Federal Pass

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A hard, 13km one-way historic track (around 6.5 hours) originally built in 1900 from Leura Forest to Katoomba Falls, following the cliff base of Jamison Valley past the Three Sisters, Scenic World and the hand-built Giant Stairway.

☰ Trail details

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Distance

9.47 km

Est. time

3 hr 33 min

Elevation gain

636 m

Route type

Point to point

Steepest stretch: +149m over ~300m (around the 8.9km 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 Blue Mountains National Park, Katoomba / Leura, NSW. 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.

Fire danger today (Greater Sydney Region): MODERATE

As of 28/08/2026 — check the live NSW RFS rating before you go, this may be out of date.

Tracks & plans

+ Add to tracks / plans

About this hike

Federal Pass was cut into the base of the Jamison Valley cliffline around 1900, making it one of the oldest formed walking routes in the Blue Mountains, back when track-building through this escarpment was at its peak. The 13km one-way track runs from Leura Forest to Katoomba Falls along the foot of the cliffs, passing directly beneath the Three Sisters and Scenic World before finishing via the hand-cut Giant Stairway. Because the track sits under the clifftop lookouts rather than on them, walkers get an unusual worm's-eye view of the sandstone escarpment, seasonal waterfalls and hanging swamps that define this stretch of the Jamison Valley. At around 6.5 hours and NPWS-graded hard, it's typically walked one-way with a car shuffle or the Katoomba-Leura bus link back to the start.

In-depth guide

Federal Pass Walking Track: Complete Guide (Blue Mountains)

The historic 1900 cliff-base track past the Three Sisters to the hand-built Giant Stairway — real distance, terrain, and a critically endangered honeyeater.

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.

Needle GeebungDocumented on this trail

Persoonia acerosa

Endangered — AUS: Endangered, NSW: Endangered▾

Endangered — AUS: Endangered, NSW: Endangered

Persoonia acerosa, commonly known as needle geebung, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to a restricted area of New South Wales. It is a shrub with small, channelled, needle-like leaves, yellow tubular flowers and yellowish-green, pear-shaped fruit.

How to spot it

Persoonia acerosa is an erect to spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.5–2 m (1 ft 8 in – 6 ft 7 in) and has smooth bark. The leaves are linear, 10–23 mm (0.39–0.91 in) long and 0.5 mm (0.020 in) wide and channelled on the upper surface. The flowers are arranged between the leaves on a branchlet that continues to grow after flowering, each flower on a pedicel 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) long. The flowers are tube-shaped, 8–10 mm (0.31–0.39 in) long, glabrous, and mostly appear in sum

Family Proteaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Persoonia acerosa

Photo via iNaturalist Australia (CC-BY-NC 4.0 (Int)), collected by rolfpersoonia

Smooth Bush-PeaDocumented on this trail

Pultenaea glabra

Vulnerable — AUS: Vulnerable, NSW: Vulnerable▾

Vulnerable — AUS: Vulnerable, NSW: Vulnerable

Pultenaea glabra, commonly known as smooth bush-pea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to eastern New South Wales. It is an erect shrub with glabrous stems, linear to egg-shaped leaves with a concave upper surface, and yellow to red and orange flowers.

How to spot it

Pultenaea glabra is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of 1.5–3 m (4 ft 11 in – 9 ft 10 in) and has glabrous stems. The leaves are arranged alternately, linear to egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, 10–20 mm (0.39–0.79 in) long and 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) wide with a concave upper surface and stipules 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) long at the base. The flowers are arranged in dense, leafy clusters near the ends of branchlets and are about 10 mm (0.39 in) long on pedice

Family Fabaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Pultenaea glabra

Photo via iNaturalist Australia (CC-BY-NC 4.0 (Int)), collected by James Bevan

Leionema lachnaeoidesDocumented on this trail

Leionema lachnaeoides

Endangered — AUS: Endangered, NSW: Endangered▾

Endangered — AUS: Endangered, NSW: Endangered

Leionema lachnaeoides, is a tall shrub with aromatic leaves and yellow flowers from winter to late spring. It is restricted to the Blue Mountains in New South Wales.

