Category Archives: Canyoning

SW USA Part 2: North Wash

Continued from Part 1

Maidenwater Canyon

We took advantage of the 11am checkout before heading to the Maidenwater canyons on the Ticaboo Road. We chose the middle fork as the beta suggested it rarely held water, compared to the other forks – we’d had enough of being wet the day before!

There were plenty of downclimbs and it was a good opportunity to try and get our heads back in the downclimbing game. Unfortunately when there’s only two of you and you’re partner-assisting on climbs there’s no one to take photos. At one stage I meat-anchored Tom and then I had to stand on his head to get down – would have been a great photo I’m sure. We’re not quite out of the canyon game yet!

Hot approach walk just after lunch

First abseil – the blue rope was already in place

One of many downclimbs

I think Tom rapped this and then helped me downclimb (rope pull no good from where it was set as you can imagine!)

More downclimbing

Still more downclimbing

From there, we headed to Poison Springs where we were hopefully meeting some friends of a friend to canyon the next day. I heard the others arrive late that night, but Tom had slept through. We’d been told it would likely be a late start (10am), but I don’t think I’d quite believed it until we wandered up to where they had camped at 8:30am and everyone was fast asleep. As it turned out Tom & I probably could have run a canyon that morning as we didn’t get going until after 11am… but that wasn’t the point of the day – the point was to go canyoning with other people!

It was a motley crew from Salt Lake City and Durango – many of whom hadn’t met until that weekend (lots of friends of friends). With 2 Rachels and 2 Coreys, along with Zac, Tom & Val it meant remembering names wasn’t too tricky!

Tom & I put our vote in for doing Constrychnine first as we’d done the other two Poison Spring canyons in 2013. No one else had much of an opinion so off to Constrychnine we went.

Constrychnine Canyon

The first drop is 40m off a deadman anchor, and we spent a lot of time here, as we politely worked out everyone’s skills and who should be doing what… You forget how long it takes to get 7 people down long abseils even if you’re working efficiently, and with the next one being 55m, and then a subsequent 30m one, we spent a lot of time in the canyon! That meant we had plenty of time to get to know everyone.

Top of the first rap – a motley collection of canyoneers and their gear

SLC Corey on the first rap

SLC Corey and Durango Rachel – checking out the second drop

Rachel on the second rap

Piling up at the bottom of the second rap

Val bridging below the second rap. We set a rope for the downclimb so technically our third rap.

The spectacular third (official), our fourth, rap

Third rap

Corey in the canyon

Just as we thought it was over there was one final drop, with no anchor, for us to overcome. Most of us were meat-anchored down, and a deadman/cairn anchor was set for the LAMAR.

Huh, a drop we weren’t anticipating (though if we’d read the notes properly we should have)

(the other) Rachel at the bottom of the final drop

Funnily enough, as it was around 5pm by the time we’d climbed out, there wasn’t too much enthusiasm to do a run through Arscenic to finish the day. Instead we had a great evening socialising, aided by an amazing spread of snacks, and dinner provided by (Durango) Rachel. Tom & I were most grateful for everyone’s welcome & hospitality, particularly given we didn’t have anything delicious to contribute. And it was nice to have someone to talk to other than Tom 🙂

Good times back at camp – Tom, Val, Corey, Zac, Rachel, Corey

The next morning I was keen to get moving and make use of the day as the following day the unstable weather was coming back. Eventually we said our goodbyes and headed off to do Shillelagh Canyon.

Shillelagh Canyon (East fork)

We arrived just as another couple were preparing to do the same thing – we followed them up to the start where they insisted we go ahead as they were just learning. The anchors on the rappels had been extended to avoid rope-grooving. This made the starts quite tricky as you needed to get a long way over the edge before you weighted the rope.

Tom on the first rap

Tom contemplating the awkward start on the second rap (see the rope grooves on the left)

Coupled with the tricky starts, the bottom of rap 2 had a muddy pool. Fortunately Tom was able to do a somewhat stretchy traverse around it – and then was able to haul me across. I suspect the two beginners behind us would have found things a bit more difficult!

Exhausted from hauling me across the pool at the bottom of the second rap? (He traversed by getting off in the alcove in the photo and doing a dodgy traverse around the bulge about the level where the rock strata lines smooth out)

Downclimbing!

Peek-a-boo!

We had an early lunch back at the car and debated what to do for the rest of the day.

Eventually we settled on Angel Slot Canyon even though it involved more dirt roads. Fortunately this was probably the best quality dirt road we’d encountered – though there were three quite sandy sections which may have been tricky without AWD. It was super windy when we arrived at the high, exposed car park and we were happy when we eventually got into the slot.

Angel Slot Canyon

Views over the Dirty Devil Wilderness – can’t feel the wind from the photo though!

Rapping into Angel Slot

Though depending on which way the canyon was running we were having sand blow into our eyes which made bits of it very unpleasant! Overall it was a high quality canyon with plenty of downclimbing and very speccy views on the way out.

In the slot and out of the wind (mostly)

Downclimbing

More downclimbing

In the canyon

More canyon

Spectacular walk out

From there we had a shake at Stan’s in Hanksville for old times’ sake before another motel night in Green River – yes, we’re getting soft.

Continue to Part 3

SW USA Part 1: Zion and San Rafael Swell

It had been 7 years since our last trip to the canyons of Utah. There hadn’t been a lot of canyoning done in Australia during that time either – what with bushfires, floods and Covid in the last 4 years.

I thought I’d set a relatively unambitious schedule with easier canyons – nothing overly exciting on the list. But even that seemed like it might be too ambitious when Tom managed to magic up some bruised (actually more likely fractured as it turned out) ribs the week before we left. Great.

Things didn’t start well when the airline moved our flight 24 hours and didn’t bother to inform us. Fortunately I had logged on to check the flights and noticed – so we managed to fly only 10 hours delayed rather than 24 hours.

As we had learnt from our 2013 and 2017 trips it’s not worth trying to get out of Las Vegas on the first day. Due to the change of flights it was just as well we weren’t planning to, as we didn’t get in till 10pm. That didn’t stop us accepting free (crappy) champagne from the concierge at our hotel though.

Feeling groggy (from the jetlag!) the next morning we set off on the unpleasant task of trying to buy supplies for a month living out of the car. This isn’t fun at the best of times, let alone when you’re jet-lagged and in a foreign country with strange things lining their supermarket shelves. I quickly felt justified at bringing full-fat milk powder, untoasted muesli and cup-a-soup packets with us, as nothing resembling these were available in the supermarket we went to.

