Awesome 2 Day Overnight Hike in Kangaroo Valley, NSW

Looking for an overnight backpacking trip close to Sydney? This 2 day, 1 night hike in Morton National Park in New South Wales Kangaroo Valley is a beauty. The hike is 2 pretty big days of single track, fire trail and a little bit of road walking starting at Fitzroy Falls, only 2 hours from Sydney!

This loop is great for anyone new to backpacking and hiking as you’re nice and close to towns and services etc if you need, but it feels like you’re in the middle of nowhere! As well as this the trail is a loop so you won’t have to worry about a car shuffle. There is also drinking water (from the river when filtered) and bathrooms at the camp ground. All of these factors make it easy to get into overnight hiking. This loop is also great for seasoned hikers because it’s bloody gorgeous!

KANGAROO VALLEY HIKE FAST FACTS:

Length: 45km
Elevation Gain: 1200m
Start/End: Fitzroy Falls
Toilets: Pit dunnies at campground, BYO toilet paper!
Water: River at the campground
Phone Service: Patchy. Bring EPIRB or Sat Phone

We hiked the loop in a clockwise direction.

Day 1 – 26km, Fitzroy Falls Visitor Centre to Griffins Farm campground
Day 2 – 19km, Griffins Farm campground to Fitzroy Falls Visitor Centre
Total: 45km

The hiking loop is on AllTrails here but we did 2 sections slightly different as portions of the alltrails loop were either blocked off or there was a nicer alternative (walking the East Rim Track rather than more time on Nowra road). If you haven’t got an AllTrails membership click here to get yourself 30% off the annual premium or use code INTHEEYE30.

DAY 1:

The first day if the hike is the downhill day, descending to the campground at the bottom of the valley by the river.

You’ll start near the visitors centre and head out clockwise via the East Rim track. This track ends and you need to walk along Nowra road for 1-2km, this is the worst part of the loop but not particularly sketchy. The link on AllTrails doesn’t use the East Rim trail and instead has more walking time on Nowra Road, I’d suggest doing it the way we did instead.

The next part of the loop is fire trails and single track until you reach your next road walking section on Jacks corner road. Despite this section being tarmac the surrounds are actually super beautiful.

From this road section you’ll next head back into fire trail and into Griffins Farm campground. On the way there you’ll need to cross a river, so shoes off for a hot minute here!

You’ll then arrive at Griffins Farm campground which is huge and open! The campground is on the river so you can swim and cool off in and it even has a loo! (BYO toilet paper)