Cascades Trail

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A 2-2.6km grade-3 loop leading to a series of small cascades on Tidbinbilla Creek, one of the named tracks catalogued on the reserve's official trail list.

☰ Trail details

Hide panel — map only✕

Distance

0.69 km

Est. time

17 min

Elevation gain

59 m

Route type

Loop

Steepest stretch: +54m over ~300m (around the 0.1km mark)

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In an emergency

Call 000 for police, fire or ambulance — Australia's emergency number works even with a weak signal, and without a SIM if any carrier has coverage.

You're in Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, Tidbinbilla, ACT. Mobile reception in this area is not guaranteed — this is exactly why the offline map and GPS position on this page work without signal.

Tell someone your plan and expected return time before you set off. A PLB is the most reliable backup where there's no reception at all.

Tracks & plans

+ Add to tracks / plans

Species to look for on this trail

Ancient trees and rare flora confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

MilkmaidsDocumented on this trail

Burchardia umbellata

Restricted Trade Species — ACT: Restricted Trade Species▾

Restricted Trade Species — ACT: Restricted Trade Species

A milkmaid, milk maid, milkwoman, dairymaid, or dairywoman is a girl or woman who works with milk or cows. She milks cows and may prepare dairy products such as cream, butter, and cheese. The term milkmaid is not the female equivalent of milkman in the sense of one who delivers milk to the consumer; it is the female equivalent of milkman in the sense of cowman or dairyman.

How to spot it

Real occurrence confirmed near Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve (Atlas of Living Australia, 2020) — no separate physical description was available on Wikipedia for this species, see the source link for more.

Family Colchicaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Milkmaids

Photo via NatureMapr (CC-BY 3.0 (Au)), collected by MichaelMulvaney

Blue DevilDocumented on this trail

Eryngium ovinum

Vulnerable — ACT: Restricted Trade Species, TAS: Vulnerable, SA: Vulnerable▾

Vulnerable — ACT: Restricted Trade Species, TAS: Vulnerable, SA: Vulnerable

Eryngium ovinum, commonly known as the blue devil, is a plant species native to Australia.

How to spot it

Real occurrence confirmed near Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve (Atlas of Living Australia, 1976) — no separate physical description was available on Wikipedia for this species, see the source link for more.

Family Apiaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Eryngium ovinum

Golden MothsDocumented on this trail

Diuris chryseopsis

Endangered — ACT: Restricted Trade Species, SA: Endangered▾

Endangered — ACT: Restricted Trade Species, SA: Endangered

Diuris chryseopsis, commonly known as common golden moths or small snake orchid, is a species of orchid that is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a common and widespread species growing in woodland, often in colonies and has up to four drooping, golden-yellow flowers. It is similar to several other orchids and form hybrids with some other Diuris species.

How to spot it

Diuris chryseopsis is a tuberous, perennial herb with two to five, sometimes up to eight green, linear leaves 50–220 mm (2–9 in) long, 2–3.5 mm (0.08–0.1 in) wide in a loose tuft. Up to four drooping, lemon yellow flowers with brownish markings and 17–30 mm (0.7–1 in) wide are borne on a flowering stem 100–300 mm (4–10 in) tall. The dorsal sepal is more or less erect, egg-shaped to lance-shaped, 10–15 mm (0.4–0.6 in) long, 4–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in) wide. The lateral sepals are linear to lance-shaped,

Family Orchidaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Diuris chryseopsis

Photo via iNaturalist Australia (CC0), collected by Ted Pettigrove

Silky Swainson-PeaDocumented on this trail

Swainsona sericea

Endangered — ACT: Restricted Trade Species, NSW: Vulnerable, VIC: Endangered▾

Endangered — ACT: Restricted Trade Species, NSW: Vulnerable, VIC: Endangered

Swainsona sericea commonly known as silky Swainson-pea or silky pea, is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is a small perennial with greyish-green leaves, purple flowers and grows in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

How to spot it

Swainsona sericea is an upright or prostrate, sparsely branched perennial plant about 10 cm (3.9 in) high with stems thickly covered in soft hairs. The leaves are greyish-green, up to 7 cm (2.8 in) long, narrowly oblong, 5-13 leaflets to 1.5 cm (0.59 in) long, densely hairy, pointed at the tip, apex leaflet considerably longer, upper and lower surfaces more or less covered with short, soft, silky hairs and stipules 3–7 mm (0.12–0.28 in) long. The raceme usually consists of 2-8 pea-shaped flowers

Family Fabaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Swainsona sericea

Photo via NatureMapr (CC-BY 3.0 (Au)), collected by EmmaCook

Tarengo Leek OrchidDocumented on this trail

Prasophyllum petilum

Critically Endangered — AUS: Critically Endangered, ACT: Endangered, NSW: Endangered▾

Critically Endangered — AUS: Critically Endangered, ACT: Endangered, NSW: Endangered

Prasophyllum petilum, commonly known as Tarengo leek orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to eastern Australia. It has a single tubular, green leaf and up to eighteen pinkish mauve to greenish flowers, well-spaced along a slender flowering stem. It is a small orchid, difficult to locate, generally growing in taller grasses.