Shopping took most of the morning and it was after lunch before we were on our way to Zion. We had hoped to shop the previous day and have time for a longer canyon but as things were we settled for Ghost Rider. The idea was that this would just get our heads in the game. We watched in horror as the car temperature climbed to 110°F (43°C) as we drove across the desert. Ghost Rider wasn’t far off our route so we figured we’d give it a go anyway – the canyon was only supposed to take an hour.

Heading down the drainage to Ghost Rider

Abseiling in Ghost Rider

I don’t think I’d registered it was in limestone country so any hope of it getting us used to the grippy sandstone were dashed.

On the walk out – we haven’t melted!

We didn’t melt and it wasn’t long before we were driving through Springdale with lots of fond memories of previous trips. The advantage of arriving late was there was no queue to get into Zion National Park! The temperatures did not abate overnight and we had a sticky low of ~30°C.

Much like our 2017 trip I had scheduled Boundary for the first couple of days. And much like our 2017 trip Tom decided he wasn’t physically up for it. The forecast was a bit unstable as well – possible thunderstorms. I lay there trying to think of alternatives and finally came up with what I thought was a great option – Middle Echo – we’d really enjoyed it in 2013, we didn’t have drive anywhere, there seemed to be permits available, and it wasn’t too big a day. Except then I realised that the access point within Zion was closed due to rockfall. So much for that idea.

We’d never been to the Kolob side of Zion and I had Lava Point Campground booked for that night. So the compromise plan was to do a hike in that area. It was only the next morning when I looked at things a bit more closely that I realised Lava Point was not really anywhere near the Kolob hiking area. Needless to say there was a little bit of frustration creeping in as nothing was going quite to plan.

Pre-requisite Zion campsite photo

Not having a better option we decided we’d just head to Taylor Creek anyway. We had a pleasant (if hot) hike out to the Double Arch Alcove. After that we headed to the Timber Creek Overlook Trail which had excellent views of the Zion area. I can’t believe we hadn’t been here previously!

Double arch alcove – Taylor Creek

Timber Creek Overlook views

We were forced to have a stop in La Verkin for a cold drink as the jetlag and hot weather combination was making it dangerous to keep driving. Eventually we did safely arrive at our campsite at Lava Point. We were very happy to get up in altitude and to some lower temperatures. While we were setting up there were thunderstorms rolling around, and we eventually retreated to the car as the rain came through.

Watching the thunderstorm roll around us

I still had hopes for Boundary and was trying to convince Tom we should do it the next day. There were still possible thunderstorms forecast but I thought if we got up really early we should be able to beat them. But eventually between Tom’s ribs and the forecast we decided it wasn’t the best idea and we’d just do what the original schedule had called for and head to Benson Creek.

We didn’t take the optimal driving route and so it was a bit later than planned when we arrived – and there were ominous grey clouds positioned right over the canyon. Needless to say I was a little nervous as the thunder rolled around our heads as we marched up the trail. On the plus side it was a short canyon, and the terrain seemed to have some soil to capture the run-off if it did start raining.

Abseiling in Benson Creek

Abseiling in Benson Creek

Abseiling in Benson Creek

We managed to get through Benson Creek narrows in less an hour without the weather deteriorating any further. We then made the (foolish?) decision to have lunch at the picnic area just below the canyon. Most of it was spent huddled under a tree as it spat on us. Just as we were finishing up the rain really started coming down. So there was more huddling, but eventually we sucked it up and marched back to the car in the rain. Why would I bring a raincoat for a trip like this/with a forecast like this?!

Lunch in the drizzle

From there we headed up to Point Supreme Campground, at 10,300 feet (3,100m), the highest place we’d ever camped. No worries about the hot weather here! In fact us, along with many others, spent a couple of hours that afternoon hiding in the Cedar Breaks National Monument Visitors Centre while it alternated rain and hail. It cleared and we were able to set up a dry tent, and even get a nice sunset at one of the view points.

Cedar Breaks National Monument – spectacular

We checked out the Southern Rim Hike the next morning which was excellent – though the altitude did make it harder going than it would have been normally. The light was stunning.

Cedar Breaks National Monument

Cedar Breaks National Monument

The Bartizan, South Rim trail, Cedar Breaks National Monument

Amazing light

From there we drove to an even higher point – Brian Head at 11,307ft / 3446m this was the highest either of us had ever been. No work to do it for it either as there was a road to the high point. Then we did the Twisted Forest hike for lunch. I enjoyed it so much I did it twice… when I realised I’d left my drink bottle at our lunch spot. Fortunately it was only a 40 minute return march the second time round!

Twisted Forest trail

Not content with our activities for the day we finished off with a visit to Mammoth Cave which is a lava tube which I wriggled through, but Tom decided his ribs wouldn’t thank him for it, so he contented himself with photography instead.

Another (not quite as) high camp that night at Lake Panguitch kept us at a good temperature, but the next day we descended down to the San Rafael Swell. We had another short (2-3 hours) canyon on the agenda – Lupacchiotta Canyon. This one involved just parking on the side of the Interstate highway.

Rather than following the directions Tom decided we could navigate better. But he’d forgotten about cryptobiotic soil – you shouldn’t just march cross-country as you bust open the protective soil, so we had a slow and inefficient approach avoiding all the crypto. Should have just followed the instructions!

Abseiling in Lupacchiotta Canyon

Abseiling in Lupacchiotta Canyon

Couldn’t quite avoid the water

Our intended camp for the night while very close as the crow flies, required us to be on the other side of the interstate and it was 12 miles of driving before we were able to turn-around and drive back 14 miles or so. It was a slow drive in to our intended campsite as we spent plenty of time checking out various sections of the road before proceeding, but we got there eventually.

Campsite with all the mod cons

The next day was the first ‘big’ one of the trip – in that it was a full day and not a half day or less. We set off early to try and get the cross-country done before the heat of the day.

Big country – on our way into Eagle Canyon

We weren’t too happy to find ourselves with some waist-deep wades with associated goopy mud as we progressed up Forgotten Canyon. The beta we had promised “This is NOT a route for beginners, nor for those looking for a slot canyon adventure. It IS a route for those looking for an elegant and challenging route with a little bit of technical rope work. The route requires good navigation skills, route finding, and most of all, good judgment. In several spots, there is relatively easy, but very exposed climbing. Not for the faint of heart or inexperienced.”

The exposed climbing was not going to be fun with our shoes covered in mud. And our judgment proved correct – we got to the crux climb and stuffed around trying to overcome it. The slickrock that I think we were meant to just walk up just wouldn’t stick our shoes. I tried climbing the corner and couldn’t get up the very top. I tried climbing the dryfall but wasn’t bold enough to get up the final section. Eventually Tom had a go at the corner and managed to get up, and then was able to belay me up the dryfall (easy when you’re on a rope!). And after all the time we spent there I didn’t take a single photo of that section…

Wading in Forgotten Canyon

Once up the crux, we made it up Forgotten and over the mesa and back into Eagle with little issue. Though we did rim walk the upper narrows in Eagle since we could see they were wet. Eventually we got to the short technical section in Eagle – it looked very wet! Time for lunch then before we got saturated.

