Driving Routes
Discovery Trail: Blackheath and Megalong
- Length
- 92 kms (from Blackheath return)
- Driving Time
- 2 - 3 hrs (from Blackheath return)
- Road Conditions
- Narrow sealed roads and unsealed roads
- Start and Finish
- Blackheath
- Snapshot
- A busy day-tour of plateau and valley environments with a wide selection of lookouts, picnic sites and walks.
- Highlights
- Govetts Leap, NPWS Heritage Centre, Pulpit Rock, Evans Lookout, Hargraves Lookout, Blackheath Glen, Megalong Valley.
- Alerts!
- Take great care of oncoming traffic on narrow sections.
This discovery trail explores five routes radiating out like the spokes of a wheel, each an out-and-back drive from the hub of Blackheath. They can be linked in any order but are described here in a clockwise direction. Pulpit Rock Lookout is just a short drive out of Blackheath on Hat Hill Road then Pulpit Rock Road. The lookout itself is a 10-minute walk from the car and a fabulous place to start the day, with the early sun rising onto Blue Gum Forest deep in the valley. Next up is Govetts Leap Lookout with its classic view into Govett Gorge and a graceful waterfall. Don't miss the NPWS Heritage Centre with its interpretive display, information and gift shop. Last of the Grose Valley stops is Evans Lookout, named for the surveyor of the first road over the mountains.
Heading south out of Blackheath, Megalong Valley Road provides a change of pace as it winds down through the rainforest of Blackheath Glen. Emerging into farmland with a backdrop of cliffs, the drive continues to Old Ford Reserve (camping) on Megalong Creek, across the Six Foot Track, into the valley of Galong Creek and on to Dunphys Camping Area on the edge of the Blue Mountains National Park wilderness. The final spoke out of Blackheath heads out onto Shipley Plateau and the grand vistas of Hargraves Lookout and Mount Blackheath Lookout - great places at sunset. There are numerous opportunities on this drive to stretch the legs along a walking track, including the Grand Canyon near Evans Lookout, the cliff-top tracks from Govetts Leap and rainforest walks in Blackheath Glen.