Falls, Ferns and Fungi – A walk from Leura Cascades to Katoomba Falls – 27 March 2014

A wet day in the mountains. A good time to walk around the waterfalls of the Upper Blue Mountains.

I started off at Leura Cascades. The track was quite wet, it seems to be poorly drained. But it meant that the waterfalls had a good flow from recent rain. The rain seemed to be holding off OK so there were plenty of opportunities to set up a tripod and take photos.

The wet conditions also kept a lot of other walkers  away. 

Leura Cascades are quite beautiful but in places it hard to take photos without getting bits of old sewer pipe or electrical wires in the photos. In past times an old sewer rain down the beside the cascades and also they have been floodlit – hence the old wires.

I took my time moving down through the Cascades. There was plenty to see and photograph.

The track below the Cascades is quite delightful and has been well maintained. It goes around a series of ledges above Bridal Veil Falls, the upper of the two Leura Falls, then down to the base of these falls. Then it follows the half way ledge around to Ferny Bower. At the Bower I took the track that descends to Leura Forest. This goes past two delightful waterfalls – Linda Falls and Marguerite Falls. Nearby, a lot of fungi was out. A good place to set up the tripod once more and swap to the macro lens.

I continued on to Leura Forest, which is dominated by huge turpentines.

Then I followed the Federal Pass Track around to Katoomba Creek and the Furber Stairs. Half way up the Stairs there is a side track that goes to the half way point of Katoomba Falls -another place where there is a delightful cascade between the upper and lower Katoomba Falls.

The day was cool, misty and a bit wet. But it was day with plenty of things to see and admire. Trees, waterfalls, misty dells and grottos, ferns and plenty of fungi. You can view more photos from the trip on this page of my website.