We made it up Forgotten, looking back at Forgotten Canyon Arch

As this was a route that isn’t done that frequently and it seemed like it had probably flashed recently I was a bit nervous about the anchors – particularly for the final rap which was a log. Without knowing the nature of the log you’re never sure if it’s one that’s going to stick around for years or one that will get washed away with the next flood.

Subsequently we took a very conservative approach to the technical section – leaving ropes in place and checking out anchor options before proceeding. The final log was in place (phew) but with only a sling draped over it (not around it – maybe washed down from elsewhere?) so more time spent replacing that. The final rap took us in to a large pool with a 10m swim to get out of. Probably over an hour to get through 150m at most of canyon.

Tom contemplating a swim in Eagle Canyon

Now how do I get down from here?

Looking excited for a swim at the bottom of the final rap in Eagle

We were relieved to be out of it (and in the sun so we could warm up after several swims), only to find the next section was not only wet but the wet was black, rotting vegetation. No way was I going through that if I could help it! Fortunately we were able to rim walk and then step across the canyon at a narrow section and climb down past the worst of it. Winning!

No, I really don’t want to get in that

Exposed traverse to get back up to the car out of Eagle Canyon

Back to the car at 4:45pm it had truly been a long day. It would have been great to camp another night where we were but we stank. And I was happier to get out that night so I wouldn’t spend the night worrying about whether the car would get stuck. So to Green River and a motel – bliss!

Continue to Part 2

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Carnarvon Gorge road trip (6-16 June 2024)

King’s Birthday weekend was coming up, and taking the rest of the week off seemed like a great way to get 10 days off in a row with minimal annual leave burnt. But where to go?

Carnarvon Gorge has been on my to-do list for a long time. Not sure exactly why – possibly because it’s mentioned in the back of Rick Jamieson’s Canyons Near Sydney book. (Not that Carnarvon Gorge is near Sydney!). Every time I’ve looked at it before I’ve been overwhelmed with how far away it is from everywhere, but this time it seemed like 10 days might be just enough time to make it worthwhile. Do we fly or drive? Tom convinces me that it’s probably easier just to drive since then we can take all our gear from home and not worry about weight limits on the plane. Slightly dreading the 1500km we have to drive each way I agree.

Day 1: Sydney to Quirindi (350km/4 hours)

We knock off the first 4 hours of driving on Thursday night after work. This puts us in striking distance of breakfast in Narrabri and then the opportunity to visit two areas we didn’t make it it to our on our previous visit to Mount Kaputar National Park – Sawn Rocks and Waa Gorge.

Day 2: Quirindi to Nindigully Pub (573km/7 hours)

Sawn Rocks, Mount Kaputar National Park

Waa Gorge, Mount Kaputar National Park

Mill-Bullah Waterholes, Mount Kaputar National Park

The schedule for the second day was pretty tight, but we managed to make up some time with the overly generous national park estimates for how long Waa Gorge would take to explore. We figured that gave us time to stop for coffee in Moree… but we’d failed to note where One Ton Post in Mungindi actually was. And had no reception – rather than just drive until we found signs we tried to find it (on the wrong side of the Barwon River). Any time we’d made up in Waa Gorge was squandered, but we made it into Nindigully Pub just on 5pm. We were somewhat disappointed that the thick stands of trees surrounding the pub obscured much of what had promised to be a good sunset.

Thallon Silos

Nindigully Pub

The pub was pumping and we somewhat accidentally found ourselves in the food queue, which was just as well, as otherwise we may not have got our first choice order. Live entertainment by Adam Kilpatrick was excellent – I couldn’t have pictured a more stereotypical Queenslander! (Maroons shirt & cap, stubbies & thongs… in 6°C) We particularly enjoyed his full rendition of American Pie towards the end of his set.

Day 3: Nindigully Pub to Carnarvon Gorge (491km/5.5 hours)

The next day was an early start, our preferred way to tackle a long driving day, getting a couple of hours of driving under the belt before breakfast (in Surat). With the schedule already falling behind we didn’t do the full riverside walk but it was good to stretch the legs out.

Roma’s supermarkets seemed packed with people like us stocking up for a few days. We managed to get in and out fairly quickly before lunch at Injune, in June (never gets old I’m sure). The only option was the pub of which we were 2 of 4 patrons. It’s hard to imagine the economics work – but I assume it must get busier at night. The chips were some of the best I’ve ever had – so crunchy!

Largest bottle tree in Roma

By the time we got into the Caravan Park at Carnarvon Gorge mid-afternoon I was ready not to do much for the rest of the day. Originally we had thought we might go and do a walk, but setting up camp, and not having to think for half an hour won out. That said there was a lookout to visit for sunset and some supposed platypus viewing to be had. Sadly, we didn’t look at the map properly and so spent a good 20 minutes looking for platypus at the swimming hole instead of the platypus area. Then mistimed our arrival at the lookout for sunset. Quickly dashing back to the actual platypus pool we did get to spot one before it swam off downstream away from where we were allowed to go. Ah well, can’t have it all. With a new moon the sky was dark and clear, the stars were phenomenal. It was also good to know we didn’t have any real driving for the next 4 days.

Day 4: Carnarvon Gorge caravan park to National Park entry (Driving: 6km / 15 min)

Another relatively early start, complicated by needing to pack overnight packs for the next few nights. But we managed to be walking by 9am which was the goal. The vegetation was so lush – not really what I was expecting. It really didn’t feel like we were in Outback Queensland. We did all the side-trips as we walked up the gorge; the Moss Garden, the Amphitheatre, the Art Gallery and Cathedral Cave. Wards Canyon was closed due to flood damage.

Beautiful day in Carnarvon Gorge

Tom in the Amphitheatre

The Art Gallery – the most impressive collection of art I’ve seen in one location

All 17 crossings up the gorge were labelled – though the signs got further and further back from the creek as we went upstream

Around one of the communal fires the previous night we’d met a couple of young guys who were heading out on the Great Walk and camping at Big Bend like us that evening. We kept leap-frogging them through the day – though they were doing was more exercise than us, as we dumped our packs at the junctions, whereas they were carrying them in and out on all the side trips. We also explored up an unwritten up side creek, which ended up being quite a lovely section of gorge/canyon.

Precipice Sandstone cliffs in lovely light

Big cliffs

Dramatic gorge, small human

Epic camp cave (Cathedral/Pitjara) – you can see why this was used by the local people for thousands of years

Eventually we made it to Big Bend – the last arrivals for the day, with 6 others already set-up. As such we got the ‘worst’ pick of the campsites, but we were happy enough with it that we didn’t bother moving when everyone else cleared out the next morning.