How to spot it

Leionema lachnaeoides is a tall shrub to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) high with white stems covered in fine, smooth, silver star-shaped hairs quickly becoming smooth. The leaves are more or less terete, 0.8 mm (0.031 in) long, 1 mm (0.039 in) wide, arranged alternately along the branches on a flattened petiole, with a slight upward curve and ending in a point. The leaf upper and lower side and edges are smooth, surface leathery, margins rolled under almost obscuring the paler underside. The flowers are borne

Family Rutaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Leionema lachnaeoides

Dwarf Mountain PineDocumented on this trail

Pherosphaera fitzgeraldii

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

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

Pherosphaera fitzgeraldii, commonly known as the Blue Mountains pine or dwarf mountain pine is a species of conifer in the family Podocarpaceae. It is found only in New South Wales, Australia. The entire natural habitat is in the Blue Mountains, from Katoomba to Wentworth Falls, growing almost exclusively in the splash zones of waterfalls, and on the southern aspect of sandstone nearby.

How to spot it

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

Family Podocarpaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Pherosphaera fitzgeraldii

Monkey GumDocumented on this trail

Eucalyptus cypellocarpa

Vulnerable — NSW: Vulnerable▾

Vulnerable — NSW: Vulnerable

Eucalyptus cypellocarpa, commonly known as mountain grey gum, mountain gum, monkey gum or spotted mountain grey gum, is a species of straight, smooth-barked forest tree that is endemic to southeastern Australia. It has relatively large, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, white flowers and usually cylindrical or barrel-shaped fruit.

How to spot it

Eucalyptus cypellocarpa is a tree that typically grows to a height of 50–65 m (164–213 ft) and forms a lignotuber. It has smooth white, grey or yellowish bark that is shed in long ribbons. Young plants and coppice regrowth have stems that are square in cross-section, and sessile, lance-shaped to heart-shaped or egg-shaped leaves that 45–120 mm (1.8–4.7 in) long and 18–55 mm (0.71–2.17 in) wide. Adult leaves are lance-shaped to curved, usually the same glossy green on both surfaces, 90–305 mm (3.

Family Myrtaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Eucalyptus cypellocarpa

Black Sassafras

Atherosperma moschatum

Gondwanan rainforest relict▾

Gondwanan rainforest relict

An ancient rainforest tree of the Gondwanan flora, black sassafras produces nutmeg-scented leaves and cream, purple-streaked flowers between July and October. Wikipedia confirms it occurs at Barrington Tops and in the upper Blue Mountains, two of its few NSW outposts.

How to spot it

A shrub-to-conical tree 2-30m tall with densely hairy young branchlets and lower leaf surfaces. Lance-shaped to elliptic leaves 30-95mm long release a strong nutmeg scent when crushed - the fastest way to confirm an ID in the field.

Family Atherospermataceae · Source: Wikipedia: Atherosperma moschatum

Black Olive-berry

Elaeocarpus holopetalus

Gondwanan cool-rainforest relict▾

Gondwanan cool-rainforest relict

A cool-rainforest shrub or small tree also known as mountain quandong, occurring in high-rainfall pockets from northern NSW to East Gippsland. Wikipedia's gallery for the species includes photographs taken within Blue Mountains National Park.

How to spot it

A shrub to small tree 5-16m (rarely to 25m) tall with densely woolly-brown hairy young branchlets. Lance-to-egg-shaped toothed leaves, white to pink-flushed flowers in racemes, and small black oval drupes 6-8mm long.

Family Elaeocarpaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Elaeocarpus holopetalus

Blue Mountains Grevillea

Grevillea acanthifolia

Blue Mountains bog specialist▾

Blue Mountains bog specialist

A prickly-leaved shrub first collected from 'peaty bogs on the Blue Mountains' during an 1817 expedition, and still found today in the range's high-altitude swamps and wet heath.

How to spot it

Usually a low shrub to about 0.5m (occasionally to 3m) with stiff, prickly, divided leaves with 9-14 lobes. One-sided 'toothbrush'-style flower clusters 3-10cm long in pink to purple, tipped with a red style, flowering mainly October to February.

Family Proteaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Grevillea acanthifolia

Wildlife you might see on this trail

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

Sugar glider

Petaurus breviceps

IUCN Least Concern - common but iconic▾

IUCN Least Concern - common but iconic

A small, highly social gliding possum found in coastal forests of eastern and northern Australia. It is omnivorous, nocturnal, and named for both its taste for sugary sap and nectar and its gliding membranes.

How to spot it

Small (24-30cm nose to tail, under 150g), blue-grey fur with a bold black stripe running from nose to mid-back and a cream belly. Travels and dens in family groups in tree hollows, and can be located at night by its bark-like yip or hiss calls and quick short glides between trees, much shorter and faster than the larger gliders.

