Wounded Knee Canyon
Who: Matt, Dave, Jeremy
What: 2-day trip through Wounded Knee canyon
When: 3-4 July, 2010
After a seemingly endless semester of honours year engineering, another canyoning/camping trip was long overdue! The trip of choice was Wounded Knee canyon, one that I have been keen on doing for a long time.
We left home at around 9am and reached the Coloul Range locked gate at around 1pm after a fun four-wheel driving side trip. Impressed by the perfect winter weather (despite snow predicted that night for the mountains above 1000m), we ate some lunch and then headed off via Hollow Rock. It's interesting that this formation isn't shown on the New Series topo map (Six Brothers)but is on the old one.
Faced with the choice of 3 routes into the "canyon", we decided to follow the dry creek at GR 712234. I was anticipating the notorious lawyer vines described by a Tom Brennan trip report but fortunately we must have missed them all. Following the nice fern-filled gully we continued down the creek to the first short chute abseil. This was proceeded by a longer one - with tricky angles - into an interesting slot section. It was nice to see the rocks mostly covered in moss and not worn yellow although there were recent volley footprints in the sand patches. Another small tricky drop, with the anchor very low and close to the edge was descended.
Given our late start, the sun had almost set. We donned our headlamps and continued on. After a bit of down-climbing we reached the final abseil. By this stage, we could not see the bottom of the abseil, but could roughly make out the sand flat on the Colo River. My brother went down first. One of our ropes was just shy of 50m long and we were not entirely convinced it would make the bottom. At the second ledge David tied another 40m rope to the end and descended the overhang with a self belay, ready to pass the knot...which was needed. While the ropes were being sorted out, Jerm and I climbed up on the left and enjoyed an excellent, albeit night vision, view of the River and the night sky - including a couple of awesome shooting stars!
Finally, the "OFF ROPE" call was heard and Jeremy went down. This time, he stopped on the first ledge while David pulled the shorter rope through until both ropes reached the bottom. I did the same thing for my descent. The second ledge of this abseil had a deep pool that had to be either skirted or jumped
(while still on rope).
We crossed the Colo, which was only 10-15cm deep and surprisingly warm, and set up camp. We all enjoyed a hot dinner with fruit cake and custard for dessert!
The next day was equally excellent weather-wise. We woke up early, had breakky, pulled the ropes down and headed upstream to the Colo River - Wollemi Creek junction. Travel up Wollemi Creek involved a fair amount of slippery rock-hopping as we changed our minds as to which side of the creek was easier going. Just before the creek did a big bend we decided to climb up onto the spur and make our way out of the gorge.
Some parts of the climb involved some fun and quite exposed rock scrambling until we got to the foot track which traversed left across the steep ridge until a convenient pass took us up to Crawford's Lookout. Lunch was had while admiring the superb views and taking several panoramas and group shots. We then made our
way back towards the car and were there about 90 mins later.
All up, an excellent weekend was had in a pristine section of the Colo, with great company and perfect weather!
What: 2-day trip through Wounded Knee canyon
When: 3-4 July, 2010
After a seemingly endless semester of honours year engineering, another canyoning/camping trip was long overdue! The trip of choice was Wounded Knee canyon, one that I have been keen on doing for a long time.
We left home at around 9am and reached the Coloul Range locked gate at around 1pm after a fun four-wheel driving side trip. Impressed by the perfect winter weather (despite snow predicted that night for the mountains above 1000m), we ate some lunch and then headed off via Hollow Rock. It's interesting that this formation isn't shown on the New Series topo map (Six Brothers)but is on the old one.
Faced with the choice of 3 routes into the "canyon", we decided to follow the dry creek at GR 712234. I was anticipating the notorious lawyer vines described by a Tom Brennan trip report but fortunately we must have missed them all. Following the nice fern-filled gully we continued down the creek to the first short chute abseil. This was proceeded by a longer one - with tricky angles - into an interesting slot section. It was nice to see the rocks mostly covered in moss and not worn yellow although there were recent volley footprints in the sand patches. Another small tricky drop, with the anchor very low and close to the edge was descended.
Given our late start, the sun had almost set. We donned our headlamps and continued on. After a bit of down-climbing we reached the final abseil. By this stage, we could not see the bottom of the abseil, but could roughly make out the sand flat on the Colo River. My brother went down first. One of our ropes was just shy of 50m long and we were not entirely convinced it would make the bottom. At the second ledge David tied another 40m rope to the end and descended the overhang with a self belay, ready to pass the knot...which was needed. While the ropes were being sorted out, Jerm and I climbed up on the left and enjoyed an excellent, albeit night vision, view of the River and the night sky - including a couple of awesome shooting stars!