Our camp cave not quite so epic (or is it..)

We chatted with the two young guys until it got dark and cold. They headed for their tents, and we rugged up. Another couple from Cairns shared the picnic table with us while we had dinner. The third couple barely left their tent, so we never spoke to them. It was pretty cold, and the Cairns couple headed to bed by 6pm. That left me & Tom partying until 8pm.

Day 5: No driving!

It was a chilly night, we slept really well and after all our early starts were happy to have a sleep in. Our relaxed start meant we didn’t get away from camp until almost 10am. A day of exploring up-gorge with no real goals meant timing was pretty flexible. We had a successful day poking our heads up a number of gorges, generally getting stopped by some sort of chockstone block-up.

A canyon!

Tom in the canyon

Trying to replicate a photo of me in Blarney Canyon in Utah (turns out not that similar)

Tom looking small in a mossy section

Will he hop in the water in an attempt to continue upstream?

Large log jam!

Cliffs in the main gorge

Staghorns

Starting up another side gorge

up/down climb (depending on your direction)

Handy roots provide access into this side creek

Back at camp we had a new cohort of campers. Mum & 2 young daughters who were obviously experienced campers and quite precocious, plus a couple from Mackay on their final day of the Great Walk. They spoke of how cold it had been at the higher camps of the previous few nights. It seemed slightly warmer than the night before but still pretty chilly and yet again we were the only ones up at the late hour of 8pm.

Big Bend campsite reflections

Day 6: No driving!

On day 6 we were back to an early start, aiming to get up Battleship Spur in the cooler part of the morning. Not that it had been particularly warm during the day (maybe 19°C?), but a 500m ascent is a 500m ascent. What a delightful walk – the start of Boowinda Gorge was quite impressive, the scramble up the gully onto the ridge, then the ridge walking was excellent, before traversing across the tops to the lookout. We had a perfect day for it, and it was really enjoyable.

“the Subway” of Boowinda Gorge (at least that’s what it reminded me of)

On our way up to Battleship Spur

It took us 2 hours from camp to the lookout which was great timing for morning tea.

Battleship Spur viewpoint

Eventually we decided we better head back down. Everything had a slightly different perspective going the other direction. We enjoyed watching a couple of wedge-tailed eagles soaring just overhead, and Tom got to photograph the orchids we’d rushed past on the way up.

Tom in dinosaur country

At the bottom of the steep gully which gives access up to the tops

Back down in Boowinda Gorge, we headed upstream. I wasn’t really feeling it so I let Tom keep going while I found a nice flat rock to lie on. The sun vanishes early from the gorge in winter, and it was pretty chilly in the gorge, so it wasn’t quite as relaxing as it could have been. Tom eventually reappeared and said he’d found a flowing canyon only 9 minutes upstream. So we headed up to that, but I decided I didn’t need to go past the section where wading was required (Tom already had).

Tom found a wet canyon!

Back in the subway

On the way back down the gorge we had an unusual encounter. Two wedge-tailed eagles were perched in a tree in the gorge – seemed unusual, but maybe they roost there for the night?

It was a lot milder that evening – I didn’t even put my down jacket on till after 7pm. We had a full party around the picnic table – Mum & her daughters were still there, plus a couple from Kingaroy on their first overnight hike, and a couple from Brisbane just starting the Great Walk. Despite the mild(er) temperatures we were still the last ones up – at 8pm!

Day 7: National Park entry to Carnarvon Gorge caravan park (Driving: 6km / 15 min)

Day 7 was another full schedule so up early again – but to be fair when you’re going to sleep by 9pm, that’s still over 9 hours sleep with a 6:30am wake-up. The first half of the walk back down Carnarvon Gorge passed very quickly. The first of the day trippers we encountered quite early – unfortunately one of them had fallen in at Creek Crossing 10. We’d seen 2 people slip in there while having lunch on our first day. So beware crossing 10! The second half dragged a bit as we both waited for the turn off for Boolimba Bluff to appear. Eventually it did. We stashed our packs and walking on air with only day packs as we headed up to the lookout. The ‘steep and rugged’ walk up the gully reminded me of the Devil’s Hole in Katoomba and was lovely as it was in the shade. Apparently we’re fitter than we thought as we overtook quite a few people on our way up.

I obviously wasn’t that impressed with the view as I didn’t see fit to include a photo!

On our way back from Boolimba Bluff lookout. The sigh says “the next 300m is very steep and rugged. Recommended only for the physically fit”. Not sure what Tom was doing up there… 🙂

We were back at the visitors centre in time for lunch. We almost lost lunch to a determined kookaburra but fortunately it didn’t manage to make off with most of our cheese.

Post lunch we still had Mickey Creek, and side creek Warrumbah Creek that doesn’t even get a mention on the map, to do so Tom said there was no time for me to have a coffee. Boo. Turned out to to be a good thing, since by the time we’d been up the upper left fork and upper right fork of Mickey Creek and then explored a long way up Warrumbah Creek there wasn’t that much time left in the afternoon.

Found us another canyon

Turns out we left the best for last. Warrumbah Creek was a stunner. I think the other canyons may have felt a bit disappointing if we’d done this one first. Tom went a bit further than me, as I wasn’t keen to have wet shoes to go back down the flimsy branch we’d balanced on to get up the canyon. He didn’t get much further though as he came to a chest deep section, followed by a tricky looking climb up. With his camera/phone/gps in his short pockets it made it an easier choice to turn around.

Slanty corridor here we come

Canyon shoes come into their own for some bridging

Don’t think he bridged that pool!

Flimsy branch provided access up-canyon

Spectacular canyon

Back at the Caravan Park we prioritised platypus viewing over sunsets. The first pool didn’t provide much, so we wandered to the second one. Almost immediately I spotted some churned up dirt and bubbles. Bingo! We ended up watching two platypus swim about for half an hour. The closest view I’ve ever got of one. It was an excellent end to the trip.

My best platypus viewing experience – it was in fact excellent, even if this photo doesn’t perhaps suggest that

Day 8: Carnarvon Gorge caravan park to Toowoomba (611km / 7 hours)

Surprisingly (not), day 8 was an early start. We had an excellent breakfast in Injune (the sole cafe is open in the mornings), before stops in Chinchilla and then Dalby to stretch our legs walking along the river. I’d left booking accom to the last minute, and lots of motels in Toowoomba were full. Eventually I found us a much nicer room than I would have normally booked – and for once I took advantage of having a spa bath to soak my legs which were feeling the 4 days of walking.

