GRADE: C+
TIME: 8 hours.
15 km return.
TERRAIN: Very steep at times, and only done with a hotel guide because the paths are not well marked on the escarpment.
Hike from the Top Gate up through Sugar Loaf Gap. Part way up the Sugar Loaf itself, take a right-hand track that goes behind the peak. Pass Cold Hill and proceed down the valley near Broome Hill. To the left a path will be found leading down the lower slopes of Broome Hill. It then leads around a contour of Broome Hill, and drops onto a spur leading south. A sketchy path winds to the end of this spur. Here a fault in the rocks has created the Hole in the Wall – a gap down through the rock face to the valley below. This gap is on the right and almost concealed. It is about three metres wide, and an easy scramble. For obvious reasons it is nick-named the Dassie’s Toilet. The path below the rocks leads to the contour path but is a little overgrown. Turn right on the contour path, then right again into The Grotto. Time is needed here to have lunch, and explore all the waterways, falls, tunnels, The Serpentine and The Shell. To return home turn left out of The Grotto onto the contour path. Go past Castle Rocks, around The Diamond, and onto Surprise Ridge.