History
Bruce’s walk was originally built as a maintenance track for power transmission lines in 1931 and designed by A. Bruce, the tracks namesake. Upon completion it was quickly promoted as a walking trail with a pamphlet circulated to advertise the walk. From World War II onward the track fell into disrepair and was forgotten.
A local man named Dick Rushton found a copy of the old pamphlet and set about clearing and marking the track and in 1980 led a party of walkers through the section between Bullaburra and Wentworth Falls and in 1983 wrote a guidebook for the track.
In 1986 Jim Smith and Wilf Hilder organised volunteers to again clear and mark the sections of the track between Bullaburra and Wentworth Falls and it was officially opened on May 26 of that year by Alderman David Lawton however this was condemned by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Mayor of the Blue Mountains City Council. Later that year the stretches of track from Wentworth Falls to Medlow Bath were also cleared by volunteers and subsequently opened.
The Track
Currently the track is patchy, largely without signposts and crosses multiple creeks, maintenance trails, roads and other single tracks. For the purpose of this FKT, and for convenience, the trail begins at the Northern exit of the Lawson Train Station and ends at the Eastern exit of the Medlow Bath Train Station just west of St Albans Road. Following directions using a GPX file on a device will make navigating the trail much easier due to the mass of trails and roads it crosses. While the trail does follow the power lines you, unlike the power lines, will be descending and ascending steep and technical trails, crossing creeks and scrambling up rocky slopes. In between these features there is runnable fire trail and road (provided it isn’t too steep) with the run finishing on a road with just enough of a gradient to punish you after a tough couple of hours.
For more information go to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce%27s_Walk
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/australia/new-south-wales/medlow-bath-to-wentworth-falls-via-bruce-s-walk--2
http://david-noble.net/blog/?tag=bruces-walk
https://www.beyondtracks.com/walks/blue-mountains-national-park/bruce's-walk/