Day 9: Toowoomba to Girraween National Park (191km / 2 hours 20 min)

We had a relaxing start to the day as we only had a couple of hours of driving and a similar amount of walking. Despite being our first visit to Girraween National Park we eschewed the popular walks and instead headed to the Mt Norman side to walk into a remote bush camp site I’d booked. I don’t think I’d appreciated the walk in was entirely on fire trail, but it was, so we made quick work of the 8km. Unfortunately the blue skies we’d started the day with were now grey clouds which didn’t bode that well for photography.

Stone gate entrance, Girraween National Park

South Bald Rock remote camp

Tom directed us to a track which led around the back of South Bald Rock and eventually up to the granite. At that stage I was wondering why we hadn’t camped closer to the summit as the thought of retracing the route after dark (or before sunrise) was a bit daunting. However, once on top it looked like we might be able to walk off the front back to camp.

Looks like sunset but it’s only mid-afternoon

Can we get off the front of this?

Camp is a long way down

Unfortunately it then started raining – that was not in the forecast! I’d been so casual about the forecast I hadn’t even brought a raincoat. Fortunately there was a large overhanging boulder near by so we sheltered under that with our happy hour while the rain blew through. In the scheme of things we couldn’t have done much better.

Hiding from the rain under a convenient boulder during an un-forecast bout of rain

The rain stopped for sunset but there was a bit too much cloud for anything spectacular. We made it back to the tent before the next lot of rain came through, so I got lucky on my lack of raincoat.

Actual sunset… Putin eat your heart out

Day 10: Girraween National Park to Armidale (265km / 3 hours 10 min)

Tom’s description of the morning didn’t make me rush out of bed to join him for a pre-sunrise hike back up South Bald Rock. I enjoyed being warm in bed while he went seeking sunrise. We walked out straight after breakfast and were back at the car by 11am. A bit earlier than expected – I was a bit over the walking – the weather combined with the fire trail made the trip a bit disappointing.

Instead we turned to the other thing we often do on roadtrips – wine tasting! Only 15 minutes up the road was Queensland’s premiere (and only!) wine region. We found ourselves at a winery with a generous lunch platter and tasting flight – an excellent way to spend a couple of hours before hitting the road to Armidale.

Day 11: Armidale to Sydney (480km / 5 hours 30 min)

We decided to take Thunderbolt Way back to Sydney – looking forward to a breakfast stop at the patisserie in Gloucester. We were very nearly too late as we secured the final two vanilla slices! Though to be honest I think the sausage roll was probably more impressive. Breaking the trip up we had coffee in Stroud, before the final push back home.

Total 2983km

Colo Pass 5 & 1 (20-21 Apr 2024)

James wanted to go canyoning for the weekend. Woohoo! But his suggestions were far more energetic than either Tom or I were capable of, and the weather forecast was not overly enticing for wet canyoning. But why work out plans more than 48 hours in advance? Eventually we settled on a trip into the Upper Colo since James had never been there, and I was hoping it would mean we wouldn’t be away the *entire* weekend.

About 20 minutes after leaving home on Saturday morning Tom started swearing. His phone and wallet are still on the table at home. “Am I taking the next exit?”… “Running out of time for a decision?”… I assured him it would be like going bush in the old days before Lidar maps existed and we had to just use our experience. I’m not sure he was convinced.

We continued on; but without Tom’s drivers licence I ended up doing most of the driving. Well, until we got to the boggy sections on the Culoul Range Fire Trail. I got us through a few puddles but as we started swinging about I decided I’d had enough. And Tom, licence or not, could be responsible for getting us through the remainder. We made it to the end of the road intact and were soon fairly saturated as we started walking along the overgrown trail. The forecast rain seemed to have come through before we arrived that morning and everything was sodden.

Eventually we dropped off the track, where apparently it hadn’t rained given how dry it was, and headed down to our creek. It was slow going, with plenty of young lawyer vine ready to leave its mark.

Between a petrol stop, a coffee/banh mi/pastry stop, the wet road in and then the overgrown approach, it was almost midday by the time we got to the first abseil. The banh mi had been smelling alluring the whole drive up, but were slowly getting soggy and squashed in our packs. The others weren’t keen for an early lunch so we kept going to the further detriment of the banh mi.

Tom on the first abseil

After the reasonable gap between the first and second abseils I got James to read out Tom’s notes from previous visits. I think both him & I were a little surprised (horrified) to find the base of second abseil was going to have a waist deep pool and the base of the third a chest deep pool! Slightly concerned at my lack of water proofing I was happy to let the others go first.

James on the second abseil, Tom at the base

I convinced them we should have lunch before getting into a chest deep pool and we were lucky to have a calm period on the ledge so we didn’t get cold while we ate our soggy banh mi.

As per our usual practice I took my shirt off for the third abseil, which prompted the others also to do so. I was not unhappy to find it was unnecessary as the pool was only waist deep (maybe even shallower than the previous one).

All smiles that a chest-deep pool didn’t exist (just a waist deep one)

Somewhere around this part of the day Tom objected to my efforts to increase our (his) efficiency getting down the drops. I was labelled the ‘fun police’ and then he started imitating Blackboard from the children’s program Mr Squiggle. “Hurry up” then became his catch-phrase for the rest of the weekend – even though he was really the only one that directive needed to be applied to! 🙂

James with an awkward sit-start for the 4th abseil

Tom on the 5th abseil

James on the 5th abseil

James on the 6th abseil

James on the 7th abseil, Tom on the ledge

Tom in the Colo (as well as two of our ropes!)

James on our 8th and final abseil

We had afternoon tea on the Colo before heading upstream. The river, unsurprisingly given the recent rainfall, had a lot more flow in it than on previous visits. There was no way we were going to be able to just wade up the middle of it.

Looking back up where we came

Tom above the Colo

We had a very pleasant night in our cave, particularly with it drizzling very lightly on and off most of the night. We woke the next morning to sections of blue sky which became full sun and blue sky later in the day. Such a contrast to the very grey day we’d had on Saturday.

It was pretty easy going to the base of Crawfords Lookout – truly spectacular country.

James and Tom enjoy a log walk

James crossing Wollemi Creek, but where is Tom going?

Colo horseshoe bend from Crawfords Lookout

We made it to Hollow Rock!

I won the 3 (or more?) time guessing games against Tom over the course of the weekend. Each time only by a couple of minutes which was highly satisfying.

Back at the car at 2:14pm (beat him again), we had a late afternoon tea stop in Windsor on the way home. A very enjoyable weekend in remote country, even if I’m still not fit enough to carry an overnight canyoning pack and enjoy it.

