates: -33.1070523, 150.0488336
The Valley of the Dinosaurs closest parking area is at these coordinates: -33.1125434, 150.0522553
Do not attempt this road even in a 4WD after heavy rain as I think it could become very slippery.
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