1) Walk map - Shows route and waypoint locations

2) Photo from walk  (also see Photo Galleries)

3) 3D map view

4) Satellite imagery

5) Route profile

6) Walk description

7) Waypoint listing and grid references

[Click on map for full page version]

View through forest, Darling Scarp,

 Jan. 2004.

[Click on photo for larger version]

More photos.

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of the walk area. -Use zoom bar

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Step 1: Left Click here

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Hint: For enhanced 3D effect, set 'Elevation Exaggeration'

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         Route profile

18 kms east of Perth. 

12.5 field kms (all on-track).

or many possible short walk alternatives.

EASY to MEDIUM   (What does this mean?)

NO. GPS is certainly not required for navigation here but waypoints are provided in case you are new to GPS and would like to test your GPS navigation skills, or if you just want to remove any uncertainty at track junctions. 

See Google Map for start point on road map.

(Use zoom ladder for detail. Select 'Hybrid' to add satellite imagery.)

Via Orrong Road or Shepperton Rd, then Welshpool Rd, then 1.5 kms past Tonkin Hwy intersection turn left into Lewis Rd. Follow Lewis Rd to end and parking area at start of Whistlepipe Gully Trail.

Access options : This section of the Darling Scarp between Welshpool Rd in the south and Kalamunda Rd in the north is very accessible from either the foot of the Scarp to the west (Wattle Grove / Forrestfield) or from the top of the Scarp (via Lesmurdie or Kalmunda) in the east.  A few of the options for alternative access to the trails in this area include:

i) in the north, via the carpark past the end of West Terrace Road ; 

ii) in the south, via carpark and picnic area (plus toilets) at end of Palm Terrace (off Lewis Rd),  which gives access to the lower Lesmurdie Falls trails;

iii) via Lesmurdie and Falls Road:  carpark and picnic area (plus toilets)  at Lesmurdie Falls off Falls Rd;

iv) various other entry points from the  top of the Scarp including Connor Road and Ozone Terrace.

Via various tracks either west down the Scarp or east up the Scarp.

/Highlights:

Walking in this area close to Perth is  an enjoyable and scenic introduction to the  heathlands and  forests along the western edge of the Darling Range.

Suburbia intrudes on the Darling Scarp from both west and east in this area, but a  reasonably protected and unbroken strip  about 1 km wide covers the mainly steep and rugged slopes of the Scarp and extends N-S for about 4 kms between Welshpool Road in the south and Kalamunda Road in the north.  This strip, included in the Darling Range Regional Park,  contains extensive areas of relatively undisturbed low heathland and patches of mixed forest (including marri and wandoo), plus flowing streams, and noteably, in the south the small Lesmurdie Falls National Park (56 hectares), which includes Lesmurdie Falls.   In winter to spring the Falls usually cascade impressively over two main drops totalling about 50 metres.

Spring is always an excellent time for walking the Scarp because of the prolific heathland wildflowers.  The Scarp also provides wide panoramas of the coast and Perth city. Despite the proximity to suburbia and the city views you will still be able to find some sense of 'wilderness'  even here.

Existing trails: There is a fairly extensive network of tracks/trails along this section of the Scarp.  Most of these are shown in red on the map. The Shire of Kalamunda has established from these a number of marked walking trails, most of which are short walks of around 4-6 kms. 

Suggested walk: There are endless options for varying and combining the existing trails  into longer walks.  -The route suggested below is one combination that achieves not only a day-walk of reasonable length but also some variety of terrain and scenery (including Whistlepipe Gully and Lesmurdie Falls) while not 'over-doing' the amount of steep uphill walking and also minimising on-road walking (about 13% or 1.6 kms of the route is on sealed roads). The route also offers the option to easily shorten the walk at a couple of points if the distance and hill work does prove too challenging on the day! 

