Who would have thought you could find a gorge with NT vibes right in Canberra?! Although to be honest, I shouldn’t be surprised because Canberra has some incredible wild places that really fly under the radar. The beauty of that is that you rarely have to share them with anyone else and Red Rocks Gorge was no exception - despite the fact we visited during the busy Easter holidays.
You’ve got a couple of options for walks at the gorge, the one we’re sharing is a short easy trail with a wow factor view of the red rock walls - and no it’s not the official lookout!
Here’s everything you need to know about finding the best view of Red Rocks Gorge.
The Red Rocks Gorge Track
The stats
Distance: 7km return
Elevation: 190m
Difficulty: Easy
The walk to our favourite viewpoint for the gorge is along the Kambah Centenary Trail - a well formed track until the last few hundred metres. The very last section is a little rocky but not difficult in dry conditions.
Although the trail undulates, there are no steep climbs and it’s a very leisurely walk. The main track to the official lookout is well signposted, there are no markers for the best viewpoint, but we have full directions in this post.
Starting the trail at Kambah Pool
The trail begins at the left of the car park and you’ll head along a narrow dirt path through open grassland. Butterflies crisscrossed the path constantly and the walking was easy.
Even after really heavy rain the path held up well and any muddy patches were straightforward to navigate round.
The trail is a mix of flat track and a gentle descent which makes quick work of the distance. It is a shared use trail but we only saw one cyclist and there is plenty of room to move off the path.
Although you are near the water, you aren’t walking beside it, but that makes it even more special when you do come out at the gorge.
Also just a quick note on why the pictures will look a little off in this post, we never intended to write an article on this spot because we thought it was just a quick lookout trail.
We therefore had to shoot some track pictures close to dark on our way back! They aren’t the best but hopefully give you a good idea of the trail conditions.
Arriving at the gorge lookout
The track crosses a few small bridges and as you descend towards the main lookout it becomes a red dirt path which reminded me of walking in the NT - but it’s nothing on what’s to come when you reach those towering gorge walls.
After 2.2km you’ll see the little side track down to the Red Rocks Gorge Lookout. This is a railed viewpoint which offers an expansive view over the Murrumbidgee River and gorge.
It’s a good view but you don’t really feel close to the main gorge.
You can see the red walls in the distance but it’s not close enough that you get that dramatic feel. It’s pretty, but not spectacular.
Although our initial plan had just been to visit the lookout, we decided to continue on to see whether we could get closer to the main part of the gorge.
Continuing on to the hidden viewpoint
From the lookout you can walk for a minute up the rocky path to the left before you re-join the main trail. The track does have a few little rocks and stones, but it’s still an excellent path and very easy.
You’re back walking behind the trees again with limited peeks out to the water below, but you do get a bit of shade which is missing on the earlier part of the walk. The trail undulates a little but it’s not strenuous in any way.
After 3.3km (from the start of the track) you’ll see an unmarked path on the right.
If you weren’t looking for it you could easily just walk on by, but this 250m detour (each way) leads to the most incredible view of the gorge.
It’s fairly steep at first and the dirt path can be a little slippery. It’s best to aim for the rocks rather than the dirt as it is deceptively slick in places - although we were walking after rain so it may be totally fine in dry conditions.
Either way it’s well worth it. The trail will soon flatten and from here it becomes less distinct but you can clearly see where you’re headed for, the huge boulder piles.
Climb over the boulders and rocky slabs for a few minutes (grippy when dry) and you’ll arrive at a glorious rocky platform right beside the spectacular red rock walls. The coordinates for this spot are -35.4087372, 149.0350221.
Inside Red Rocks Gorge
We couldn’t believe how amazing this spot was. You are right in the gorge, overlooking the rushing river below. There’s so much room to lay out and relax and it would make for a great picnic spot.
For us the water was a murky brown following all the flooding but ordinarily would be much more attractive. Despite this, the whole scene was absolutely beautiful.
We quickly realised it would make for a wonderful sunset spot, as the sun sets directly in front of the main view.
It was one of those times where everything worked out perfectly because despite the fact we hadn’t set off to watch sunset, or in fact visit this spot as we didn’t even know it existed - we only had around 1.5 hours to wait to see the show.
It turned out to be one of our favourite Canberra sunset experiences yet. If you don’t mind walking back in the twilight I’d highly recommend a sunset visit.
When it comes to the walk back, you are heading gradually uphill for the most part, but it’s never steep.
If you wanted to continue walking you can go all the way to Pine Island Reserve, which is roughly another 6km away. This option works better if you have a car shuffle.
If you’re not planning a sunset visit, as the trail begins at one of Canberra’s most popular swimming spots - Kambah Pool - you can finish with a dip.
It’s the perfect way to end a beautiful walk, that is, unless like us, you’re visiting after extreme rain when the water is brown and murky!
Assuming that’s not the case, the combination of visiting the gorge and then topping it off with a bit of wild swimming is a hard one to beat.
If you want to see sunset then you could start with a swim instead, which has to be one of the best ways you could spend half a day in Canberra.
Getting to Red Rocks Gorge
The trail to the gorge begins at the car park for Kambah Pool and heads east, around a 20 minute drive from Canberra. If you put Red Rocks Gorge into Google Maps instead of the pool it will tell you it’s a 40 minute drive as it is trying to get you to the lookout itself.
There is plenty of free parking onsite as well as long drop toilets. As mentioned there are opportunities to swim and if you prefer bathing au naturel you can do so at the rock pools (which are signposted).
Please remember to take all rubbish with you and leave the area pristine.
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