Finally, the "OFF ROPE" call was heard and Jeremy went down. This time, he stopped on the first ledge while David pulled the shorter rope through until both ropes reached the bottom. I did the same thing for my descent. The second ledge of this abseil had a deep pool that had to be either skirted or jumped
(while still on rope).
We crossed the Colo, which was only 10-15cm deep and surprisingly warm, and set up camp. We all enjoyed a hot dinner with fruit cake and custard for dessert!
The next day was equally excellent weather-wise. We woke up early, had breakky, pulled the ropes down and headed upstream to the Colo River - Wollemi Creek junction. Travel up Wollemi Creek involved a fair amount of slippery rock-hopping as we changed our minds as to which side of the creek was easier going. Just before the creek did a big bend we decided to climb up onto the spur and make our way out of the gorge.
Some parts of the climb involved some fun and quite exposed rock scrambling until we got to the foot track which traversed left across the steep ridge until a convenient pass took us up to Crawford's Lookout. Lunch was had while admiring the superb views and taking several panoramas and group shots. We then made our
way back towards the car and were there about 90 mins later.
All up, an excellent weekend was had in a pristine section of the Colo, with great company and perfect weather!
Late night 4WDing and Mountain Biking at the Kowmung
* Left home at 9pm, got back at 6:15am
* Saw lots of wildlife (as usual) along JC road, including the endangered Spotted Quoll
* I rode my MTB ahead of the 4WD along the Kowmung River firetrail. The trail is largely flat, with a long, steep downhill section to the river (with lots of exciting waterbars aka jumps!! :D)
* On the way out we stopped at Kanangra Walls Lookout and spotted a (potentially) lost bushwalker below Kanangra Walls. We stayed there from 0210 - 0248 and this guy was going nowhere, seemingly looking for a pass up Kanangra Walls! This is not the sort of place anybody would want to be at that time of night. The ground is extremely steep, there are no tracks where he was, it would have taken a while to get where he was, and in the 38min we were watching him (he had a verybright head torch) he made no ground!
* The walker spotted our headlamps and appeared to signal us. First he shined his torch directly at us for a period, and then it started to flash! We were pretty sure that this guy (might) be lost, so we alerted Katoomba police on our way home.
* All up, a great adventure was had
* Saw lots of wildlife (as usual) along JC road, including the endangered Spotted Quoll
* I rode my MTB ahead of the 4WD along the Kowmung River firetrail. The trail is largely flat, with a long, steep downhill section to the river (with lots of exciting waterbars aka jumps!! :D)
* On the way out we stopped at Kanangra Walls Lookout and spotted a (potentially) lost bushwalker below Kanangra Walls. We stayed there from 0210 - 0248 and this guy was going nowhere, seemingly looking for a pass up Kanangra Walls! This is not the sort of place anybody would want to be at that time of night. The ground is extremely steep, there are no tracks where he was, it would have taken a while to get where he was, and in the 38min we were watching him (he had a verybright head torch) he made no ground!
* The walker spotted our headlamps and appeared to signal us. First he shined his torch directly at us for a period, and then it started to flash! We were pretty sure that this guy (might) be lost, so we alerted Katoomba police on our way home.
* All up, a great adventure was had
Empress Rescue!
Date: 7 Feb 2010
Participants: Jerm, Matt
After visiting friends in Hazelbrook we decided to head up to Wenty Falls to check out Empress after all this rain. The rain had stopped for about an hour so we brought our canyoning gear....just in case it was doable, but knowing full well that it wouldn't be :P
It was clear, even on the walk down that Empress was pounding, as it could be heard from just 150m down the tourist track. After a quick stop at Queen Vic LO, a number of ephemeral waterfalls were flowing over the cliffs. Down in the valley below, the section of creek downstream from the falls was also flooded.
Empress Falls itself was truly spectacular!! It was literally a raging torrent of water! The pool at the bottom was full of turbulent whitewater, the tourist track crossing was flooded and debris from the canyon was starting to accumulate. It was truly awe inspiring. Canyoning would be downright dangerous. The view from Lillians bridge was like looking down into a flowing river!
Whilst at the plunge pool (taking lots of photos), we could hear shouting. It turns out there were two walkers under the cave on the other side. They had been stranded there for an hour, and were preparing to stay the night. The tourist track had become unsafe to cross. A slip in the wrong place could easily have you swept away! Im sure most canyoners here would comfortably cross it without a harness (as I would), but to people who aren't used to swift water I can see how it was very intimidating. The harness and helmet gave them their required confidence.
