Empress and other Falls – January 2022
There is a popular loop walking track called the ‘Nature Track’ that starts and ends at the Conservation Hut in Wentworth Falls. The main track is around 3.0 kilometres long and would be rated as ‘easy’.
It includes a handful of lookouts (which are nice, but not spectacular), but it also leads to a number of waterfalls – including the impressive Empress Falls.
To reach several of these, you need to deviate off the main track at various point – but you are well rewarded for the effort taken.
Unlike my efforts to visit various falls in 2021, this trip was in the midst of one of the wettest summers for many years, so the many water systems all over the Mountains were flowing very well indeed.
It is well worth noting that like most routes to waterfalls in the Mountains, these involve steep descents into valleys or gorges. And where you go down, you have to eventually come back up. So the trip was very worthwhile, even though the climb out of the gorge that the Empress Falls nearly killed me!
Even though the main track is very popular on a warm, sunny day, it is not hard to find more secluded spots along the route, and with such abundant water flows, there were 2-3 places suitable for a relaxing dip in the cool waters if you are so inclined.
Location
Getting to the Start/Finish of the Nature Track at the Conservation Hut is easy:
At the time of writing, the café that used to be conveniently located in the Conservation Hut has closed down, due to Covid. Hopefully it won’t be long before another opens there.
The parking area has capacity for around 20-25 cars.
This map shows the main spots I visited on this trip:
