Stairway Falls

Lamington National Park

Great, but long and difficult walk from O'Reily's, following a path down to Blue Pool, then a run down path that's hard to find in some sections down to stairway falls. Goes though a lot of great scenery and you should definitely be prepared for your feet to get wet as you need to continually cross the creek to keep on path.

Waterfalls
Swimming
Rainforest

Getting there

Follow lamington national park rd to O'Reily's rainforest retreat, then follow the signs to blue pool (Yerralahla Track), then once you reach the pool, cross the river and look for what looks like some kind of path.

 

Route/Trail notes

The walk starts generally easy with the walk being very obvious until you reach the bottom where the Blue Pool is. From there you need to rock hop across the river, and find a reasonably clear path (a little overgrown but still noticable) which will eventually lead you to the falls. After following this for a bit, you will come to a multiple creek crossing and where the path starts again can sometimes be quite hard to find, but if you follow the creek down you'll eventually stumble upon in again. There are several obstructions that are somewhat hard to navigate (fallen trees) but nothing that requires any specialised equipment.

The falls are unmissable and a great place to rest and have a bit of a swim.

The way back is a bit easier because you'll generally have more of an idea of where the path is, but it's still hard work. You could probably link this walk with the rest of the cunungra creek circuit, but you would want to have a high level of fitness and be prepared to be walking all day.

The GPS track for this walk includes the West Canungra Creek Circuit so is approx 19km.

 

Permits/Costs

N/A

Other References

N/A

Comments

Attempted but not completed - tapped out due to tricky navigation and non-existent track. Easy to get to yerralahla/ blue pools. From there you will see the ‘closed track’ sign. We tried 3 different routes- first following 6-7 pink tags on the west side of the creek, which take you to waters edge then peter out. Tried to keep going creek side but got pretty dense/wet. Went back to where tags finished and stayed high- not so dense but saw a red belly black snake and got spooked. Then went back to waters edge at the north end of blue pool and crossed the creek in the shallows. There were no pink tags but an old sign and old path. Followed this for a bit but got pretty dense quickly and we were worried about snakes so packed it in. Definitely seemed right to cross the creek at blue pools and not get mixed up with pink tags! Also we spent about 60 mins figuring this out so allow extra time. Good luck!

Rosie on 26 Apr, 2024

Lovely walk, there is a sigh to say the walk is closed at the Blue Pool, but it's fine. I lost the track a few times on the way to the pools but it was much easier to stay on on the way back. If you stay within 20m of the creek it's not an issue.

samkramer on 21 Jan, 2023

Did this walk on December 31 via the Blue Pool. Took about 2 hrs 20 m to get there from O'Reillys. Stairway Falls are about 2 ks downstream from the Blue Pool. Cross to the other side of the Blue Pool to pick up the track. This old track is still quite good in parts. Pink ribbons are pretty sparse but you can't get lost if you follow the creek. No other major creeks to confuse you. I wore long pants but the stinging trees still got me in the arms. A great swimming hole awaits you at the end, above and below the falls! Didn't see a single snake.

Jeff on 3 Jan, 2019

Must be more than 10 km as Blue Pool is 10 km return. Stairway Falls must be at least 12 or 14 km.

Jeff on 13 Dec, 2018

Lots of rock hopping and the swimming holes are gorgeous. Worth the walk through the stinging trees to get to the creek.

Lia Skye on 16 Sep, 2017

Did this with the bushwalking club. It was fun trying to find the tapes to know where we're going. Otherwise i'm not sure i could find the way myself. I wouldn't say it is hard level. Medium, but quite long, probably over 15 km with creek crossing. Nice to be walking in the water up to your knees in hot weather. Take your time and be careful walking in the water (i slipped once and ouch got a big bruise).

Philos on 13 Mar, 2016

Did this walk in 2016 and is one of my favourites in the area. Hard to find the track at times but if you just follow the stream you'll eventually find your way. Ended up with lots of leeches

bmpickford on 2016

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