Skip to content
Services
Walk map
Open this walk on the interactive map
Central Coast Bushwalk

Ritcher's Cave Long Walk (8.2km)

An 8.2km half day bushwalk through rainforest to a cave system with scrambling and bushbashing on the Central Coast.

Sign up for Bushwalks

Drive to Start

This is a long walk on firetrails to find the cave, if you want to find the cave's with a shorter walk, get directions for Ritcher's Cave Short Walk.

This has plenty of lovely rainforest and elevation gain so its great for getting fit. Finding the caves themselves can be a bit challenging so we advise if you are going to find the caves let someone know where you are going and when you are expected back. Allow a half day for this walk.

It is a lot of fun scrambling over the rocks at the base of the cliff, be very careful of your fitting as this is not a well travelled walk and there are large sections of honeycombed rock that have fallen and may be thinner than you think. The walk to the caves themselves is less of a bushwalk and more of a bushbash. You need to follow the gps map above.

What Should you bring on the rither's cave Walk?

Brind a daypack with 3-4l of water, snacks, lunch, a first aid kit and also 3m length of climbing tape. There is a lot of hill in this walk and a lot of firetrail so we suggest 3-4L of water or more on a hot day.

Elevation change: Up 350m, Down 350m

Walk directions

  1. Start on Yarramalong Road, this looks and feels like you are parking on private property, park near the fence: -33.267469898574355, 151.33615493774414 Google Maps Link
  2. You have arrived at the campsite, head to the back of the campsite to the east until you see the path, slightly south east: -33.27565, 151.3145 Google Maps Link
  3. Continue along the track until you get to a large rock platform, the path down to the caves is just before this in the empty riverbed/ ravine, that looks too steep to be a path, some bum shuffling is called for. Once down continue along the cliff line, just below the 250m contour, there is a bit of climbing involved occasionally: -33.27565, 151.3145 Google Maps Link
  4. Head back up another ravine after the caves end to the road: -33.27629, 151.31168 Google Maps Link
  5. Turn right onto the road and head back to the start: -33.27579, 151.31147 Google Maps Link
hiker with a backpack scrambling beneath a honeycombed sandstone overhang, gripping a tree root
topographic map with a red trail line and five numbered waypoints for the Ritcher's Cave walk
narrow bush track cutting through dense leafy undergrowth near the campsite
This is the campsite. The path is behind and slightly to the right of here.
leaf strewn passage between two large moss covered sandstone boulders with a small alcove
Path behind campsite
cloudy sky over a mossy sandstone rock platform lookout above the forest canopy
Path down the ravine
narrow forested gap between mossy boulders with a tall tree trunk and ferns below
If you reach this rock platform you have gone a bit to far, the path down if is the very steep ravine just before this.
dirt fire trail winding through tall eucalypt forest towards Ritcher's Cave
open eucalypt clearing scattered with fallen branches and leaf litter
pale gilled mushroom growing low among grass on the forest floor
This is part of the very steep path down.
wide gravel fire trail lined with tall eucalypts and dappled sunlight
camouflaged lizard peering out from a dark rock crevice among fallen leaves
gravel fire trail with a stone lined culvert repair crossing a drainage dip
sandstone boulder engraved with 'these caves were found by J E Richter' and a date
swirling honeycombed sandstone overhang with ochre and grey rock banding
hiker with a backpack climbing over moss covered boulders on a steep section
hiker in shorts and gaiters smiling at the mouth of a sandstone cave
wide view of a deeply honeycombed sandstone overhang framed by bushland
red and cream capped fungus with pale gills pushing through leaf litter
close up of moss and lichen patchwork covering a sandstone boulder
eucalypt trunk with a hollow split base rising from the leaf littered forest floor
hiker walking below a tall moss covered rock wall beside tree ferns
expansive honeycombed rock overhang seen from the track on the return past the caves
This is the path back up at the end after the caves
staghorn fern fronds fanning from a nest of fertile fronds high on a mossy rock face
eucalypt trunk growing wedged between two lichen covered boulders
bright yellow scaly capped mushroom emerging from woody debris
dense green moss carpeting a rock ledge beside the track
hiker climbing the base of a mossy rock wall beneath a honeycombed overhang
looking up a tall eucalypt trunk framed between two sandstone boulders
mossy narrow gap between a boulder and a tree trunk on the track
hiker standing beside a lichen covered sandstone overhang, smiling at the camera
staghorn fern growing on a fallen mossy log among tree ferns beside the track
fallen branch bridging a narrow crevice between two lichen crusted boulders
gravel forest road descending past a bank of lush tree ferns
honeycombed sandstone overhang above smooth grey boulders leading to a forest gap
dense honeycomb weathering fills a wide sandstone overhang above the trail
staghorn fern draped over a fallen log with tree ferns and moss all around
narrow rock crevice with a mossy branch wedged beneath overhanging sandstone
wide gravel fire trail bordered by tree ferns curving through the forest
honeycombed sandstone overhang above a large pale boulder with forest beyond
intricate honeycomb weathering carved deep into a sandstone rock shelf
swirling banded sandstone ledge above jumbled grey boulders in a rock shelter
staghorn fern clinging to a lichen patched boulder beside a gum tree trunk

Dog Walks

Pearl Beach Arboretum

Strickland Arboretum

Get Started

Thinking about a
project?

Good Architect only takes a limited number of projects a year to keep the quality high.

Talk to Us