The STEP Track loop passes through the valley and ridgetops of Bradley Reserve, Turramurra, including a section along the upper Lane Cove River.  Features of this walk include scenic outlooks, rock outcrops, heath, woodlands, tall forest and quiet shady creeks. The track gets its name from a local environmental group, STEP Inc., and will be led by this organisation’s long-time President, Jill Green, who recently received recognition as recipient of the Ku-ring-gai LGA’s 2025 Environmental Citizen of the Year Award.

The walk is enticingly varied, designed to show several different, interlinked eco systems along the slopes of the Lane Cove River Valley. We’ll see how a beautiful clear creek emerges out of a swamp, its waters trickling over a potholed sandstone shelf then down into the valley. In the swamp, thousands of tiny mosses form a blanket over exposed rocks and there is always something in flower such as hakea, tea tree, or banksias perhaps. We descend on a bush track through tall forest, with a variety of Eucalypts and understory of Acacias and Xanthorrhoea between the sandstone outcrops so typical for this area. As we descend the vegetation changes from dry on the ridge tops to wet Sclerophyll towards the river.  A steep section of rough fire trail brings us to a flat walk along the upper Lane Cove River before our uphill return walk, observing the fascinating change in vegetation along the way.  At the top of the hill we will stop at a forest lookout for a snack and chat.