The Bylong Valley Way encompasses the places namely Sandy Hollow, Baerami, Widden Valley, Kerrabee, Bylong, Rylstone, Kandos, Clandulla, Charbon and Ilford. Widden Valley was once the home of the Kamilaroi aboriginal tribe and Widden is interpreted as meaning “stay here, go no further”. It is surrounded by majestic towering sandstone cliffs that shine like gold in the afternoon sunlight
and enchants all who go there. In 1836 the first white man settled in Widden Valley when a former convict called John Tindale made his way down an Aboriginal track from Nullo Mountain near Rylstone.
In 1856, William Thompson and his father John purchased 603 acres of land in the valley along the Widden Brook between the Blackwater and Emu Creek junctions. The Thompson's continually added to their land holdings and in July of 1867 the brothers-in-law John Thompson (son of William) and John Thomas Frost were successful in purchasing significant parcels of land from the Tyndale and Lee families forming the central part of Widden Stud as it is today.
The Widden Valley lies in the extreme north of the Greater Northern Blue Mountains. Whilst not wilderness itself the valley and its environs offers some of the most spectacular scenery to be found anywhere within NSW. The escarpment and plateaux above the valley are within the Wollemi National Park. To the west of the valley lies the Bylong Labyrinth - a virtually untouched landscape of deep cliff lined gorges, canyons and complex pagoda ridges. To the south and east lies the core of the Colo - Hunter Wilderness - the largest remaining wilderness in the state.