Parking
Use the Mount Werong Campground carpark; the walking track starts within the campground.
Overview
About Ruby Creek walking track
Why go
- Pairs a former gold mine with a waterfall and high valley view.
- Campground facilities are beside the starting access.
Heads up
- The falls lookout adds steps that must be climbed again on the return.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Blue Mountains map
Full mapElevation1,111–1,165 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
3 active Blue Mountains alerts
- CautionPark-wide solid-fuel fire banMentions this trailA park fire ban is active across Blue Mountains National Park: campfires and solid-fuel barbecues and stoves are prohibited. - Gas and electric cookers are permitted, subject to safety rules.Official details
- ClosureRoads and tracks closed across Blue Mountains National ParkMany roads, fire trails and walking tracks across Blue Mountains National Park are closed; do not enter closed areas.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Blue Mountains Tour Guide
Your drive to Ruby Creek walking track, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Blue Mountains National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Blue Mountains audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
Mount Werong Campground and Ruby Creek0:00 / 0:29
“Mount Werong campground is coming up, a base for a simple overnight in the southern mountains.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Blue Mountains Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- A Beak for Narrow Flowers
- A Glow Worm’s Fishing Lines
- The Fern Before the Fern
- The Bowerbird's Blue Collection
- 188 audio storiesacross Blue Mountains’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Grey Kangaroo, Wombat, Red-necked Wallaby, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 110 trails, 84 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Ruby Creek walking track
A short walk with two payoffsRuby Creek walking track is a 5.3 km (3.
Ruby Creek walking track is a 5.3 km (3.3 mile) out-and-back from Mount Werong Campground, following Ruby Creek through tall forest to a former gold mine and the falls lookout. Allow about 1.5 hours for the full return. It is rated easy, though the final steps to the lookout add a climb on the way back. If those steps do not suit, the mine site is a natural place to turn around before the falls.
Along Ruby CreekThe track leaves the campground and follows Ruby Creek through tall forest to the old mine site.
The track leaves the campground and follows Ruby Creek through tall forest to the old mine site. Gold miners once worked the creek for alluvial gold. A few exotic fruit trees are the remaining trace of the bush huts that stood there. On the return, an optional detour gives a view of the old mine shaft and machinery.
The falls lookoutFrom the mine site, stone and timber steps lead about 140 m farther along the track to Ruby…
From the mine site, stone and timber steps lead about 140 m farther along the track to Ruby Creek Falls lookout. You climb the same steps on the way back. The falls plunge 60 m into the valley, with the Kanangra-Boyd Wilderness and Boyd Plateau beyond. At the lookout, leaving a section of the timber railing in the foreground helps show the depth of the forested valley.
Starting at Mount WerongBegin at Mount Werong Campground, where the carpark, toilets, drinking water, picnic tables and…
Begin at Mount Werong Campground, where the carpark, toilets, drinking water, picnic tables and barbecues are available. No food service was identified at the campground, so plan food before arriving. Dogs and other domestic pets are not permitted in the national park; certified assistance animals are allowed.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Blue Mountains
58 sightingsGrey KangarooMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
43 sightingsWombatMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
18 sightingsRed-necked WallabyMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
53 sightingsSwamp WallabyMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
23 sightingsBrushtail PossumMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
30 sightingsRing-tailed PossumMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Blue Mountains. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
