This is by far one our favourite weekend getaway destination and up until January 2012, was Camper Trailer friendly, now sadly it has been gated and wire-roped off to make it walk in camping only, so no Camper Trailers have access anymore. There is now a small parking area for vehicles and all gear must be now carried over the fence and to your campsite.
There is a set of twin composting stink-a-loos, with small tank for washing your hands, but always bring loo paper. There is a large water tank that has always had rain water in it plus there is a large shelter next to the tank with two large tables anc chairs. Plus of course you have access to the beautiful Coxes river to take a dip in or fish.
How To get There
You can do this trip from a number of ways, the primary, and less demanding is from Little Hartley just as you cross the Blue Mountains, the other access methods are all off the Jenolan Caves Road, but all of these are 4WD only, whereas the road in from Little Hartley, with care in places is doable in 2WD, except after it has rained.
Main Route - Coxes River Road (Red) 34.4km's Approx (4WD recommended, best towing route)
Not long after you cross the Blue Mountains heading West, as you come towards Little Hartley, look for Coxes River Road on your left, follow this. After approx 4.39km's, you will come to a fork, veer right and continue on and at 9.33km's you will cross a bridge and start to head up a hill, the tar is now gone and you are on a good dirt road, keep going and the tar eventually comes back at the top of a hill and stays with you for some time (17.3km's) till you reach a major fork in the road, you will take the left fork.
Continue to follow the most major dirt road as you go past farm houses etc, at approx 26km's you will come to a fork, tale the left which heads up a hill. About 1km on, you will come to a 3 or 4 way branch at the top of a hill, the main road veers left, straight ahead is a green gate with from memory a 6foot sign on it, this is the gate you go through, open the gate and close it after yourself, do NOT leave any gates open that you found closed. You are on Private property now, so stick to the road, be mindful of stock and do nothing to annoy the land owners, you do have right of way, but only on THIS road.
Once again, at around 800mtrs further on, you will encounter a gate on an up-hill section, open it and close it after you go through, you will now be passing very close to a farm house, please go slow and not stir the dust up. From this point on, the judder/water bars on the road will be quite severe so go slow, particularly if towing. As you head down this next hill, you may, or may not encounter another close gate, open and close it if required. At about 28.7km's you will encounter another gate, go through and turn right.
At approx 31.3km's from the highway, you will have descended down into a pretty valley, crossed a small creek that is usually flowing a bit and will join up to the 6 foot track coming in from your right, you want to veer left and follow this road the rest of the way to the campground, it is all downhill from here and can be steep and slippery in places, plus there are 2 or 3 creek crossings that may have water flowing or pools, nothing hard at all.
From the point where you meet the 6 foot track, please watch out for hikers walking on the road.
Alternate Route - Jenolan Caves Road - 6 Foot Track (Green) 20km's Approx (4WD required)
This is a much rougher route in places, primarily on a couple of the creek crossings as they are starting to get quite cut-up badly with exposed rocks and ruts, take it slow, pick your line and all will be fine. These are trout creeks and are some of the prettiest spots along this drive, just don't block the road if you decide to stop, there are not too many places where you can pull over and leave the way clear. Beware of hikers on this whole route, it is a very popular route for hikers doing the historic 6 Foot Track.
There is one other alternate to this route, it is steeper in places and can be rougher but is a fun alternate, I'll post that routes details next time we visit as I don't have an intact track log to show.
Turn off the highway onto the Jenolan Caves Road at the bottom of the hill just past the speed camera, follow this until you pass through Hampton and then approx 12.7km's from the hotel at Hampton, look for a major left turn into the pine forest which is opposite Boggy Creek Road on your right and is where the pine forest ends for a bit.
Follow this road, watching for the occasional turn in the forest, which from memory are marked 6 Foot Track anyways, refer to the route above. You will get into some steep country here on your descent down towards where the alternate route joins this one, once you do finally meet at the stockyards, continue to the right and around and down to the final descent to the campgrounds.
Camping Facilities
As mentioned above, this campground is now closed off to camper trailers etc and all gear must be carried in over the wire rope fence to pick a spot and setup. There is a pair of stinky-loos in reasonable condition, with their own tank water, please remember to close the lids to make sure they do their job. There is an excellent shelter with 2 large tables and chairs, plus a huge rain water tank that always seems to have plenty of water.
The campground is mostly flat in places but slopes more as you head down the hill in the direction of the river. People do it, but fires here are prohibited, so don't go onto private property (Across any fence) to collect firewood. There are plenty of very big and inquisitive goannas here who are more than happy to go rooting around in anything that is left down low and smells good.
What is there to do?
This is just an awesome spot to come to, it can get very busy with hikers, especially on long weekends, but, it is mainly setup for hikers anyways. Relax, it is very easy to do here, bring an inner tube and go swimming or floating on the Coxes River. When the river levels are up, there are some awesome rapids and falls that are a lot of fun on an inner tube, I have the bruises to attest to the fun factor!
You can take the 6 Foot Track along the river and around 15 minutes later you will arrive at the Bowtells suspension bridge, single person at a time and make the crossing, it's great fun. You can come back the same way, or, after crossing the bridge turn left to explore some more of the historic 6 Foot Track, or, turn right after crossing and take an alternate route back to camp, you will pass a set of old wooden stockyards on your left on a hill if you are observant. Heading right means a wade or rock-hop to get back to the correct side of the river.
The fishing is supposed to be ok in the river as well, carp and trout in the correct season, just don't leave the dead carp laying around for all to see and smell.
Not far from here is the 6 Foot track Lodge, the owner is a real character, but, if she catches you doing the wrong thing, she will have no hesitation to tell you so, or, call the police down if it is serious enough, we have been here when she has done this for idiots discharging firearms. We have also seen people, on HER property, cutting down trees for firewood.
I think we camped here 6 or 7 times in 2011 we love the place so much, there is no light pollution to corrupt the amazing night skies here, there is no mobile phone reception either.
Sadly we can no longer take our camper trailer here and will have to tent it, so this may no longer be high on our list of places to head for a weekend, what can I say, we love our camper trailer.
Trivia
The 6 foot track was constructed in 1884 and is just over 42km's from the Explorers tree near Katoomba to Jenolan Caves. The survey party took 11 days to blaze the new route with 4 days being required to mark the trail down through the cliffs at Nellies Glen. Once the route was surveyed, they government set aside 2,500 pounds for the track to be constructed. The track was 6 feet wide, just wide enough for a small horse and buggy to be able to follow the track. It now only took 8 hours to get to Jenolan Caves from Katoomba.
A large portion of the walk is now on fire trails but quite a bit of it is still on single track through beautiful countryside. This is a very popular walk, and many overseas tourist hikers come to do this walk.
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