About Carrawaystick Waterfall
Carrawaystick Waterfall is perhaps the most conspicuous waterfall in the remote Glenmalure Valley, which is off the eastern slopes of Lungnaquilla (the highest point in the Wicklow Mountains).
Glenmalure Valley is said to be the longest glacial valley in either Ireland or Britain (hence giving rise to the possibility of tall waterfalls).
It has been the site of lead mining until 1864 as well as the Battle of Glenmalure, where a reported 800 English soldiers were defeated in the Battle of Glenmalure.
According to my topo map, the Carrawaystick Brook tumbled a cumulative height of at least 120m (though it could be more depending on where you count the start and end of the slope).
Technically, this is a roadside waterfall, but it requires hiking to see it properly because there’s no legal lay-by or pullout to make it such a convenient experience.
Of course, if you try to force your convenience upon others, you’ll likely piss off the local landowner (whose land encompasses the waterfall) by blocking their driveway or piss off other drivers by blocking the single-lane road in the valley.
Now although the best way to experience the Carrawaystick Waterfall is by hiking, even that comes with caveats after an incident with a visitor who actually assaulted the landowner on his own land in March 2023!
So that pretty much closed off the popular zig-zag trail, which as the name suggested, zig-zagged its way beside the Carrawaystick Waterfall as it connected the Glenmalure Valley floor with the Lugnaquilla Massif.
In any case, the way I experienced this waterfall was by starting off at the Ballinafunshoge car park (see directions below), and then hiking up part of the so-called Miner’s Way.
The Miner’s Way is actually a 19km trail that goes through Glenmalure, Glendalough, and Glendasan Valleys while going by lead mining relics.
The part of the trail that concerns the Carrawaystick Waterfall goes by the Ballinafunshoge Waterfall, which is a small seasonal waterfall on the Mill Brook.
The trail then climbs rapidly along the Old Miner’s Path for the entirety of its 500m length before reaching a wider unpaved road.
At this point, I had a decision to go left and continue climbing uphill or go right and descend the unpaved road (which eventually goes back to the Glen Road that I had driven on earlier).
Since I was short on time, I ultimately decided to go right and then down the road for about 500m, but in hindsight, I should have continued going uphill for a more advantageous view without trees getting in the way.
Nevertheless, the view that I did get was still satisfactory, and I even managed to see a faint rainbow with the Carrawaystick Waterfall before clouds took over once again.
In addition to the views of the waterfall, I could also clearly see why the zig-zag trail was so-named as it made a zig zag to the right of the Carrawaystick Brook.
Now had I gone further uphill, I could have gone at least another 1km or so to get a more direct and elevated look at the waterfall as I would be getting closer to the Mullacor Hut.
In any case, after having my fill of the Carrawaystick Waterfall from my lower position, I then returned the way I came, which made the total hiking distance about 2.2km round-trip (1.1km in each direction).
That said, had I taken the higher route, I probably would have hiked closer to 2.7km round-trip.
I wound up spending about 40 minutes away from the car, but if I did this properly, it should have taken around an hour or so.
Authorities
The Carrawaystick Waterfall is in the Glenmalure National Forest near the town of Laragh in County Wicklow, Ireland. Although the waterfall itself resides on private land, it can be viewed from public lands across the valley. That land is administered by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM). For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the Wicklow Tourism website.
The Carrawaystick Waterfall resides in Glenmalure Valley near the town of Laragh.
I’ll describe the most straightforward way of getting to the waterfall from the Dublin Airport since that was where we picked up the rental car and eventually made our way here.
From the Dublin Airport, we promptly made our way to the nearest entrance of the M50 Motorway (toll) some 5km from the airport.
This involved going down the R132 Road south for about 500-600m to its junction with the Old Airport Road.
We then turned right onto Old Airport Road and continued for about 850m before taking the 3rd exit at the roundabout to get onto the M50 Ramp.
Once on the M50, we would then follow it for about 35km as the M50 merged with the E01/M11 Motorway.
From there, we went another 7.5km to the exit 8 Roundwood/Kilmacanoge/R755, where we then kept to the far left lane as it became divided from the rest of the motorway.
After another kilometre, we then exited the motorway and followed the R755 Road for about 24km towards the town of Laragh.
Once in town, we then turned left to remain on the R755 Road for another 1.4km before turning right to go onto the road to Glenmalure.
After about 7.6km of going up then down on this access road, we then found ourselves at a four-way intersection within Glenmalure Valley.
We then turned right onto the single-lane The Glen Road, and followed this road for about 4.3km to the Ballinafunshoge car park on the right.
Note that along The Glen Road, the farm fronting the Carrawaystick Waterfall is on the left, but there’s no legal lay-by or place to pull over for a clean look without trespassing or blocking traffic.
That’s why I advocate for driving all the way to the Ballinafunshoge car park, and then walk the rest of the way to your desired spots.
Overall, this drive should take a little over an hour, but the drive from Laragh to the Ballinafunshoge car park took me about 15-20 minutes.
For context, Laragh is about 26km (over 30 minutes drive) southwest of Enniskerry, about 22km (30 minutes drive) west of Wicklow, about 51km (about 90 minutes drive) southwest of Dublin, 106km (about 90 minutes drive) northeast of Kilkenny, and 101km (about 90 minutes drive) north of Wexford.
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Checking out the Ballinafunshoge Falls in low flow near the trailhead
Checking out a semi-elevated view of the Carrawaystick Falls from a lower road as I was running out of time
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