How to spot it

Prasophyllum petilum is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single tube-shaped, dark green leaf. The leaf has a purplish base and is 120–250 mm (5–10 in) long and 2–3 mm (0.08–0.1 in) wide. Between five and eighteen, sometimes fragrant flowers are crowded along a flowering spike about 40–80 mm (2–3 in) long. The flowers are pinkish mauve to greenish and 5–7 mm (0.2–0.3 in) wide. As with others in the genus, the flowers are inverted so that the labellum is ab

Family Orchidaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Prasophyllum petilum

Parson's BandsDocumented on this trail

Eriochilus cucullatus

Restricted Trade Species — ACT: Restricted Trade Species▾

Restricted Trade Species — ACT: Restricted Trade Species

Eriochilus cucullatus, commonly known as parson's bands, or leafless parson's bands, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to Australia. It is a common and widespread, slender ground orchid with a single leaf and up to five small white to pale pink flowers. It grows in all Australian states except Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

How to spot it

Eriochilus cucullatus is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber. It has a single, egg-shaped, dark green, slightly rough and hairy leaf which is not fully developed until after flowering, when it is 15–35 mm (0.6–1 in) long and 7–12 mm (0.3–0.5 in) wide. Up to five white to pale pink flowers 15–20 mm (0.6–0.8 in) long and 12–15 mm (0.5–0.6 in) wide are borne on a slender spike, 100–250 mm (4–10 in) tall. The dorsal sepal is spoon-shaped to lance shaped with the narro

Family Orchidaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Eriochilus cucullatus

Blue FairyDocumented on this trail

Cyanicula caerulea

Restricted Trade Species — ACT: Restricted Trade Species▾

Restricted Trade Species — ACT: Restricted Trade Species

The Fairy with Turquoise Hair, often simply referred to as the Blue Fairy, is a fictional character in the 1883 Italian book The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, repeatedly appearing at critical moments in Pinocchio's wanderings to admonish the little wooden puppet to avoid bad or risky behavior.

How to spot it

Real occurrence confirmed near Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve (Atlas of Living Australia, date unrecorded) — no separate physical description was available on Wikipedia for this species, see the source link for more.

Family Orchidaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Blue Fairy

Slender SpeedwellDocumented on this trail

Veronica subtilis

Vulnerable — ACT: Restricted Trade Species, SA: Vulnerable▾

Vulnerable — ACT: Restricted Trade Species, SA: Vulnerable

Veronica filiformis is a species of flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae. It is known by many common names, including slender speedwell, creeping speedwell, threadstalk speedwell and Whetzel weed. It is native to eastern Europe and western Asia, and it is known in many other regions as an introduced species.

How to spot it

Veronica filiformis is a rhizomatous perennial herb producing mats of stems that readily root at nodes that touch substrate. It is self-sterile and rarely seeds, being spread by stolons. The stems can reach lengths of 5 to 50 centimeters (2 to 20 in) and be hairy without glands to covered in glandular hairs. The corolla of V. filiformis is four-lobed and bluish with a white tip, around 8–10 mm in diameter, the top lobe being largest since it is actually a fusion of two lobes. At the center are t

Family Plantaginaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Slender Speedwell

Behr's Swainson-PeaDocumented on this trail

Swainsona behriana

Endangered — ACT: Restricted Trade Species, VIC: Endangered, SA: Vulnerable▾

Endangered — ACT: Restricted Trade Species, VIC: Endangered, SA: Vulnerable

Swainsona behriana, commonly known as Behr's swainsona, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is a prostrate or low-growing perennial herb with imparipinnate leaves usually with 9 to 13 narrowly elliptic to egg-shaped leaflets with the narrower end towards the base, and racemes of 2 to 7 purple flowers.