Shorter walk options: If you'd prefer a shorter and less energetic on-track walk then see the ERMC's "perthtrails" website referred to below. The Palm Terrace, Whistlepipe Gully, Lewis Road and West Terrace Walks included on that site are all part of the  trails shown on the map here.

For another walk along the Darling Scarp also see Lions Lookout-Bickley Reservoir Walk (Walk # 3c on this site). 

Controlled burns:  A burn is currently scheduled for Spring 2008 across much of this walk area.  See DEC's 6-season indicative burn programme.

Mundaring 1:50,000  (CALM, 1990)

and Kelmscott 1:50,000 Sheet 2133-4, (CALM/DOLA, 2002);

or 1:25,000 sheets:  Mundaring  2134-III, SW, 1983, plus Kelmscott  2133-IV, NW, 1981 (Dept. of Lands & Survey; Series R811) -available on DVD. 

"Darling Scarp Field Excursion...", in Nov. 2006 Newsletter (pp.4-10) of Friends of the E de C. Clarke Earth Science Museum. -This provides an excellent summary of the geological origin of the Scarp.

"Swan Valley and Perth Hills Trails Discovery Guide", Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council ('EMRC'). 2005. -This is an excellent compilation of 41 mainly short on-track walks in Shires of Kalamunda and Mundaring and City of Swan. For booklet ph. EMRC on 94242226.

Also see complimentary "perthtrails" website (launched October 2005) with downloadable maps and notes, including four in the Darling Scarp area covered by this walk. 

Sections of the  following walks in the ERMC Guide are included within the route described here (but in the reverse direction in part):

Whistlepipe Gully Walk (pp.16-17),  

West Terrace Walk (p.16 & 18),

Palm Terrace Walk (p.16 & 19), and

Lewis Road Walk (p.16 & 20).

The trail notes in the Guide provide additional details for many of the individual walk segments on this 'trail'. Be aware that parts of the 'established' trails in the area are not well marked (despite occasional "Shire of Kalamunda" signs) so it is wise to have  a good walk description with you.

Family Walks in Perth Outdoors, CALM, rev. edn. 2000, pp.32-34, includes a mud map and description for the Lesmurdie Falls Walktrail, a 2 km return on-track walk.

DEC's Naturebase site includes a brief description of the Lesmurdie Falls National Park.

