The Nattai Gorge is stunning. A blue green river snakes its way inbetween high cliff walls covered in dense gum trees, while giant boulders create serene plunge pools at every turn. You’ll find yourself constantly drawn to the river even when you should be on the path high above it. It’s wild, the sort of place you’d be shocked if you rounded the corner and ran into someone else!
You can descend into the gorge on a gentle track, but if you want to complete the loop you’ll need to ascend the Incline, following the old coal hauling route back to the cliff tops again. It’s a very steep but fun route, with a fixed metal cable to help with the gradient.
Here’s everything you need to know about hiking the Nattai Gorge circuit.
The Nattai Gorge Circuit
The stats
Distance: 12.6km circuit
Elevation gain: 310m
Difficulty: Moderate - hard
Trailhead: Boxvale Walking Track, Mittagong
Summary: Whilst more than half the walk is on a well maintained track, over 5km is on an unmaintained path. At times this path is still in good condition, however, following various flooding events large parts of it have become washed out and choked with debris, making navigating the gorge slow at times.
Following the path is not overly difficult as there are a number of pink ribbons to guide you at the majority of points where debris has caused the track to become less obvious.
You’ll have to climb over many fallen trees and log jams, cross some narrow eroded sections of path above the river and do a little rock hopping. You need to cross the creek a few times, but when the river is at normal levels, these crossings are all shallow and easy.
Don’t attempt after heavy rain when this will not be the case and the track will be more slippery. It’s also not advisable to swim in the river for several days after rain as it may suffer from urban run off. Water quality varies in the Nattai in general, so do bear that in mind before swimming.
When it comes to exiting the gorge, the incline is steep on the way out, but it’s doesn’t feel exposed and we didn’t end up needing to use the cable for the majority of the way - in fact most of the time it was easier not to, as it’s quite low to the ground making you hunch a bit!
Starting the trail: to Forty Foot Falls
From the car park (full details below) you head onto the Box Vale Track and begin making your way along the narrow dirt path between the gum trees. It’s a good, well maintained path, which heads gently downhill before flattening.
You’ll cross the creek on a small bridge 400m in, before heading briefly uphill and reaching a long flat stretch of track.
Keep following the small white arrows, which will guide you the right way until you start seeing signs for Forty Foot Falls.
You’ll get your first Forty Foot Falls sign at the 1.5km mark when you need to cross over the fire trail and then keep right.
You’ll now pass through a small cutting, which is a very pretty and atmospheric part of the walk, made all the more so by dozens of butterflies crisscrossing the path in front of us.
The cutting ends a couple of hundred metres later and you’ll now head onto a wide fire trail, again the falls are signposted.
You’ll continue on fire trails for the next kilometre and all turns are well signposted. The path is flat for the majority of the way.
At the 2.8km mark you’ll begin descending, but very gently for the first 100m. At this point you’ll see a picnic bench and from here the path curves right and you’ll leave the fire trail behind as you head onto the narrow bush track.
The path descends more steeply now, on a mix of dirt track and well maintained wooden steps. There is a bit of leaf litter and loose soil in places, but it’s very minimal and generally the descent is easy.
Roughly 450m from the picnic bench you’ll come to a sturdy metal ladder (no exposure) and from here you’re just 50m from the junction with the bottom of the falls and the overhang, which allows you to walk behind the waterfall.
Forty Foot Falls and heading into the gorge
From the junction you can continue a few metres to the right, where you can walk behind the waterfall. There is a big pile of logs to cross to get right behind the falls and not all are stable, so tread carefully.
You can get a good view of the falls without crossing the logs, so it’s worth taking a peek either way.
The path to the gorge does not pass the bottom of the falls, so you need to cut down to the base of the waterfall from the junction before continuing on.
It’s well worth doing so to see the gorgeous waterfall head on. It’s not overly powerful if there hasn’t been much recent rain, but it’s still a fab sight.
To get to the gorge, you continue left from the junction, or straight on if you’re coming back from walking behind the waterfall.