How to spot it

Swainsona behriana is a prostrate or low-lying perennial herb, that typically grows to a height of up to 15 cm (5.9 in) with many slender stems arising from its base. Its leaves are imparipinnate, 30–50 mm (1.2–2.0 in) long with stipules 2–5 mm (0.079–0.197 in) long at the base. There are 9 to 13 narrowly elliptic to egg-shaped leaflets with the narrower end towards the base, mostly 5–10 mm (0.20–0.39 in) and 1–3 mm (0.039–0.118 in) wide. The flowers are arranged in racemes 50–150 mm (2.0–5.9 in

Family Fabaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Swainsona behriana

Photo via NatureMapr (CC-BY 3.0 (Au)), collected by RichardMilner

Austral Grass-tree

Xanthorrhoea australis

Centuries-old, fire-adapted icon▾

Centuries-old, fire-adapted icon

A slow-growing icon of Victoria's poor, leached soils — trunks are built up over centuries and some individuals are estimated at 350-450 years old. Flowers prolifically in the season or two after bushfire, sending up a spear-like flower spike to 2m tall.

How to spot it

A thick black, corky trunk topped with a dense skirt of long, blue-green, needle-like grass leaves, often with older dead leaves hanging down the trunk. Common in heath and dry forest across the Grampians, Wilsons Promontory and the Kinglake ranges.

Family Asphodelaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Xanthorrhoea australis

Photo: Erin Silversmith (GNU Free Documentation License 1.2+), taken at Kinglake National Park, via Wikimedia Commons

Mountain Correa

Correa lawrenceana

Eastern Australian mountain-forest shrub▾

Eastern Australian mountain-forest shrub

A shrub of sclerophyll and cool forest across the ACT's mountainous ranges, including the Tidbinbilla and Brindabella country, extending through Tasmania, Victoria, NSW and Queensland.

How to spot it

A shrub 0.6-9m tall (rarely a small tree) with rusty-haired young branchlets and opposite-paired elliptical to egg-shaped leaves 13-120mm long. Cylindrical, greenish-yellow to red bell-flowers with four short lobes and prominent protruding stamens, flowering mainly in spring but sporadically year-round.

Family Rutaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Correa lawrenceana

Photo: Melburnian (CC BY 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Wildlife you might see on this trail

Animals confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Superb Parrot

Polytelis swainsonii

Endangered — AUS: Vulnerable, ACT: Vulnerable, NSW: Vulnerable, VIC: Endangered▾

Endangered — AUS: Vulnerable, ACT: Vulnerable, NSW: Vulnerable, VIC: Endangered

The superb parrot, also known as Barraband's parrot, Barraband's parakeet, or green leek parrot, is a parrot native to south-eastern Australia. It is a dimorphic species and one of three species in the genus Polytelis.

How to spot it

The superb parrot is medium-sized, bright green, approximately 40 cm (16 in) long, and has long tail feathers, a yellow-green neck, and yellow-orange irises. The adult male has a scarlet band on its upper chest and a bright yellow face and throat. The adult female has a pale blue-green face, greyish-green throat, a variable tinged russet-pink fore-throat, and orange thighs.

Family Psittacidae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Superb Parrot

Common Dwarf Skink

Menetia greyii

Restricted Trade Species — ACT: Restricted Trade Species▾

Restricted Trade Species — ACT: Restricted Trade Species

There are two species of skink named common dwarf skink:Menetia greyii, endemic to Australia and Indonesia Menetia amaura, native to Western Australia

How to spot it

Real occurrence confirmed near Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve (Atlas of Living Australia, 2013) — no separate physical description was available on Wikipedia for this species, see the source link for more.

Family Scincidae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Common Dwarf Skink

Scarlet Robin

Petroica boodang

Vulnerable — ACT: Vulnerable, NSW: Vulnerable▾

Vulnerable — ACT: Vulnerable, NSW: Vulnerable

The scarlet robin is a common red-breasted Australasian robin in the passerine bird genus Petroica. The species is found on continental Australia and its offshore islands, including Tasmania. The species was originally split in 1999 by Schodde and Mason, and as the original collection by Gmelin was from Norfolk Island, this retained the name of multicolor, and is now known as the Norfolk robin.

How to spot it

Real occurrence confirmed near Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve (Atlas of Living Australia, 2018) — no separate physical description was available on Wikipedia for this species, see the source link for more.

Family Petroicidae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Scarlet Robin

Jacky Lizard

Amphibolurus muricatus

Restricted Trade Species — ACT: Restricted Trade Species, SA: Rare▾

Restricted Trade Species — ACT: Restricted Trade Species, SA: Rare

The jacky dragon is a type of lizard native to south-eastern Australia. Other common names include blood-sucker, stonewalker, and tree dragon. It was one of the first Australian reptiles to be named by Europeans, originally described by English zoologist George Shaw in Surgeon-General John White's Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales, published in London in 1790. The lizard is well-known for its bright yellow mouth and well-developed vertebral crest, as well as the temperature-dependent sex determination of its offspring.

How to spot it

Real occurrence confirmed near Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve (Atlas of Living Australia, 1990) — no separate physical description was available on Wikipedia for this species, see the source link for more.

