Leslie Falls are on Lawson Creek at Lawson in the Blue Mountains. They are part of the set of waterfalls on the south side of Lawson. The other falls in the set – Adelina Falls, Junction Falls (twin falls), Cataract Falls and Federal Falls are all well known and often visited. But Leslie Falls seems to be very rarely reached by parties. There is a good reason for this – it is not on any current track and all the other waterfalls are all reached on a good track that links them all. I had visited the other falls may times but had never visited Leslie Falls. I suggested a walk to the falls to Bob and he too was keen to see it.
Leslie Falls
I also wanted to photograph the waterfall for my ongoing project to document the major named waterfalls of the central part of the Blue Mountains.
So we arrived at Lawson, and after the usual visit to the Lawson Cake Shop we headed down Honour Avenue for the lower carpark for the waterfall loop. Then it was a short walk along the track to Cataract Falls and then to Federal Falls. Then we left the track and followed the creek downstream.
Leslie Falls
The going down the creek was mixed. It was often easier to walk in the creekbed. Some parts were easy and some parts were slower, but we made good progress and soon arrived at what we thought was Leslie Falls. It fitted in with the location as marked on the topographic maps. The fall was about 3 m high and has a larger volume of water going over it than any of the other waterfalls as it has the combined flows of Lawson Creek, Ridge Creek and Cataract Creek. All the other waterfalls are only in one of the above creeks.
Lawson Creek
We continued down the creek below Leslie Falls. Again it was mixed going, but not too hard. The creek (Lawson Creek) flows through an impressive gorge just before it joins Bedford Creek. There was a second waterfalls in a bouldery section much lower down and some nice cascades in slab sections. In a few places, as we proceeded, we thought we may have been following a section of old track. It is certainly likely that an old track went down to Leslie Falls. Perhaps one continued all the way down to Bedford Creek to link up with the Terrace Falls track?
Bedford Creek
We soon reached Bedford Creek and picked up the track. We first went down to Bedford Pool and then made our way up to Terrace Falls and Victor Falls. Above that we reached the fire road and found a sunny place to have lunch. From there it was only about a 20 minute walk back to Bob’s car.
Terrace Falls
Terrace Falls
More photos are on my website here.
Hi David,
I was reading your comments regarding following a possible track…
found this description in a BMCC document.. https://yoursay.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/33324/documents/71695
“..As the Terrace Falls Reserve and South Lawson Reserve are contiguous, the idea of
connecting the two track systems occurred to the trustees and a signposted but rough track along Lawson Creek via Bass Falls (Leslie Falls) was signposted. However by 1911 it was difficult to follow (“Two Visitors”:1911). A rare category of artefact within the reserves is the two directional signs painted by Leyton Counsell which are now at least 40 years old…”
there are also some other tracks described for the area… 🙂
Interesting you say “It fitted in with the location as marked on the topographic maps” – my generally accurate GPS put the waterfall a fair distance upstream of where it appears on both AllTrails and the Katoomba 1:25K topo. Will have a go next time of continuing downstream.