The narrow path will bring you to a second ladder after around 40m. It’s more of a steep staircase than a ladder and allows easy access to the rock platform below.
Just 30m beyond the ladder you’ll come to a pool and from here, there’s no discernible path, but you need to head right.
It’s a bit overgrown and our route saw us climb over a few rocks and some tree fall before we reached a more open section of bush a few metres later.
Around 150m later we found a path running above the creek on the right, which was probably there all along and we just missed it.
Keep an eye out as soon as you head right at the pool, as it may just be that a little debris hid the path from view and it’s easiest to get on the path as soon as possible, rather than walk along the creek with no set track.
Making your way along the river
Once you’re on the path you’ll quickly come to two old signposts. At the signpost in the photo below, look to the left and you’ll see a worn path leading down to the creek, a few metres away.
Once at the creek, a metre or so to the right of where you cut down, there is an easy place to cross, with a rock to hop across on and then you can head slightly uphill and back onto a path again.
A few metres into this trail there is quite a large tree down over the track. It’s a bit of an awkward one to get over as the trunk is quite wide, but you can hoist yourself up and over and then continue along the worn flat path.
After a couple of hundred metres on the easy trail you’ll ascend a little above the river and the track narrows. You’ll soon descend again and there is some leaf litter around, but it’s not too steep or slippery.
From this point on you start to really see how beautiful the river is. Depending on the light, it shone blue or green and both colours were dazzling.
Don’t worry about trying to cut down to the river from the main track, as the path will take you down to the water many times without you needing to go off track.
The vast majority of pools were shallow along the whole length of the trail, more plunge pools than swimming holes.
However, there’s a very deep one near the end of the gorge, which I’ll share the coordinates for so you don’t miss it.
The trail gets worse and creek crossings
You’ll pass some lovely (shallow) pools 4.5km into the walk and from here the walk heads up the little rock gully and briefly onto the small cliff.
The rock gully to climb up
Just beyond this there is a steep loose bit of track to climb up, but as you’re going uphill and not descending, it didn’t feel too slippery.
The path undulates for 150m before descending to an area where you have to do some rock hopping. It’s easy enough and after 100m you’ll pick up the trail again.
However, you’ll soon hit some major debris to negotiate, it’s not the first patch and it won’t be the last unfortunately!
You’ll then cross (the probably dry) Kells Creek before hitting more and more debris. No one patch of debris is hard to cross or feels dodgy, but the amount of it gets wearing!
You’ll continue following the path alongside the river for the next kilometre before you need to cross the river. That’s 6km into the track and best done somewhere around these coordinates: -34.4150491, 150.4373540.
There are some large rocks to use as stepping stones and if you pick your route carefully you won’t need to remove your boots. The rocks weren’t slippery when dry, but watch your step nonetheless!
Once you’ve crossed the creek you’ll head slightly uphill and pick up the trail again. You’ll also see a signpost for the crossing if you were coming from the other direction.
The path is worn, but narrow and encroaching ferns and shrubs sometimes cover the logs beneath, so you need to watch out not to trip up.
Roughly 300m after crossing the creek you’ll come to a small deep pool with a gorgeous mountain backdrop.
After this point the trail is very hard to see, in fact it doesn’t really exist anymore due to wash outs. Just pick your way along the rocky terrain for 250m, at which point you’ll come to a huge log pile.
Behind this log pile, hidden from view, is the ‘path’. It goes underneath a pretty sandstone arch, which has some striking colours and patterns that almost look painted on.
You need to climb under this arch to pick up the trail again. Sadly the huge log pile continues under the arch, so it’s not as picturesque as it once was.
To the best swimming hole
The path continues above the river and just a few steps beyond the arch it’s easier to see again. There are a few steps of narrow track above the river, but it didn’t feel precarious.
There are many ribbons to help guide you along this next section of track, so if you do feel you’ve lost the path, keep an eye out for splashes of pink.
