Parking
Start at the lower Hamersley Gorge parking area, reached by the sealed access road; the toilet and lookout/deck are at the gorge access. Karijini entry fees apply.
Overview
About Hamersley Waterfall
Why go
- Folded rock, flowing water and a pool in a short walk
Heads up
- The short distance still involves steep, uneven steps
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Karijini map
Full mapElevation574–594 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Karijini Tour Guide
Your drive to Hamersley Waterfall, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Karijini 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 Karijini audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
Hamersley Gorge: Follow the Folds0:00 / 0:34
“You're coming up on Hamersley Gorge, where the rock bands bend into sweeping folds around the waterfalls and pools. Look along those curves: ancient compression buckled layers that had once been flat.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Karijini Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- The Milk Made by Pigeons
- Watch the Wings After Landing
- The Man Who Never Saw His Town
- The Water Cost of a Leaf
- 141 audio storiesacross Karijini’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Dingo, Rock Wallaby, Mulga Snake, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 22 trails, 30 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 Hamersley Waterfall
Is this the short waterfall walk?Hamersley Waterfall is the steep, short out-and-back from the lower Hamersley Gorge parking…
Hamersley Waterfall is the steep, short out-and-back from the lower Hamersley Gorge parking area to the main waterfall and pool. Budget about 30 minutes for roughly 0.25 mile (400 m) return; the mapped descent itself is about 214 m one way. One visitor guide gives 200 m return, so you may see shorter figures too. If you want the waterfall without the much harder Spa Pool continuation, this is the right turn-around.
What the short route asks of youThe path starts with uneven steps and continues over rocky shelves in the gorge.
The path starts with uneven steps and continues over rocky shelves in the gorge. It is a quick walk but a careful descent rather than a flat stroll, and the return climbs the same way. Stop at the main waterfall and pool; Spa Pool is a separate, much harder extension over steeply angled rock followed by a swim, and it is not included in this distance.
Look at the folded rockSwirls and folds run through the gorge walls, with water moving over broad rock shelves into…
Swirls and folds run through the gorge walls, with water moving over broad rock shelves into quiet pools. The color and reflections are part of the appeal; take a moment to look along the layers instead of rushing straight to the water.
At the gorgeThe lower parking access is reached by sealed road, and there is a toilet and lookout/deck by…
The lower parking access is reached by sealed road, and there is a toilet and lookout/deck by the gorge. Karijini entry fees apply, and pets are not allowed in the park. Flash floods can occur; leave the gorge immediately if rain starts. The pools can be extremely cold, especially from April to September, and summer temperatures often top 40°C. Do not dive or jump into the water.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Karijini
44 sightingsDingoMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
18 sightingsRock WallabyMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
15 sightingsMulga SnakeMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
36 sightingsHamersley Rock MonitorMost seen around 9 AMSighting map
13 sightingsWestern BowerbirdMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
34 sightingsChildren's PythonMost seen around 8 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Karijini. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
