Mount Piddington, NSW – For Walkers Journal

On track and off, the infinite nooks and crannies of the mighty Blue Mountains faithfully serve world-class everything. Including a reliable source of people to give a nod to.

Words + photos by Marina Pliatsikas

I’ve never been a hiker that necessarily loves it when you go on a walk and encounter nobody else the entire time. I like to think of myself as partial to a bit of a nod, smile and occasional outburst of awkward small talk directed towards fellow walkers passing by.

However, when we do find a trail with nobody else on it – especially a relatively un-remote one in New South Wales’ famed Blue Mountains – we can’t help but grasp the opportunity to spend some time feeling like we’ve got a part of the world all to ourselves, even for a little while. We certainly felt this way on a recent walk to explore a number of caves dotted around Mount Piddington Reserve, near Mount Victoria – a heritage-listed town with historic buildings and a breathtaking stone train station dating back to 1868. Depending on who you ask, it’s also the highest village in the Blue Mountains (although other sources say this title is held by neighbouring Blackheath).

The trails around Mount Piddington, known as Wirindi by the Traditional Owners of the area, have multiple possible start and end points – a real choose-your-own-adventure situation, dotted with side quests and bonus levels. But on this particular morning we’ve resigned ourselves to the fact that we probably aren’t going to see everything, and decide to begin our walk from the car park at the end of Mount Piddington Road, with the goal of heading west to Bushrangers Cave, via pit stops at Pulpit Rock and Ross Cave. We pull up at around 8:30 into an empty parking area near a yellow concrete shelter with a trig point on top and retro green picnic tables surrounding it, the moody morning haze perhaps making the scene look more romantic and aesthetic than it actually is.