Participants: Rachel Grindlay, Caoimhin Ardren, Steve Thomsen, Glen Lewin
Before I'd headed to bed on Saturday night I confirmed that we were aiming to leave Kanangra by 8-8:30am so we could meet Glen in Blackheath at 9:30am. I duly got up at 7am and packed etc. There was no movement from the other tent. Eventually at 7:50am I woke them up and things got moving. To my surprise we managed to get away not long after 8:30am. Arriving in Blackheath at 10am we headed for coffee at the Antiques cafe, while Steve had pancakes to make up for the lack of breakfast earlier. Finally we were ready to head for the canyon. Glen and I had done the Juggler/Grand trip previously. Glen was looking prepared with the book and maps out, so we decided to follow him to the parking point.
We passed the Katoomba airfield but then failed to take a correct turn and found ourselves at pylon #19. A quick turn around put us in the lead, we were soon back on the correct road and when we hit a junction where we took the right hand turn. The road was fairly dodgy and judging by the amount of growth hadn't seen much traffic in recent times. We realised we should have taken the left road, but had nowhere to turn around. We continued down until we found an appropriate (if difficult) spot. Reversals complete we headed out along the other road. We parked next to Pylon #20. Bags were quickly packed and we were off, following Glen down to the left. The path began to peter out and we were soon just scrambling down the ridge. Things didn't quite seem to be matching up with the book and after viewing the map (and declaring the grid references in the book must be wrong!) we eventually realised we on the wrong side of the ridge. So back up to the cars we headed. For some silly reason Caoimhin had offered to carry all my gear so I bounded off unladen.
Back at the cars (at midday!) we still couldn't quite understand the book's description, nevertheless, we knew where we were going on the map so chose to just head down through the bush. Not long afterwards we hit a highway, and then the "burnt tree with a hole in it". As expected there was a fairly well worn path which made life pretty easy. We hit the canyon, hand-over-handing the first short drop. We continued down the canyon without event, I was surprised at how nice the canyon was (I didn't remember much from my previous visit). The next 2 abseils passed uneventfully. We rigged the final abseil from the base of the Casuarina, deciding the branch looked far too dead to be worth using for an easier start. Glen was startled by the overhang and so backed off and let the rest of us go first. Those with long legs managed to step down, whereas those of us with short ones just went for the lowering as far as possible. And that was it. A short snack after we had crossed over the creek then we were on our way to Grand Canyon. Caoimhin was keen to identify the exit so we knew where we were going on our way out, we passed one path which we assumed was it.
We passed several groups on our way up. One family was particularly interested in our adventures and looked on as we dropped into Grand (off the bright, shiny new chains). Suddenly we were in another world - dark, cool and wet. We rock-hopped our way through the canyon. I had to put my camera away fairly early on at a pool which looked like I had the potential to fall in. When we reached the final swim I was surprised how unlike my memories it was. Maybe it had been distorted by the photo of me in it which was published in the Readers Digest! It wasn't as cold as I remembered either, though still not pleasant. We dried off at the junction and then headed off back to the track we had spotted on the way up. Almost immediately we walked past another indistinct track which I pointed out to Caoimhin. We wondered if that was the Pilcher track, it certainly stirred memories from my last trip. However, we continued walking, several minutes later when we had not reached the other track, we stopped. Re-reading the book's description of an "indistinct track just before the ..signs" we decided we should turn back. Soon back to where we had been just a few minutes ago we were soon bounding up the Pilcher track. A less pleasant surprise awaited us after the first switchback. Some one had decided to empty their bowels right in the middle of the path, along with the toilet paper. Yuck. Anyway, we made very good time on the track and were soon in familiar territory having passed where we had turned off. We got back to the cars around 4pm. (so 4 hours from when we left in the right direction!)
Glen decided doing Empress was too much out of his way so headed back to Bathurst. As all the canyons on the weekend so far had been repeats for me I was keen to add something new to my list! We struggled to find a park at Conservation Hut, it was pretty busy. We decided on minimal gear, Caoimhin and I only taking harnesses (wearing them) and Steve carrying his 64m rope. We headed off and then almost immediately stopped as Caoimhin couldn't remember which way to go. We headed back towards the cars and down the path branching off on the right. We walked down here for a few minutes before we stopped. Caoimhin's memory not helping him but we decided to head back and go down the path sign-posted to Empress Falls. At least on this trip I took no responsibility for the lack of direction since I hadn't done it! We raced down the stairs, pleased to see the 2 minivans of people from a commercial group huffing and puffing their way up and therefore not blocking up the abseil. Once we got to the start of the canyon we were quickly in. It didn't take long for the first swim and after the series of short climb-downs we were at the rap point. There was a party using the right hand chains so we used the left hand side. Steve headed down first, I realised after he was gone that my abseiling glove was still in his pack. Not that it mattered with the amount of friction I set on my rap rack! We were soon all down, and I was shivering! It was not particularly warm. While we were retrieving the rope a commercial guide (apparently - with no party) decided rather than abseiling he would slide down the tree on the left hand side of the drop. He looked fairly precarious on that and we were amazed when he then down-climbed the side of the waterfall. We headed off not wanting to be around when his stupidity got the better of him and he fell. (We did see he got down safely, but why add the extra risk??) The climb to the top seemed shorter than the walk down, but we were disappointed to find the cafe closed. Steve had been craving a milkshake so we set off in search of one of those. An enjoyable day of canyoning.