Family Petauridae · Source: Wikipedia; IUCN Red List

Illustration: Neville Henry Cayley, 1922 (public domain) via Wikimedia Commons

Glossy Black-Cockatoo

Calyptorhynchus lathami

IUCN Vulnerable; EPBC-listed Vulnerable (nominate subspecies)▾

IUCN Vulnerable; EPBC-listed Vulnerable (nominate subspecies)

The glossy black-cockatoo is the smallest of Australia's black-cockatoos, found in open forest and woodland along the east coast from south-eastern Queensland to Mallacoota in Victoria. It feeds almost exclusively on the seeds of casuarina (she-oak) trees, leaving distinctive chewed cones scattered beneath feed trees.

How to spot it

Smaller and more compact than other black-cockatoos (46-50cm), with a large bulbous grey-brown bill. Males are chocolate-brown/black with red panels in the tail; females are duller brown with yellow flecking on the head/neck and yellow-barred tails. The call is a soft, wheezy creak, quieter than other black-cockatoos. Look for piles of chewed she-oak (Casuarina/Allocasuarina) cones on the ground under feed trees - a reliable sign they've been feeding nearby.

Family Cacatuidae · Source: Wikipedia; IUCN Red List

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

Regent Honeyeater

Anthochaera phrygia

IUCN Critically Endangered; EPBC-listed Critically Endangered▾

IUCN Critically Endangered; EPBC-listed Critically Endangered

One of Australia's rarest birds, the regent honeyeater is a nomadic nectar-feeder of box-ironbark eucalypt woodland now confined to Victoria and New South Wales on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range. Blue Mountains National Park is called out by name as home to notable populations of this critically endangered species.

How to spot it

A medium honeyeater (20-24cm) with a glossy black head and neck, bare pink skin around the eye, and a black-and-lemon-yellow scalloped body with bright yellow edging in the wings and tail. Highly nomadic - follows flowering eucalypts (especially box and ironbark) and mistletoe, so sightings are unpredictable and clustered around good flowering years.

Family Meliphagidae · Source: Wikipedia; IUCN Red List

Photo: Jss367 (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Powerful owl

Ninox strenua

Vulnerable (NSW & Vic); IUCN Least Concern▾

Vulnerable (NSW & Vic); IUCN Least Concern

The powerful owl is Australia's largest owl, an apex forest predator of south-eastern Australia that feeds mostly on tree-dwelling possums and gliders. Though secure globally, it's listed as vulnerable in New South Wales and Victoria because it depends on large, hollow-bearing old-growth trees for nesting, which logging and land clearing keep removing.

How to spot it

A big owl, 45-65cm long with a wingspan over a metre, dark grey-brown above with bold white V-shaped barring below and a hawk-like long-tailed silhouette in flight. Listen at dusk for the male's slow, far-carrying double hoot ('whoo-hooo'); by day it roosts quietly in tall forest trees, sometimes with the remains of a possum cached on a branch below.

Family Strigidae · Source: Wikipedia

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

Wedge-tailed eagle

Aquila audax

IUCN Least Concern — common but iconic▾

IUCN Least Concern — common but iconic

The wedge-tailed eagle is Australia's largest bird of prey, with a wingspan of up to 2.84 metres. Once persecuted as a livestock threat, it is now widespread and secure across virtually every Australian habitat from desert to alpine woodland.

How to spot it

Unmistakable in flight: a huge dark raptor with a long, diamond-shaped tail, often seen soaring high on thermals over open or rocky country. Adults are blackish-brown with tawny-rufous hackles on the neck; juveniles are paler and more rufous. Despite its size, its call is a surprisingly thin, high whistle.

Family Accipitridae · Source: Wikipedia

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

Lace monitor

Varanus varius

IUCN Least Concern — common eastern forest goanna▾

IUCN Least Concern — common eastern forest goanna

The lace monitor is one of Australia's largest and most familiar goannas, a highly arboreal predator and scavenger found throughout the forests of eastern Australia from Cape York to south-eastern South Australia.

How to spot it

A big goanna (up to 2m, occasionally more) — most commonly dark grey-black with cream spots and a banded tail, though some individuals ('Bell's phase') show broad yellow-and-black bands instead. Confident and inquisitive around campsites and picnic areas, where it will readily investigate food; often seen climbing tree trunks head-first when approached, active mainly between September and May.

Family Varanidae · Source: Wikipedia

Photo: Bidgee (CC BY-SA 3.0 Australia) via Wikimedia Commons