South Lawson Waterfall

The Blue Mountains has a lot of waterfalls. If I had to pick one route that's easy to walk and still gives you a lot to look at, it would be the South Lawson Waterfall Circuit. After finishing it, what I felt came down to one sentence: a few steps on, and there's another waterfall. The loop isn't long, but it strings together several waterfalls that are completely different from each other. Some are thin streams coming down a rock wall, surrounded by ferns and forest. Some are tucked under the rock face and only appear once you get close. Some spread down in layers, step after step, and some have a pool and a patch of sand at the bottom. You're looking at waterfalls the whole way, but it doesn't feel repetitive. Local walkers often call this route the Five Waterfall Walk. Besides the main falls, you keep running into small unnamed streams and hidden waterfalls along the creek. It Looks Different Every Time What I like most is that it doesn't look the same on every visit. The water level changes, so each trip can turn up a different hidden variant, like drawing from a blind box. After rain, a thin stream can turn into a full curtain of water. When it's drier, you see the texture of the rock underneath. Go back after a few weeks and you might be looking at a completely different side of the same place. Sunlight is the other variable people overlook. Morning and afternoon feel different. When the angle of the sun shifts in the valley, the water surface in some spots suddenly lights up, while other waterfalls drop into shadow. The colours of the forest, the rock and the mist change with it. Even from the same spot, a different time of day looks like a different scene. Hardly Anyone Else Is There There are very few people, which I really like. It doesn't have the queue-for-a-photo feel of a popular attraction. A lot of the time I had a waterfall to myself, and the only thing I could hear was the water. I walked it slowly, looking and taking photos, and it took about 90 minutes. The route isn't tiring. There are some steps and some ups and downs, but a waterfall turns up so often that you never get the feeling of walking for ages and waiting to arrive. Trail Notes Trail: South Lawson Waterfall Circuit Distance: about 3 km Time: about 90 minutes for me, with photo stops Location: Lawson, Blue Mountains Cost: free Start: the loop begins at the corner of Honour Avenue and Livingstone Street in Lawson If you're heading to the Blue Mountains soon and don't want to plan a tiring long hike, this one is about right. A few steps and you're at the next waterfall, and next time you come, you might see the one that belongs to that day.