I could find no information that the name of this location is officially gazetted, but it is the name most use to describe this simply stunning and remote location. Not only will you be visiting 2 stunning waterfalls, a high rugged cliff face that glows in the sun, but two secluded wild swimming pools, deep, dark, cold with a waterfall tumbling into each one. It does get quite cool down in under the tree canopy, so it may feel a tad brisk after you get out of the water. The effort involved to get to these locations is NOT easy, the track is defined well enough for experienced walkers, but may not be well enough defined for people not used to such remote walking. I read a number of stories of people losing the track on the way up, we met one such walker as we descended, but they were not far from the track and were soon back on their way when we stopped to chat.
Once again, I highly suggest you download and make use of an app that uses OSM (Open street maps) maps, the walking track is on those maps and can help you if you seem to have lost the trail, it won't help you if you have no basic walking and navigation skills. I use OSMand on a droid phone, but we had no issues following the track up or down.
I DO NOT recommend this walk for small children. It is VERY steep and uneven and quite often you are using your hands to steady yourself going up and down. I do recommend a pair of riggers leather gloves, we encountered lawyer vine in places, if you don't know what lawyer vine is, after grabbing it, you will wish you had leather gloves.
This is a wild place, please do not leave rubbish behind, if you bring it in or see it there, take it back out with you and help to keep the experience for everyone as wild and pristine as possible.
Lastly, as mentioned, this is not a well defined track, it is easy to lose in places, especially where trees have come down, and there are plenty of those to negotiate, there are rock piled cairns and the odd blaze of blue paint (Why?), pink flagging tape and even orange string along the way, but, these are few and far between and should not be relied upon to get you there and back, a photo on Insta is not worth spending the night lost in this remote bushland. Take water and food, you are going to need them, especially in summer, it is a steep walk out and if you need to walk that fire trail, there is a lot of uphill on the way back to your car.
Getting There...
Look at the map for the icons etc.
This walk to these falls and wild swimming pools is made easier if you have a 4WD, or a high clearance AWD AND if the road is not muddy, it was dry when we visited, but was quite rutted for the first km from the tar road as you drove past houses and the odd muddy patch as you drove out further. If you do have such a vehicle, you will be able to drive right to the start of the walking track itself, if not, either park at the intersection of the fire trail and walk the 6.1kms, or drive along as far as you feel comfortable with, park and walk the rest. Do not risk getting bogged if you do not have the right vehicle for the sake of a few less KMs of fire trail bashing.
Drive to Bilpin, then turn right or left (depending on direction) onto Mountain Lagoon Road, then it is approx 5.9kms to the right turn onto North Wheeny Gap Trail, there is old farm equipment on either side of the turn, then, if you are driving, follow almost to the end, there is an obvious parking spot on the left a short distance from the trailhead, which is just a little further down a rocky hill on the right marked by a couple of stacked rock cairns, the fire trail finishes a little further down. The fire trail from Mountain Lagoon Road is approx 6.1kms to the parking area and trailhead.
The walk in and out...
This walk is STEEP and slippery in many places due to dry leaf litter, it is not well defined in a lot of places and really is not for everyone, wear good quality footwear and be prepared to slide on ya bum in places. We never found the track overly challenging, there is one section, and you will know it, the track goes very steeply down behind a giant boulder, going up and down that was the only real heart starter for the walk, the rest was pretty basic steep hill walking with sections of undulating ground once you meet the creek below.
Once you negotiate the first bit down through some rocks, the track zigzags down an open bushland hill, the track can be covered in dry leaves making it slippery, after a short time, it starts to head to the right and ever downwards, your soon reach the steep section I mentioned above that goes down behind and around a giant boulder, there are a few hand holds but for the most part, it is very steep and slippery. Past here the track continues to zigzag and not long after, you will notice the forest starts to change to a more closed in and darker forest, a number of large fallen trees need to be negotiated both over and finding the new route around. There is one in particular that you can either go left or right around a huge fallen tree and you should meet up with the track again.
Further down, the track gets steeper again as you get closer to the creek below, eventually you scramble down a gully and come out above the creek, head right down the embankment and on a boulder in the creek you should not miss a big rock stack cairn, enjoy the view of the creek and ignore it, head right past a boulder on your left and the track continues along the bank, it is pretty easy to follow here. After about 5-7 minutes, you may see an obvious pink flagging tape on a tree branch, we chose to cross to the other side here, not too hard, just watch your balance. Up the embankment on the other side and you should see a track weaving amongst the trees on fairly flat ground that heads to your right. A few minutes later, you will arrive at the very impressive and rugged cliff that glows in the sun, a large rocky area of flat creek is in front of you.
This flat rock area that the creek flows over can be very slippery, so be careful. The top falls and first pool are just to your left, head back into the forest on the left back whilst looking downstream and negotiate your way down to the pool and falls. It took us less than an hour to get to this point, with lots of stops for pictures for this article, so if you are not stopping, should take a bit less. There are a few places to enter this pool, a convenient flat spot where the water flows out of the pool is the best, the pool is deep and dark, is possibly full of eels and other scary things, but who can resist a swim.
When you are ready to head downstream the the lower falls and bigger pool, we stayed on the left side of the creek the whole way down, there is a well enough defined walking track that undulates along the left bank, about 10 minutes or so later, the creek opens up as it enters the big pool and the main Wheeny Creek Falls are in front of you, this is a simply breathtaking place to be! It is HUGE, deep and an inviting green colour and the roar of the falls as they fall into the pool is magical. Again, the flat rock of the creek you have been following can be dangerously slippery, so be careful and don't assume that your joggers are going to keep you upright.
The entire time we were at this pool, the sun never hit it once and the wind was a tad cool, again, there are not many places as wild and as breathtaking as this to visit and swim at. When you are ready, head back the way you came and reverse your route exactly, keeping your eye out for the track and the occasional stacked rock cairn, though, you should not need the markers.
A simply breathtaking place to visit, not that hard for the experienced walker, could be very challenging for the person who rarely goes remote walking and you may just have the entire place to yourself. Nudity optional of course.