Easter Canyoning (29 Mar – 1 Apr 2024)

I’m not sure I can remember a time in the past where Tom & I were both so unfit. Tom recovering from a bad ankle sprain in late January hadn’t been out much. And my excuse was much poorer – working (way) too much. Besides a quick jaunt down to Bob Turners in early January we hadn’t carried overnight packs since September last year. So we knew there was going to be a fair bit of suffering given we were not just carrying overnight packs… but 4 days of food, plus canyoning gear. Tom started off with 21kg and maybe for once he was carrying more than his share at the start?!

The Easter forecast was excellent for a weekend of canyoning, so there was no flimsy excuses for a last minute bail. We had a good run out of Sydney early on Friday morning. Lithgow McDonalds was the busiest I’d ever seen it – with every camper trailer, 4WD and general car in the vicinity there. The staff were exceedingly efficient and I was in and out with my caffeine before I could blink. We were walking shortly after 9:30am. Eventually taking a break when my shoulders just couldn’t take any more. We set up our base camp for the 3 nights, then had lunch and headed off to do our first canyon. It felt good to not have a full pack – but with a rope, harness etc the pack was still heavier than anything I’d been carrying of late.

Tom happy to be canyoning

Trying to remember how to bridge

Convenient log

We had thought we might get two canyons in, but we didn’t finish the first one until 4pm. So given our aforementioned lack of fitness we decided it was better just to head back to camp (still a far way away).

Unsurprisingly I slept like the dead and had to kick Tom into action at 7:30am. We were supposed to get up with the sunrise (which was only 7am) – Tom claimed he didn’t think it was light enough for the sun to have risen. A likely excuse.

So with a slightly later start than planned we were off on day 2. We weren’t doing anything new on this trip – everything had been done before, but for me at least, it was all more than a decade ago – so it may as well have been new!

Abseiling on day 2

Hopefully Tom remembers how to scramble!

We dropped into our second canyon of the day just as the sun was directly overhead. Very bad timing from a photography point of view – but given how quickly the sun was moving we decided to have lunch and hope that the glare had moved on by the time we finished. The theory almost worked… though maybe some sections we would have been better off keeping on going.

Narrow abseil

Colours are a bit Utah-esque

Tom abseiling

Base of the abseil

This put us in a good position to start out third canyon of they day in the early afternoon. With our relatively heavy packs (at least compared to previous trips) the various climbs were hard work. Particularly for Tom when he had to pass the packs up to me! We were glad we hadn’t decided to do this canyon the previous afternoon as I’m pretty sure we would have finished in the dark.

Can he get up?

Scrambling again

Awkward climb up

Eventually we topped out and were back at camp by mid-afternoon. I was glad I’d brought some reading material – it was very pleasant to settle down with a hot drink and a book. Later on we spotted gliders jumping around above us as dusk hit (we saw them all 3 nights).

Day 3 we had a somewhat ambitious plan. It was likely in trouble when we hit our first abseil of the day with no obvious anchors. Tom managed to toss the rope over a fallen log several metres above us which saved us trying to backtrack and scramble out. We didn’t remember doing this abseil previously – maybe we dropped into the creek further down?

Abseiling from a very high anchor on day 3!

Finding a way through the hole

Downclimbing

At the end of the canyon for an early lunch we then had to decide on what the rest of the day held. Feeling our fitness limitations we decided a shorter day was a better idea and so headed up another canyon towards camp. The discussion then became about whether we should walk out that night or not – since we were both pretty clear that neither of us had energy for canyoning on day 4. The main argument for walking out that night was to miss the traffic on Monday – which was likely to be horrendous given Easter didn’t coincide with the school holidays this year.

Happy to be back in canyons!

Classic Coachwood chamber

As we got near the top of the canyon an awful smell of dead creature wafted down to us. We’d had something dead in the canyon the previous day – but it wasn’t very big, and so didn’t smell *that* bad. This was pretty awful – and the anticipation of finding it was equally bad. There’s nothing like a bit of bloated wallaby guts floating in the water to put you off your canyon. Fortunately (?) in this case the wallaby was not in the water but in a slightly wider section. But it was lying where we would have walked had it not been there. Tom was in front at this point, and while trying to avoid the carcass, managed to lose his balance and take a full tumble. Fortunately not onto the carcass! But still, we were right next to it for longer than we should have been while he extricated himself from his pack and managed to get back on his feet. Then the wind changed to bring the smell upwind with us. Gross.

Finally we turned a corner and we were free of the smell. Though we weren’t feeling that keen to drink the water we’d picked up – admittedly a fair way downstream from the carcass.

I led us up a steep slabby section of pagodas to a nice shady spot. Once we’d agreed (no arguments from either side) that we would not be walking out that night, then we were able to relax in the shade and enjoy the views.

Afternoon tea views

The next morning we tried to get away relatively early – but with a few hours walk out, and a few more hours drive back to Sydney, it was hard to avoid the peak of the traffic. That’s what you get when you’re too unfit to canyon on the final day! It was good to be back canyoning. And with 6 canyons over the weekend it doubled my canyon count for the season.

Bell Creek (11 Feb 2023)

The only other time I’d done Bell Creek from the Fire Station was 12 years earlier. And having now done it for a second time I would be included to go for the ‘complete’ version, unless you can’t work the car shuffle.

Tom at the top of a scramble

Bananas? No, waratah seed pods – lots of them!

This trip certainly reminded me we’d been doing a lot of ‘trade’ canyons this season, with very straight-forward entries. The approach took us the best part of 2-3 hours (depending on what you count as the approach). With a 30°C day forecast I was looking forward to getting into the water!

We faffed around getting into Little Bell Canyon, but eventually made it down.

Tom looking excited at the start of Belfry Canyon

Tom descending into Belfry Canyon

Phil jumped into the pool immediately below the climb into Belfry Canyon, whereas the rest of us decided to do the bigger jump into the next pool. Happy to cool down!

Gill choosing to get completely saturated

I’d not done Bell Creek without a lilo before, but the water temperature was pretty warm, and with extra flotation in my pack the long swims weren’t a problem.

Tom in the depths of Bell Creek

Emerging from another swim

Gill and Phil enjoying a bit of sunshine

Walking up Du Faur Creek

Where else would you rather be on a hot day but in a canyon with friends? Another great day out in the bush.

Ranon via Ranon Brook (4 Feb 2023)

I wasn’t at all surprised when Tom suggested Ranon for the weekend. A new abseil had apparently appeared so we needed to go and check it out, oh… and Jon and Lauren hadn’t done Ranon before.

My memory of last time we did Ranon via Ranon Brook was that we’d been out a very long time, as it was such a nice day we kind of just drifted until we realised it was 3pm when we had lunch. I had been talking up how it had taken 13 hours and so I was motivated to keep us moving on this trip to avoid that, particularly given we had twice as many people and a lot of abseils to get through.