Family Agamidae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Amphibolurus muricatus

Tasmanian Bettong

Bettongia gaimardi

Conservation Dependent — ACT: Conservation Dependent, NSW: Extinct▾

Conservation Dependent — ACT: Conservation Dependent, NSW: Extinct

The eastern bettong, also known as the southern or Tasmanian bettong, is a small, hopping, rat-like mammal native to grassy forests of southeastern Australia and Tasmania. A member of the rat-kangaroo family (Potoroidae), it is active at night and feeds on fungi and plant roots. Like most marsupials, it carries its young in a pouch. The eastern bettong is under pressure by introduced predators and habitat loss. The subspecies on mainland Australia is extinct, but populations of the Tasmanian subspecies have been reintroduced there.

How to spot it

Family Potoroidae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Bettongia gaimardi

Photo via iNaturalist Australia (CC-BY 4.0 (Int)), collected by David Cunningham

Common Brown Snake

Pseudonaja textilis

Restricted Trade Species — ACT: Restricted Trade Species▾

Restricted Trade Species — ACT: Restricted Trade Species

The eastern brown snake, often referred to as the common brown snake, is a species of extremely venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The species is native to eastern and central Australia and southern New Guinea. It was first described by André Marie Constant Duméril, Gabriel Bibron, and Auguste Duméril in 1854. The adult eastern brown snake has a slender build and can grow to 2 m (7 ft) in length. The colour of its surface ranges from pale brown to black, while its underside is pale cream-yellow, often with orange or grey splotches. The eastern brown snake is found in most habitats except dense forests, often in farmland and on the outskirts of urban areas, as such places are populated by its main prey, the house mouse. The species is oviparous. The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies the snake as a least-concern species, though its status in New Guinea is unclear.

How to spot it

Real occurrence confirmed near Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve (Atlas of Living Australia, 2022) — no separate physical description was available on Wikipedia for this species, see the source link for more.

Family Elapidae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Pseudonaja textilis

Long-nosed potoroo

Potorous tridactylus

EPBC-listed Vulnerable (IUCN Near Threatened)▾

EPBC-listed Vulnerable (IUCN Near Threatened)

A small, rabbit-sized hopping marsupial of south-eastern Australian forests, heaths and Tasmania, which digs at night for underground fungi, roots and invertebrates. It is listed Vulnerable nationally under the EPBC Act and Endangered in Victoria.

How to spot it

Body 34-38cm with a shorter, semi-prehensile tail (15-24cm); grey-brown fur and an elongated pointed nose give it a bandicoot-like look at rest, but it moves in kangaroo-style hops with front feet tucked to its chest. Look for small conical diggings in the leaf litter of dense understorey near forest edges and heath, most active around dusk and dawn.

Family Potoroidae · Source: Wikipedia; IUCN Red List

Photo: Gunjan Pandey (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Eastern Grey Kangaroo

Macropus giganteus

IUCN Least Concern - Australia's most-seen kangaroo▾

IUCN Least Concern - Australia's most-seen kangaroo

Australia's most commonly encountered kangaroo, with an estimated population above 11 million, ranging across the eastern third of the continent in open grassland, woodland and forest.

How to spot it

Look for a soft grey to brownish-grey coat with a lighter belly, standing over a metre tall in males with long, thick tails. Mainly grazing at dawn, dusk and night in small mobs on grassy verges, clearings and paddocks adjoining bushland; less wary of people than other roo species.

Family Macropodidae · Source: Wikipedia

Photo: JJ Harrison (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Gang-gang Cockatoo

Callocephalon fimbriatum

EPBC-listed Endangered (uplisted from Vulnerable in 2022 after the Black Summer bushfires); IUCN Vulnerable▾

EPBC-listed Endangered (uplisted from Vulnerable in 2022 after the Black Summer bushfires); IUCN Vulnerable

The gang-gang cockatoo is the faunal emblem of the Australian Capital Territory, found in cool, wet forests and woodlands of the mountains and tablelands of south-eastern Australia. It was uplisted from Vulnerable to Endangered under Australia's EPBC Act in 2022 after the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires burned a large share of its habitat.

How to spot it

A small, stocky cockatoo (32-37cm). Males have an unmistakable wispy, curled bright-red head and crest against slate-grey body plumage; females are all grey with a smaller grey crest. The call is distinctive - a creaky, grinding growl often likened to a rusty gate hinge or a cork being pulled from a bottle. Found in tall mountain forest over summer, moving to lower woodlands (including suburban Canberra) in winter.

Family Cacatuidae · Source: Wikipedia; EPBC Act conservation listing

Photo: JJ Harrison (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons