The Walk
Few walks in South Australia pack as much reward into a single morning as Waterfall Gully to Mt Lofty Summit. Starting from the leafy eastern suburbs less than 10 km from Adelaide’s CBD, this 8.78 km return route climbs from a shaded creek gully past three sets of waterfalls into dense stringybark forest, then makes a sustained push to the summit of Mt Lofty at 713 metres above sea level.
The views from the top are legitimately spectacular — on a clear day you can see across the entire Adelaide Plains to Gulf St Vincent, north to the Barossa ranges and south toward the Fleurieu Peninsula. On a busy Saturday, you’ll share that view with what feels like half of Adelaide. The trick is to get here early.
The track is graded “moderate” but don’t underestimate it. The 480 metres of elevation gain is compressed into 4.4 km of actual climbing, and the upper third of the route is unrelentingly steep. Fit walkers will be comfortable; those new to hills should plan for a solid hour and a half of uphill work.
Lower Gully — The Waterfalls Section
From the car park — where the smell of coffee from Utopia café is hard to ignore — the first 300 metres follow a sealed accessible path into the gully. This path leads to the first waterfall pool, a beautiful tiered cascade in a sheltered rock amphitheatre. It’s often busy with families, dogs (not permitted — but this rule is frequently ignored, FWIW) and picnickers, and for good reason. In winter and spring after decent rain, the falls run with real force.
Beyond the first falls, the path transitions to rocky single track. The gully narrows and the vegetation closes in — tall eucalyptus, tree ferns, native violets underfoot, superb blue wrens flitting through the undergrowth. The second and third falls come in quick succession around the 1.5–2 km mark. These upper falls are quieter and often more impressive when water is flowing.
The Climb
After the third falls, the track crosses the creek for the last time and the proper climbing begins. This section is the park’s workout zone — a sustained, steep pull through open stringybark forest. There’s no real trick to it: keep a steady pace, rest when you need to, and ignore anyone running past you on the way down (there’s always someone running past you on the way down).
At around the 3 km mark, the forest opens briefly at a firetrack crossing. The summit is in sight. The final push steepens again before depositing you at the paved summit plateau where the views suddenly appear in every direction. Stop. Take it all in. You’ve earned it.
The Summit
The Mt Lofty Summit area has a lookout, a gift shop, a café/restaurant and toilets. It’s well worth the visit. On weekends the summit is itself quite busy — filled with people who drove up rather than walked, which is fine — but the knowledge that you came up the hard way adds something.
The elevation here is 713 metres (the highest point in the southern Mt Lofty Ranges). On a really clear day — particularly in autumn when the air is crisp and smoke-free — you can identify specific suburbs, Kangaroo Island on the horizon and the curve of Gulf St Vincent.
Wildlife Highlights
Cleland National Park is genuinely rich in wildlife. Koalas are seen regularly in the upper eucalyptus forest — look for the lumps in forks of blue gums and she-oaks. On both my visits I spotted koalas within 200 metres of the summit track, so don’t rush past.
The birdlife is excellent throughout the gully section: superb blue wrens are abundant, grey fantails follow you up the trail catching insects disturbed by your feet, and white-throated tree creepers spiral up every large trunk. Kangaroos and echidnas appear in the drier open sections. Parks SA has recorded endangered southern brown bandicoots here — they’re mostly nocturnal but occasionally spotted at dawn.
The Return
The descent covers the same ground in reverse. The upper section requires some care — the rocky track is easier going up than coming down. The payoff is that the waterfalls appear progressively as you descend, and the light in the gully changes through the morning. By the time you reach the lower path, the smell of the kiosk suggests the only rational decision is a second coffee.
Bottom Line
This is Adelaide’s essential walk. The crowd management challenge is real — come early, come midweek, avoid public holidays — but the trail itself is excellent: well-maintained, well-signed, varied terrain, consistent gradient and some of the most accessible wildlife viewing in the Adelaide Hills. The waterfalls are the lure, the summit is the goal, and the views are the reason you’ll come back.
Rating: 4.5 / 5 — Exceptional walk slightly undermined by its own popularity. Solve that problem by arriving before 8 AM.