The “new” abseil did indeed exist, previously large piles of logs apparently allowed you to climb down, but not any more! (The first photo “at the first drop” from our previous trip has me in the spot where Jon is in the photo below)

Tom on the “new” abseil

The rope decided to tie itself in knots for the second drop and so we took a while to get through that. As I was half way down the abseil I heard an almighty crack as if someone had a whip. I quickly looked around expecting to see a large branch or rock that might have fallen into the canyon. Instead I see Jon on the ground rocking and cradling his head. Initially confused as I couldn’t understand what had hit him, but he’d slipped over and cracked his helmet on the canyon wall. Fortunately after a few minutes he felt sufficiently ok to continue. In the meantime Lauren’s detective skills had found that Jon’s whistle (which was lodged in the side of his helmet) had taken the brunt of the fall and bits of it were shattered into the moss.

We continued down canyon doing lots of abseils – a pleasant change to have some awkward starts from using natural anchors. Many of the canyons we’ve done this season have been bolted and while I appreciate the placements make easier starts, it does take away some skill development and intellectual challenge. (Without getting started on whether bolts should be there in the first place!)

Tom in the canyon

We played it fairly conservatively and abseiled drops even if they might have been down-climbable – ostensibly because Jon was feeling a bit tentative. Though ironically he did one less abseil than the rest of us after deciding to slide/jump one of the drops.

Looking upstream

After morning tea at the Mistake Ravine junction and confirming we were all feeling good enough for another 8+ hours we pushed on.

Tom on another abseil

There was a relatively easy log descent – but on reviewing previous trips we didn’t seem to have to deal with this drop previously. There was a huge log jam behind the boulder, I suspect in the past you could get through underneath but currently it’s blocked up.

Alternate descending option

There was a pretty recent rock fall above the cavern at the start of the two-stage descent to the Claustral junction. The rest of the party made me very nervous by deciding to stop basically on top of them, none of the rocks had settled yet…. I was glad to move on.

Jon on the penultimate abseil in Ranon

Looking down the final drop in Ranon before it meets Claustral

Lauren abseiling

Just after we’d finished abseiling into Claustral I suggested to Jon we should move so that Tom was able to get out of the pool. The rope wasn’t coiled yet and the pile of it somewhat disguised the small pothole which Jon promptly stepped into. From the scream I was sure he must have broken something and when I turned around he was sprawled face first lucky not to have fallen down to the next level.

We had joked at morning tea about how given he’d managed to throw his dry thermals in a pool at the start, then with his slip, that we should probably exit before things got any worse…  Fortunately (?) his shin had taken the brunt of things and we were able to continue.

The occupants of the many cars we’d seen at the entrance had presumably managed to get through well before us. Other than a few voices drifting back we had the canyon to ourselves, and the awful, awful stench of a decomposing wallaby… which kept wafting downstream with the slight breeze.

Lauren & Tom in Claustral

We did catch the tail-end of a large group at the final abseil, and then caught them  properly at the end – I recognised a few ladies I’d met through the Women’s Canyoning weekends so we had a bit of a chat. We set off before them and didn’t see them again.

Fortunately my nemesis section of the exit climb went without incident this time round after getting my foot stuck briefly back in December. We caught up with another large-ish group shortly after that. We then stopped to pick up water so they went past, but we soon passed them again. I had to chuckle (a bit nervously for them) as we went past the second time and I overheard one of their party members saying “Right, we have two options, we can have another rest, or we can follow the people who know where they are going”. Oh dear.

We caught up with a third large-ish group at the exit gully. But despite overtaking those groups there were only a small number of cars at the car park when we got there – so there must have been a lot of other people in the canyon earlier that day.

In the end it was a 10 hour 9 hour 35 minute day for us (party members made me amend the time so as to not tar them with the slow brush!). And when I went back and checked our previous “really” long day had actually only been 10 hours 15 minutes.

Lauren declared it the day her new favourite canyon (not hard as she has a fairly small portfolio to choose from!). An excellent day out.

 

Kanangra Main (14 Jan 2023)

Kanangra-style canyons aren’t really my cup of tea. I’d much rather be in sculpted sandstone slots than on narrow quartzite ledges. Which probably explains why it had been 14 years between visits to Kanangra Main!

With 3 weeks of big hills in NZ (and a bunch of moving about on sketchy slopes) we were keen to use some of that fitness before it vanished again. We managed to pull together a crew of 5 at fairly late notice for a descent of Kanangra Main.

I expected we wouldn’t be the only ones out there with limited rain in the past couple of weeks and a brilliant weather forecast. There was a party of two heading up the road as we pulled into the Walls car park just after 7am. And then some more cars drove in as we were walking up the road a short time later.

Views on the walk in

The party of two were on their way down the first abseil when we arrived. I turned around to talk to whoever from my party was behind me only to find it wasn’t someone from our group! A group of 3 had caught up with us – they were clearly motivated to get in front of a group of 5 old farts and were quickly suited up and heading down. It was unfortunate timing as we were the only three parties for the day.

Someone’s here ahead of us

Since the wall was occupied we figured we may as well avoid the exposed gully and abseil down instead. It was a nice warm up on a low consequence drop!

Warming up (avoiding the exposed gully) [Our abseil 1]

We had to cool our heels at the top of the wall for a while as the party of 3 got down the first 52m drop. We had decided to split the first drop into two – 15m/39m. Tom & Jon headed down the 15m and set the longer drop. Then Smiffy & I went through with our second set of ropes to set the next drop.

Looking down the wall [Our abseil 2]

Smiffy abseiling to the pinnacle [Our abseil 4]

So far (not very) our sequencing of ropes and people was working out pretty efficiently. The group in front weren’t moving much faster as we kept catching them. Unfortunately getting to the pinnacle was about as far as our planning had gone with who needed to be where when. The wheels fell off the efficiency bus at the pinnacle when we didn’t send the ropes down as soon as they were available. You can tell the group hadn’t done much canyoning together/of this nature recently!

Smiffy leaving the pinnacle [Our abseil 5]

That left me & Smiffy with 4 of the ropes we were carrying, with the 5th set on the abseil, and the rest of the group waiting unable to set the next abseil. To compound matters when we’d pulled the ropes from the pinnacle one of the ends had been pulled downstream and caught in something in the falls. We couldn’t free it from above but fortunately Smiffy was able to abseil part way down, and free it before continuing on.

Smiffy abseiling down to try and free the rope stuck in the falls [Our abseil 6]

We were more conscious of which ropes needed to be where after that! Though there were less abseils directly on top of each other so sequencing was less important.