After a couple of hundred metres it heads a little higher up the riverbank before descending shortly after. Around 500m after the arch, you’ll come to the best swimming hole of the track (co-ordinates: -34.4130336, 150.4359268).
This is the only long deep unobstructed pool I tried on the trail and it’s a beauty. It’s more like two separate pools, with a narrow channel between the two.
Accessing the water involves climbing over a few rocks at one entry point, or you can go off a stony beach at the second pool.
Both options are easy and the water is deep and unobstructed through the middle of both pools, so you could have a proper swim.
There’s a small boulder cascade at one end and you’re surrounded by the craggy rock walls and dense forest, which add a lot of atmosphere. The water is a stunning shade of green and is was beautifully clear.
I loved swimming here, but remember not to swim here after rain due to potential urban runoff.
Finding the incline
From the swimming hole you are around 700m from the last creek crossing. The going is generally better than much of it has been to this point. There’s still some debris around, but it’s generally ok and easy to follow.
The river is perhaps the most stunning along this next stretch, or maybe it’s because the light made it appear blue rather than green, which was even more spectacular.
You’ll pass a giant boulder beside the track and several in the water and it feels especially wild and wonderful.
Just over 7.7km into the walk, you need to cross the creek for a final time (co-ordinates: -34.4115373, 150.3299473).
There are lots of rocks and stones to use and keeping dry boots is easy. From the crossing, head slightly uphill and right, into the bush.
You’ll then need to bear left, climb over the tree fall and up along the trail beside the side creek.
This next section is very scrubby and rough and after a little while we preferred to walk up the cascades, which were low in flow, making this easier than sticking to the scratchy ‘path’.
Roughly 300m from the creek crossing, 8.05km into the track, near the top of the cascades, you’ll see a signpost.
Head back into the bush again, following the path right, signposted as Boxvale Track via the Incline. You’re now 50m from the cable that marks the start of the incline.
Climbing the Incline
The metal cable running along the Incline (an old coal hauling route created in the 1880’s to service the mine) goes for 400m and in this time it climbs 140m in elevation; in other words, it’s steep!
I was a little worried that I would find climbing it a bit scary and assumed there would be some exposure. Luckily it’s not scary and it never felt precarious.
The ‘track’ is a mix of dirt and rock, with the rock being the best in my opinion, as it was tiered and grippy. The dirt was a touch loose in places and I wouldn’t have liked descending it, but when going uphill I never felt like I might slip.
The cable is low to the ground and quite heavy, making it awkward to use when ascending, so for the most part I didn’t bother, but it was there for security if needed. I imagine it would make the world of difference if descending.
It is a tiring climb, but there are many large rocks you could stop on at various points if you wanted a break.
Once you’re at the top there’s another 100m gentle ascending to go to reach the Box Vale Track.
The Box Vale Track
Once you’re on the Box Vale Track all the hard work is over. The track is almost entirely flat and the path well maintained, though you still have another 4km to walk.
If you’re still feeling energetic just before following the Box Vale Track you could make a 600m (return) detour to the Nattai Gorge Lookout (it’s signposted). It’s a tremendous view, but as we were not feeling spritely at this point, I’ll insert a picture from our previous visit : )
After heading onto the Box Vale Track, you’ll soon reach its highlight: an 84m tunnel carved into the rock. You’ll then pass through another cutting and picturesque bushland, which is always dotted with wildflowers. We spotted some beautiful orchids this time around.
Keep following all the signposts, making sure to stay on the Box Vale Track at the junction with Forty Foot Falls. It’s a relaxing walk back to the car park and a good way to stretch your legs out after the steep climb up the incline!
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 area, it will go a long way to keeping the area clean.
Getting to the trailhead for Nattai Gorge
The Nattai Gorge Circuit is in Mittagong, a 10 minute drive from Bowral. It’s roughly an hour and a half (115km) from Sydney and just under two hours (170km) from Canberra. You do need your own car to easily access the track. There’s a large car park at the trailhead, which you can find here on Google maps.
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