These walks are located in Glenbrook National Park, you could divide this into two sections / hikes, that suit very different experience levels. You can easily walk from the car park along a very well defined walking track to Pisgah Rock, then branch off on a minor track and visit Attic Cave, both of these would suit any walking level, though, some minor scrambling along the way to Attic Cave. If you intend to visit Erskine Creek and Dadder cave, your fitness levels and scrambling experience needs to be much higher, there are a number of VERY steep scrambles and some dodgy ledge walking to get from the top to the level where walking track starts again, seriously not for the inexperienced walker. I cannot stress this enough, do NOT attempt this full hike, unless you have the skills.
It is also highly recommended that you have at least some form of mapping, either paper or electronic, Dadder Cave is partially obscured by trees and if you are not looking out for it, you may walk right past it (Seriously, how?), OSM has Dadder Cave marked on it. This is a wilderness area you are heading into, you should have mapping with you and of course plenty of water and food of some kind.
Section 1 - Pisgah Rock & Attic Cave
This is the easy stuff, a wide, easy to follow track of approx 700mtrs will take you from the car park to Pisgah Rock lookout, this will give you stunning views down over Erskine Creek. This lookout is unfenced so keep an eye on children if you choose to bring them here. Dadder cave is approx 2kms up Erskine Creek, out of sight around a bend in the creek.
Where you veer left down to this rocky lookout, the track also veers right, this is the track to Attic Cave (More a giant overhang). This track is reasonably easy enough to follow, it does involve some easy scrambles, some rocky sections are covered in slippery leaves, this is NOT a National Parks installed track, it is feint in places so you will need to be able to follow a vague track in places. Once you have scrambled down to the level of the cave, you will wander past a couple of other overhangs before arriving shortly at Attic Cave, you will know it, there is a fire pit and a logbook in a tin on a rock ledge. The cave gets its name from a small cave above this overhang in the cliff above. For many years before motor vehicles could get out to this part of the national park, bushwalkers would use this cave as the first overnight camp, before descending down to Erskine Creek and further afield.
Return the way you came back to the lookout.
Section 2 - Erskine Creek & Dadder Cave
Now the walk gets much tougher and technical. (Well, the scrambling sections do). From the lookout, follow the rocky platforms around to the right and you will see a bit of a track that leads to another rock platform that overlooks the large gully that was below the Attic Cave, a cleft between the rocks starts to descend down here, you will know it when you see it. This is the start of the scrambling sections.
Be sure you have the skills to do this, kids are not recommended, it is very steep from here on til you reach the walking track at the bottom of all the scrambling sections, there are no track markers to show the direction to go, so you need to be able to determine the correct way down, to us, it was easy to see where to go. Once you have negotiated the first few scrambles, a walking track winds along for a bit to the next steep scrambling section down a cleft again, this is steeper than the first and it gets tougher past here. More steep scrambling and ledge walking and after about 15-20 minutes, you will arrive at the bottom of the last scramble with a large tree at the base, the walking track is now easy to follow and heads to the left and follows the base of the cliffs around for some time before dropping down to Erskine Creek.
On our scrambles down, we had to deal with a young brown snake who was sunning themselves, right where we wanted to descend, we had to find an alternate way down as it slithered under one of the rocks we were going to step on.
The track as mentioned is well defined from the bottom of the scrambles onwards, and that moment when you first come out of the trees and onto the bank of Erskine Creek and see the amazing view of cliffs, blue sky and amazing clear swimming holes, just takes your breath away! So worth the steep walk and scrambles back up and out. If the weather is good, go for a swim, the pool here on this bend is HUGE!
When you are ready to continue on to Dadder Cave, there is no real track now, so start to head upstream on the right side bank for a while, walking past so many crystal clear swimming pools, some 8 to 10 feet deep and just amazing on a hot day. Eventually, you are going to want to cross over to the other side of the creek, as there is a "superhighway" of stone ledges on the eastern bank of the creek and the walking is much easier and faster. Find somewhere safe to wade across, or, swim across if you feel so inclined.
It is not all easy going along here, there will be sections of elevation changes to be done and ledges to negotiate, flood debris and more, but it is usually pretty easy going and it is only a couple of KMs to Dadder Cave.
The creek on your right just continues to look better and better and more inviting. As you get closer to Dadder Cave, a feint track will start to appear and at one point is well above the creek level on the earth bank, just keep following this footpad. Eventually you will arrive at Dadder Cave, here you will find multiple large flat rocks that have been setup for seating or being used as tables, a well made fire pit and an assortment of food, cooking gear, TP and multiple logbooks, there is even some cave art to be admired and a mask and snorkel! The views down to the creek are a tad filtered by trees, but, you can see and hear the creek from the cave.
Just like the Attic Cave, Dadder cave has been used by bushwalkers for well over a hundred years as a camp cave. History has it that a death adder snake was found in the cave in the very early days and the name was eventually shortened to just "Dadder", it is still used regularly by bushwalkers today. There is enough room for a number of small tents in the overhang and in summer could get quite crowded.
Whilst we did not visit it on this trip, a further 400 or so metres upstream is a huge pool called Blands Pool, another popular swimming hole in this part of Erskine Creek.
To return to your car, follow the same route back to the bend on Erskine Creek and follow the track back up to the scrambles, take your time and be safe on your ascent back up to the lookout.
It took us 4 hours, 15 minutes with lots of stops, swims, photos and exploring from car to car, and approximate distance is 9kms or so.
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