Smiffy abseiling again [Our abseil 7]

Toni abseiling [Our abseil 8]

After a bit of creek walking most of us used the in-situ handline to get down to the boulder where I set the 9m abseil. Toni and I rapped it – it’s somewhat awkward, definitely looked like going down the chute would be easier.

Jon jumped from the boulder, unfortunately I wasn’t quite ready with the camera, my photo just looks like he’s sitting on it… so it didn’t make the cut for the blog. I was expecting Smiffy and Tom to both jump as well, but the need to protect a camera (Smiffy) and a knee (Tom) meant they abseiled as well.

Smiffy swimming as Tom prepares to abseil [Our abseil 9]

Next up was Tom & my nemesis set of abseils. On our only previous visit we had spent 2.5 hours here, as Tom had needed to prusik up this drop as our ropes wouldn’t pull.

Tom abseiling [Our abseil 10]

This time things went much more smoothly, though the drag on the ropes for the 56m abseil made it hard work getting down.

Tom abseiling again, while the rest of they party look on [Our abseil 11]

Smiffy abseiling – the rest of the party tiny specks at the bottom [Our abseil 11]

The next photogenic drop caused much dissension as all the photographers wanted to get down the bottom. Tom was about as decisive as I’ve ever seen him by getting the rap set and going first. I sacrificed my photographic needs by going last – though my camera went down with Jon hence a photo of me on the drop!

Tom abseiling [Our abseil 12]

Me abseiling! [Our abseil 12] (photo: Tom)

I helped Tom with the rope pull for this drop – it was super hard work. I thought my arms were going to fall off by the time we’d finished dealing with the ropes. In the meantime Toni & Smiffy had bypassed the next drop, but since Jon had set the rope the rest of us abseiled it.

Jon swimming, Tom abseiling [My abseil 13]

Then we abseiled from the tree on the left, though Tom did go scouting for the bolts only finding the single bolt on the right.

Smiffy abseiling [My abseil 14, Smiffy’s 13th]

Finally I set the last abseil since Toni’s scrambling route on the right looked far too vegetated to be any fun. Though checking the notes later supposedly it can be scrambled on the left as well – I didn’t look very hard for a route down.

Tom abseiling [My abseil 15]

The rock-hop down Kanangra Creek was very enjoyable (well maybe for those of us who didn’t bash up our shins just before the exit) and we had great views of the walls. There is something to be said for taking your time through the canyon because then it isn’t so hot for the walk out!

Toni in Kanangra Creek

Tom & Jon in Kanangra Creek

We discussed our sequencing for the exit (somewhat in jest) but knowing that things would be a bit loose. Subsequently I found myself at the front following an initially fairly clear pad up the ridge. I lost the main route at some point and found myself traversing under a bluff higher than I should have been, though I was able to rejoin the more trodden route.

It was a lot less pleasant than I remembered from previous uses – I think post-fires it has changed a bit. However, all my clinging onto vegetation above large drops on the Dragons Teeth two weeks earlier had put me in a good frame of mind for this exit!

The Spires from some way up Manslaughter Ridge

Happy to be at the track at the top

At the top at 6:20pm I headed out to the lookout to wait for the others. We all had the mandatory visit to the lookout and eventually wandered back to the car park almost exactly 12 hours after we’d left it this morning.

It was great to be able to just drive back to (the very quiet) Boyd River Campground and dig into snacks. The other highlight was my clothes being pre-warmed from being in Jon’s car all day – like getting into clothes that have been sitting on the towel-warmer!

So many snacks consumed that we didn’t eat dinner. Eventually fatigue overcame me and I had to retire as the rate of yawning to not-yawning was way out of proportion. An excellent day and evening.

Blue Mountains Canyoning (10 Dec 2022)

The forecast was decidedly unsummer-like. A cloudy 19°C in Katoomba wasn’t inspiring but somehow I found myself agreeing to an exploratory canyoning trip anyway. I think because exploratory canyoning seems like it’s likely to be drier since there probably won’t be much canyon.

Anyway… a balmy 11°C when we left the car.

It wasn’t long to wait for some canyoning – pretty much where we dropped in was canyon. If I’d been happier to get wet I think we could have downclimbed the first drop, but wedging oneself in the water flow to get down was not a particularly attractive option.

Getting into the creek

The shallow canyon continued on and off for quite a way. There was often multiple ways around things. I tended to go for the higher (=drier!) route, while Tom was happier to suffer.

Short climb down

How are you going to get down from there?

Looks wet!

Hello down there!

Looking back into the dark section

more wet!

OK, maybe not that wet

I was going to climb around this section as well but Tom convinced me to go through it. Just over belly-button deep so I guess not *that* bad. My feet were already numb after all.

Another abseil

We went for an explore up a couple of the tributaries as well. At least that warmed me up enough to be able to enjoy lunch! Things had taken longer than expected so given there was a bit of Christmas shopping to be done I decided we would need to leave the rest of the plan for another (hopefully warmer!) day.

Beautiful section of more open canyon

Climbing out

A surprisingly good section of creek and good (cold) times were had.

Waterfall of Moss (4 Dec 2022)

I had thought I might make a last minute plan with some of the women at the Summer Slaydies weekend for Sunday, but that didn’t happen (and I didn’t try very hard), so I was left with just Tom as a canyoning partner for Sunday. Tom declined to make a firm plan before we went to bed on Saturday night, which didn’t bode particularly well for actually doing something the next day.

But we were both awake pretty early, and after farewelling Jo who was off to do Yileen (without a whistle – oh my), we agreed we should do something just to get some more fitness in our legs. So off we went to Waterfall of Moss. I’d only done it once before in 2009 so it was almost like a new canyon. Particularly given Tom only had the print out of an old version of his notes – which pre-dated his last visit… and at times it felt like were written for a different canyon! Not trusting the rope lengths from the dodgy notes we ended up rigging a bunch of the drops with our longer rope unnecessarily – which meant I had a dry rope at the end of the canyon.

Tom on the third abseil

Looking back up the arch and the third abseil

Tom abseiling

More of Tom abseiling

Is this abseiling?

The conqueror? (I think it’s supposed to be yoga?!)

Tom abseiling the Waterfall of (once was) Moss

As the water temperatures are still pretty chilly we’d taken wetsuits (in dry bags) through the canyon just for the 200m of Wollangambe. So my dry rope went into the wetsuit dry bag and stayed dry! We ended up having lunch at the Waterfall of Moss/Wollangambe junction while Tom wrote up all the changes to his notes – which of course we found out later had already largely been updated.

Swimming down the Wollangambe to the exit

Tom & friend admiring the views

Seas of flannel flowers are everywhere at the moment

Back at Mt Wilson there were still tents up everywhere – presumably drying out while their owners were off adventuring. We packed up and headed home via scones at Mountain Bells. An excellent three days of canyoning.

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