Distance Time Climb Highest Point Difficulty
6.3km 2hr 319m 178m Moderate

West Head, Resolute Track and Great Mackerel Beach

The walk takes you from West Head, anti-clockwise around the Resolute Track, taking in a couple of short side trips to Great Mackerel Beach and West Head Beach.

Route Notes

Start: Park at the Resolute Car Park, on the right a few hundred metres before you get to West Head. The car park is free if you've already paid the park entry fee ($12 at the time of writing).

Walk a few metres West from the picnic area until you reach the sign indicating the start of the track. Here turn South and follow the wide track.

300m: You pass a track on the left towards West Head, but don't take this. We'll return on that track. This section of the track is wide, flat and easy walking.
600m: After about 600m, you reach an area of aboriginal markings. At first glance, you don't see much, but look closely and you'll see clear carvings of figures and fish in the flat rocks. Look closely at the image and you'll see the figure of a man. It's easy to see why aboriginals spent time here as the view is spectacular.
1.5km: You continue on a wide, flat, open track. It's easy walking along a mostly sandy path.
2.2km: After a little over 2km you will see some steps to the left signposted to Resolute Beach. The track appears to carry on along the ridge but this is a dead end, so take the steps down towards the beach. The easy, wide track is gone now and you follow the steps and rocky path down.
2.3km: About 100m after the start of the steps you'll come to a rock overhang, used as a shelter by the aboriginal inhabitants of this land. A sign nearby tells you some of the history.
2.4km: Shortly after the rock overhang, more steps lead down towards the beach and you start to see glimpses of the sand of Resolute Beach.
2.5km: You reach the coastal path that goes left towards West Head and right towards Great Mackerel Beach. We're going right to do a short side trip.
2.6km: Along this stretch of the path you get some good views to the West over Pittwater towards Barrenjoey lighthouse.
3.0km: About 3km along the walk you get your first views of Great Mackerel Beach. There's a jetty here with a ferry service and a row of houses. The beach is quite busy in the summer and at weekends.
3.2km: To reach the jetty and the main part of the beach, you need to cross a small stream. You'll need to wade to do this. We're turning back here so we don't cross the stream.
3.3km: Walk back across the beach and look for a yellow sign and a post marking where the track leaves the beach to go back into the bush.
4.4km: Retrace your steps back along the path to Resolute Beach and then carry on past the beach heading North.
4.7km: The next beach along is West Head Beach. There's a short track down to the beach, which is a small, rocky beach with steeply shelving sand and usually a single dumping break. It's not really suitable for swimming here due to the break and submerged rocks. If you want to swim Great Mackerel or Resolute Beaches are better options.
5.0km: Rejoin the main track. After a couple of hundred metres you'll reach some rocky steps and you start to climb up towards West Head.
5.3km: It's a short, but steep climb up to West Head where you're rewarded with spectacular views across Pittwater, to Barrenjoey lighthouse and North to the Central Coast.
5.4km: Once you've taken in the views, walk back to the track you came up and find the sign indicating various tracks. Take the track back towards the Resolute picnic area.
5.9km: The track back to the picnic area and car park is gently rising with some widely spaced steps but not many steep areas. After about 1km you'll arrive back at the car park.

see a Virtual Hike with more track photos HERE

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Downloads

ResoluteTrack20230108.zip