Parking
Use the Fortescue Falls car park, then follow the access down to the falls, where the gorge-floor walk begins.
Overview
About Ngirribungunha (Dales Gorge) Trail
Why go
- Pools and cascades beneath ancient banded gorge walls.
- A short route gives a close-up walk through Dales Gorge.
Heads up
- Rough footing, pool crossings, a ladder and steep stairs.
- Plan for 2.6 km return; common listings give a shorter figure.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Karijini map
Full mapElevation609–663 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 Ngirribungunha (Dales Gorge) Trail, 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
Fortescue Falls and Fern Pool0:00 / 0:39
“You're approaching Fortescue Falls and Fern Pool in Dales Gorge. Spring water keeps the falls flowing year-round, spilling over rock steps into a fern-lined pool.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Karijini Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Dales Campground: A Base for the Eastern Gorges
- Circular Pool Lookout and Dales Picnic Area
- The Bee That Shakes a Flower
- Which Way the Water Moved
- 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 Ngirribungunha (Dales Gorge) Trail
The gorge-floor walkNgirribungunha is the creek-side out-and-back between Fortescue Falls and Three Ways Lookout.
Ngirribungunha is the creek-side out-and-back between Fortescue Falls and Three Ways Lookout. Plan for about 1.6 miles (2.6 km) round trip and roughly two hours, then retrace your steps. Public trail listings give 2 km return, while the mapped walking line measures about 1.3 km each way; allow for the longer estimate. This is the floor route, separate from the Gorge Rim Walk and longer loops that combine routes.
Rough goingThis is a Class 4 difficult walk over uneven rock, with scrambling, pool crossings, a ladder…
This is a Class 4 difficult walk over uneven rock, with scrambling, pool crossings, a ladder and steep stairs. Expect wet feet or careful steps around water; rocks can be slippery when wet. The short distance does not make it an easy walk.
Water and weatherCarry your own drinking water; none is documented along the route.
Carry your own drinking water; none is documented along the route. The gorge can flash flood: do not enter when rain is falling in the area, and leave promptly if rain starts. Pets are not permitted in the park except certified assistance animals.
Iron-rich wallsRed, dark and silvery bands in the gorge walls are ancient banded iron formation, laid down as…
Red, dark and silvery bands in the gorge walls are ancient banded iron formation, laid down as iron-rich sediment and silica on an old seafloor about 2.5–2.0 billion years ago. Much later, uplift and flowing water cut the gorge through that resistant rock.
Pools and cascadesThe creek-side route threads past sedge-fringed pools and cascades beneath close-set rock walls.
The creek-side route threads past sedge-fringed pools and cascades beneath close-set rock walls. Follow the established line around water. Fortescue Falls is at the access; adding the separate rim route or other nearby pools makes a longer outing.
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.
