The Cathedral Rock Summit Walk is one of the most adventurous trails in NSW. What starts as a normal, easy bushwalk turns into a rock scramble to the top of a huge boulder pile with absolutely incredible views. It’s a fantastic place to watch the sunset if you don’t mind heading down in the twilight.
It’s quite different to any other bushwalk in the area with lots of obstacles to overcome, which include clambering over and squeezing between huge rocks. You’ll need a bit of a head for heights and I lost mine at the very end, and only made it to the top with Joe’s help!
Here’s exactly what to expect on the trail, including lots of detail on that final scramble.
The Cathedral Rock Summit Walk
The stats
Distance: 5.8km
Elevation: 260m
Difficulty: Hard
The walk to the top of Cathedral Rock Summit and the loop trail takes around 2 hours. We recommend starting the walk at least 1.5 hours before sunset so that you have time to do the scramble and take in the beautiful views.
The section of this trail that makes it hard is the final few hundred metres to the top. You can just do the loop if you fancy an easy - moderate trail, but by avoiding the summit, you will miss out on the best part of the walk.
What to expect on the trail
Starting the trail at Barokee campground
The walk begins from the campground and heads straight into the bush. We followed the trail in a clockwise direction as recommended on the signpost.
The path is well maintained and it’s a very easy start to the walk.
The landscape is dotted with huge boulders and it would be a lovely patch of bushland but for the sad fact that most of the trees are sadly charred following the bushfires of 2020.
There are signs of green shoots and over time it will hopefully be back to its former glory. In the meantime I tried to focus on the returning greenery rather than the blackened remains of the trees.
You’ll pass a junction with the Native Dog Creek Track, where you’ll carry on straight, but it’s all nicely signposted and would be easy even in the dark if you wanted to head up for sunrise, which is another great time to do this track.
I had been expecting the trail to start climbing pretty early on but it’s actually remarkably flat for the majority of the way. There is the odd little uphill section, on a good path, but they are always followed by plenty more flat trail afterwards.
After 2.2km you’ll reach a junction, turning right will take you to the summit and continuing on straight will continue the loop trail.
At this point you’ve climbed 125m in elevation but it doesn’t really feel like it. There’s a bench to sit on if you want to take a break before starting the trickier part of the walk.
The track to the summit
The next part of the walk is just 500m but it’s very different to the well maintained path up to this point. At first it’s still a pretty good track, between the boulders, with the odd sloped rock to climb up but nothing challenging.
Small red reflectors guide you up the route of least resistance.
After 350m you’ll come to a sign letting you know from here on in it’s a steep climb. The next section involves clambering over a few bigger boulders and squeezing under a couple more - there are multiple routes you could take so I just picked the one that looked easiest to me at the time.
I’d say it was a little tricker but not difficult and there wasn’t really any exposure so it wasn’t scary in any way.
After 150m it got a bit harder. You have just 150m to go to reach the top, but for me this is the point at which I completely lost my head for heights.
Having hiked trails like Angels Landing and The Chief in Squamish I was feeling really confident about this walk and I’m not really sure what did it but I had a bit of a freak out.
Just before you reach the final slope to the summit there is a bit where you have to jump between two boulders. Joe did it with ease and jumped back and forth many times showing me how easy it was, but for some reason I kept looking at the gap and couldn’t bring myself to jump across.
In the end I put my feet on the opposite boulder and Joe pulled me up - I wouldn’t have made this bit on my own. Most people won’t have a problem with this bit, but if you don’t like scrambling you might find it unnerving.
Once over this bit you have two short, very steep climbs aided by a fixed chain and then you’re at the top.
As I had already let myself go jelly legged over the other bit I also found this hard! I always prefer the chains that are upright, rather than the heavy ones along the ground.
With a lot of encouragement I did get up, and the rock is not slippery, but it was definitely mentally harder than I was expecting.
Again many people won’t flinch at this but I know that whenever I mention anything like this, there is always someone who feels the same and wants all the nitty gritty details!
The summit
What I can tell you, is that the view from the top was worth the wobble to get there! It was so much more spectacular than I had been imagining.
It’s a 360 degree panorama of dense forest, tablelands and rocky outcrops, we could even hear a lyrebird serenading us from somewhere in the distance.
After a really gloomy sky just half an hour before, it suddenly lit up a deep orange followed by the most incredible pinks. If you get the chance there really is no better time to be there than sunset (or sunrise if you’re an early riser!).
After what felt like far too short a time at the top we began the descent. I didn’t like the ‘scary’ bit on the way down anymore than the way up! I also made a mistake on the chained section by doing my usual trick of heading down on my bum.
This gets me down most mountains with no problem but not this one! It’s too steep and your forwards momentum is too great. I had to switch to going down backwards halfway through which wasn’t ideal. It’s best to treat the chained section like a ladder and go down the whole thing backwards.
Once over the chained section and the next boulder, it’s easy to go down. Well easy in the sense of footing but a bit of a pain for the knees! If you’re going down in the dark the reflectors pointing the way don’t work as well as they do on the way up but even so you can pick your own way down and it’s not difficult.
You’ll then be back at the trail junction 500m later.
Completing the loop
Once back at the junction you can choose to return the way you came, or complete the loop which is approximately 300m longer. Now you might think we’d just return the way we came as it was dark, but in order to be able to at least describe the loop in basic detail I decided we should take the longer circuit route. What I can tell you is this, if you’re also at this point in the dark, just go back along the same route! The loop has quite a few staircases to climb whereas returning the way you came would be all downhill!
If you’re hiking in the day then do the loop as that’s always nicer than seeing the same section of trail again. The loop continues to take you through the bush and the path was in good condition. It would seem that most people don’t complete the full circuit though because it was pretty webby! Grab a stick to clear them so you don’t take a web to the face!
Walking back on either trail in the dark is easy because the track is very obvious and the path is well maintained.
All in all I’d highly recommend this walk, it has that element of adventure in the scramble as well as truly breathtaking views from the top. We’ve been exploring NSW more than ever before recently and it’s been great to find trails like this that are a little bit different.
We’d just done the Clarke Gorge walk at Kosciuszko a couple of weeks before, which was also a bit of an adventure and we’ll be looking out for more of these trails from now on. If you have any favourites please let us know! : )
Essential information about the Cathedral Rock Summit Walk
Getting there
The Cathedral Rock Summit walk starts from Barokee Campground in Cathedral Rock National Park. The last 8km to Barokee is a dirt road, but it is accessible for 2WDs.
Cathedral Rock is a 10 minute drive from Ebor, 1 hour drive from Armidale and about 6.5 hours from Sydney!
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