Start at the carpark at the end of Lewis Road. A gate with a "Darling Range Regional Park" sign marks the start of the Whistlepipe Gully Walk trail. Follow the wide trail eastward along the south side of the stream. Just before reaching a small concrete bridge (waypt 'BRIDGE') across the stream, turn right (at '1') onto a smaller foot-track which climbs a short way up the hillside and over a granite outcrop before returning to the stream bank. - Beneath the granite outcrop you will see the ruins of a house built in the 1960's which actually straddled the stream course and used the granite rock faces partly as walls.  Continue along the south bank of the stream, cross another track (the Lewis Rd Walk trail) at '2', near a second bridge, and continue along the stream through forest to another bridge at '3'.  Cross here and then return west along the north bank of the stream to meet the Lewis Rd Walk trail again at waypt '5' near the bridge.  Turn right (NW)) to follow the wide and pebbly track steeply uphill.  Ignore side tracks on the right (including at '6') and veer westward, still uphill, to meet Ozone Road (at 'ROAD').  Follow the sealed road around the hillside (near the top of the Scarp) for a total of 1 km, getting excellent westward views to Perth and the coast, and ignoring the side road (Prospect Court) on the right, to then follow Panoramic Terrace (at '8') NE to its end (at 9'). Pass through the gate and take the track that veers initially off to the left (approx. NW) and then immediately turns sharply SW (at '10'), and then west. (This section of the walk, from waypoints '10' to '19', now follows much of the West Terrace Walk trail, but in reverse direction to the purple markers). Turn right at a track intersection (at '11') and follow the track northward and soon quite steeply downhill to a T-junction with another track near the south bank of Crumpet Creek (at '12'). Take the right fork and cross the stream (at '13'), then follow the track steeply uphill to meet another T-junction (at '14').  Again take the right fork which heads initially downhill, then up the valley to re-cross the stream at a bridge (at '16'). After crossing the stream turn left to follow the south bank upstream (to '17'), then turn right (south) and climb steeply uphill (past houses on the left) until you reach the flatter, lateritic plateau surface at the top of the Scarp (at '18'). Follow the track  approx. SW around the plateau margin through forest to another T-junction (at '19'). Turn left to follow the track a short distance uphill to meet the intersection of four sealed roads (at 'ROAD2'). Ignore Prospect Court (on the right) and Yorna Rd (on the left), and head SSW for 300m on fairly flat  sealed road along Ozone Terrace, with forested park land on the left. Just before the road bends more to the right and starts downhill (off the plateau), locate a wide track on the left that heads approx. eastward. Only a few metres after leaving Ozone Terrace veer to the right (between two laterite rocks) off the wide track to locate a narrower unmarked track (at 'BLDR').  Follow it SSW. It soon descends quite steeply (take care on the pebbly, rutted surface) to meet the Lewis Rd Walk trail again (at '6'). Turn left and downhill via '23'. (The next  section of the walk, from waypoints '23' to '27', now follows part of the Lewis Road Walk trail; red markers.) The wide track crosses the bridge across Whistlepipe Gully stream. (This is close to the halfway point on the walk and a good shady spot for a rest stop and lunch.) It  then climbs back up toward the top of the Scarp on the south side of the valley (to '24'). Then follow the track approx. SW  (via '25' and 26') along the hillside with pleasant valley and Coastal Plain views through forest and across open heathland. Take a left branch of the track (at '27'). (You are now leaving the Lewis Road Walk trail and following part of the Palm Terrace Walk trail via waypoints '28' to '32', but in the opposite direction to the apricot colour markers).  The track climbs steadily to the SE (to approx. '28REV') and veers left to enter forest near the top of the Scarp (near the end of Ashurst Drive, an alternative access point). Then turn right past the wireless station and old house ruins and descend toward Lesmurdie Brook. After the track turns SW along the valley slope, take the next track branch on the left (at '29') to cross the Brook and then turn right (at '30') to follow the south bank of the Brook downstream to Lesmurdie Falls picnic area (at approx. '32'; toilets, picnic area and carpark nearby). Continue on along the Falls track to reach the viewing platform which straddles the Brook at the top of the Falls. There are good views SW down the Lesmurdie Brook valley to the Coastal Plain.  Follow the track SW along the steep south face of the valley  and at a track intersection (at '34') veer right to follow the track steeply downhill to meet a trail (at '35') along the south bank of Lesmurdie Brook.  If time and energy allows, as an addition to the walk, turn right (east) to follow this trail to near the foot of Lesmurdie Falls (worthwhile especially in winter-spring when the Falls are in full flow).  Then follow the trail west to reach a carpark (and toilets; at 'PKG3' at the end of Palm Terrace (a sealed road). - The next section of the walk from waypoints 'PKG3' to '39', now follows another part of the Palm Terrace Walk trail, again in reverse; red markers.) Follow Palm Tce for 300m and turn right (at '37') through the gate  to follow the first track on the right.  The track initially follows an old fenceline NE and then veers east and uphill before crossing a stream gully (at '38').  It then climbs northward around the hillside  to meet the Lewis Road Walk trail (at '39'; see the two Shire of Kalamunda trail marker signs at the corner). Then take the left fork (the Lewis Road trail) and follow it downhill (via '40') and veer westward to follow the track past the water tanks to meet the sealed Lewis Road (at 'ROAD3'). Finally follow the road for 300m northward to get back to the start point at the Whistlepipe Gully carpark.  (Alternatively, soon after '40' and just before the water tanks, you can take a right fork in the track - marked by a trail sign in a tree -  and follow that to meet the road closer to the carpark.)