Bordering on Wollemi National Park and the Blue Mountains, Capertee Valley is the largest enclosed valley of Australia provides spectacular views of rock formations and escarpments of what has been called Australia's unknown Grand Canyon. It is the second largest canyon in the world.

Pantoneys Crown is one of the 'must visit' destinations in the Blue Mountains for bushwalkers and rock climbers. A large isolated mesa in the Capertee Valley, access to it for climbers and bushwalkers can be found at the northern and southern ends. Ropes are required on some sections and in places the climb is quite exposed. As one might expect, the views from the top are astonishing. There is no reliable water source on the Crown so be prepared to carry all you need.

Glen Davis
Within the valley is the site of Glen Davis, a former oil shale mining town and works which lies at the end of the spectacular escarpments of the Capertee Valley. The Glen Davis Museum has an excellent display of the town and shale mining history.

From 1938, the town became the centre of an oil shale industry. The post office for the town opened on 1 March 1939. The township was abandoned in 1952 because shale oil was not viable in a non-war, non-government supported economic environment. After the closure of the oil shale mine, the skeleton of a town survived in the form of some properties, a post office and a shop or two that survived intermittently. The creation of the Wollemi National Park brought a degree of tourism to the area.

The Glen Davis Shale Oil Works and a property now resumed into the National Park downstream from these sites was the location (Paradise Valley) for the 1980 Australian movie 'The Chain Reaction'. This movie starred Mel Gibson (uncredited) and Steve Bisley, Cinematography by Russel Boyd, and had George Miller as First Assistant Director. Many locals appeared in the movie as extras.

Glen Davis can be reached by driving on the Lithgow-Mudgee Road and turning off at Capertee, 50 km from Lithgow, then heading east along a partially unsealed road that goes through the Capertee Valley.