The Mysterious Lindeman Pass

I love a good story. And the story of The Lindeman Pass in the Blue Mountains is a cracker.

Today I was reminded of this quote by Thomas Edison, which I found inside my daily Happy Pills.

So, Edison was obviously passionate, focussed, single-minded and one could argue,  obsessive. So too, was Charles Lindeman. A council alderman in the Blue Mountains and a man on a mission to build a walking track that would link Wentworth Falls and Katoomba, along the base of the cliff line, at the top of the Talus slope.

nb: Please tweak your YouTube playback settings to 1080p or 720p before watching this video!

If you’ve ever been to The Blue Mountains, you’ll know that one of the most popular tourist hiking tracks is the Federal Pass. It snakes along the base of the cliff line from Mt Solitary’s western flank, past the Ruined Castle and the Golden Stairs, scooting along across the Scenic Railway and into the lush Leura Forest, where it finishes abruptly at a stunning waterfall. [It’s got it’s own interesting modern history, wrapped up in coal shale mining, but that’s another story.]

Then, just to the east in the same Jamison/Kedumba Valley area, you can walk at roughly the same height along the jaw-droppingly gorgeous National Pass and Wentworth Pass, around Wentworth Falls and even link up onto Kings Tableland at the far east of the valley.

Logic and foresight is a great thing and poor old Charles Lindeman seemed to have lots of that, thinking that a track to join the east and west sections of the Federal Pass together, would make good sense. However, what he didn’t foresee was how vocal and political the Katoomba shop owners of the time would be in their lobbying of the Katoomba Council to ensure that the last 200 metres of the track were never completed. They were scared that all the Sydney tourists of the time (the trains were packed on Friday nights) would all walk away from Katoomba to Wentworth Falls and take all their custom with them. The somewhat darker side to the story is rumours of ill-feeling and anti German sentiment towards Herr Lindeman at this time prior to WWI.

An article, from the Blue Mountain Echo, 5 September 1913, sums up the case succinctly. Those with an eye for place names, will recognise Dash and Copeland in this article, as they relate to Dashs Cave (see video) and Copeland Pass, being the name given to the somewhat airy pass on Sublime Point above Lindeman Pass. Again, in January 1927, another push was on to finish the track, with the journalist seeing the need for co-operation between the rival Katoomba and Wentworth Falls councils.

Now, I’ve already said too much about this grand tale, for someone who knows so little about it. I will leave the detail and relentless research (perhaps as passionate as dear Lindeman himself), to Mr Jim Smith and his wonderful book, “Blue Mountains Mystery Track: Lindeman Pass,” who along with Wilf Hilder, worked tirelessly in the 80’s trying to get the track opened and welcomed into the family of great bushwalks of the Blue Mountains.

Alas, these days, after all the blood, sweat, tears and leech bites, of many passionate people, it is only the hardy and experienced navigators and route finders who can today, make their way from Wentworth Falls to Katoomba, along Lindeman’s dream.

I am sure the costs to renew the track and bring it up to a ‘manageable’ state, whereby average hikers could be able to undertake it safely, would be well over $2m. There’s simply too much to be done, not only to the track, but also cliff stabilisation above, to warrant the spend of NPWS already tight budgets. I believe that sadly, Mr Lindeman’s dream will remain just that. However, it is a dream that those passionate and experienced few, can continue on.

Related posts:

Coming Soon – Brand New Hiking How-To Videos and New Look Blog! The Three Peaks – The Lazy Way Six Foot Track Project Launch! Where’s your hiking home?