I don't know if you believe in fate or sheer coincidence, but they were extremely lucky that we just happened to be down there with harnesses, helmets and rope in the rain. It was 7pm by this stage and we were certainly the last people on the track for the day! Using the existing hand rail, we 'rescued' the walkers on the other side using a "via-ferrata" set-up. They were extremely grateful.
I've uploaded a video to YouTube with HD footage of the conditions. It gets REALLY good at the end ;)
Participants: Jerm, Matt
After visiting friends in Hazelbrook we decided to head up to Wenty Falls to check out Empress after all this rain. The rain had stopped for about an hour so we brought our canyoning gear....just in case it was doable, but knowing full well that it wouldn't be :P
It was clear, even on the walk down that Empress was pounding, as it could be heard from just 150m down the tourist track. After a quick stop at Queen Vic LO, a number of ephemeral waterfalls were flowing over the cliffs. Down in the valley below, the section of creek downstream from the falls was also flooded.
Empress Falls itself was truly spectacular!! It was literally a raging torrent of water! The pool at the bottom was full of turbulent whitewater, the tourist track crossing was flooded and debris from the canyon was starting to accumulate. It was truly awe inspiring. Canyoning would be downright dangerous. The view from Lillians bridge was like looking down into a flowing river!
Whilst at the plunge pool (taking lots of photos), we could hear shouting. It turns out there were two walkers under the cave on the other side. They had been stranded there for an hour, and were preparing to stay the night. The tourist track had become unsafe to cross. A slip in the wrong place could easily have you swept away! Im sure most canyoners here would comfortably cross it without a harness (as I would), but to people who aren't used to swift water I can see how it was very intimidating. The harness and helmet gave them their required confidence.
I don't know if you believe in fate or sheer coincidence, but they were extremely lucky that we just happened to be down there with harnesses, helmets and rope in the rain. It was 7pm by this stage and we were certainly the last people on the track for the day! Using the existing hand rail, we 'rescued' the walkers on the other side using a "via-ferrata" set-up. They were extremely grateful.
I've uploaded a video to YouTube with HD footage of the conditions. It gets REALLY good at the end ;)
Abseiling 101
Date: 2/2/2010
Participants: Matt, Jason, Jay
Aim: To run an introductory abseiling course
Background: Some mates of mine were keen for another trip in the mountains. I had originally planned a mountain biking/abseiling trip but Jason's bike was currently out of action, so the new plan was to drive up and spend the day hanging off cliff faces!
COURSE OUTLINE:
- Explanation of descenders, carabiners, communication, belaying
- Cliff safety
- Slopes and flat walls
- Overhanging descents
- Forward abseiling (optional)
- Cave crawling
Itinerary:
Mt York (Beginners Area)
- Jay mastering, and Jason re-mastering essential abseiling skills.
- Next time I plan to set up a Tyrolean traverse across the beginners area!!!
Mt York (North Face)
- An exciting 25m drop with outstanding views. We each did about 3 laps of this descent. I went down forwards to demonstrate the 'Aussie Rappel', a technique supposedly pioneered by the Australian Army to descend a cliff face and shoot enemies at the same time. (lol, Aussies call it an 'abseil' not a 'rappel').
Sunset Rock
- A fun crawl through a narrow shaft etched into the side of the cliff to get into a larger cave. This was followed by a short exploration of Mitchell Ridge.
Conclusion: A successful and enjoyable day was had by all. I will run more trips of this ilk, as they are popular amongst friends and people always look forward the next one!
Participants: Matt, Jason, Jay
Aim: To run an introductory abseiling course
COURSE OUTLINE:
- Explanation of descenders, carabiners, communication, belaying
- Cliff safety
- Slopes and flat walls
- Overhanging descents
- Forward abseiling (optional)
- Cave crawling
Itinerary:
Mt York (Beginners Area)
- Jay mastering, and Jason re-mastering essential abseiling skills.
- Next time I plan to set up a Tyrolean traverse across the beginners area!!!
Mt York (North Face)
- An exciting 25m drop with outstanding views. We each did about 3 laps of this descent. I went down forwards to demonstrate the 'Aussie Rappel', a technique supposedly pioneered by the Australian Army to descend a cliff face and shoot enemies at the same time. (lol, Aussies call it an 'abseil' not a 'rappel').
Sunset Rock
- A fun crawl through a narrow shaft etched into the side of the cliff to get into a larger cave. This was followed by a short exploration of Mitchell Ridge.
Conclusion: A successful and enjoyable day was had by all. I will run more trips of this ilk, as they are popular amongst friends and people always look forward the next one!
Group shot after a successful morning of mastering the essentials
Joseph on a 25m drop
Jason on rope!
Ferozious!
Date: 31/1/2010 & 1/2/2010
Participants: David, Mum, Jerm, Matt
After picking up his new (second hand) 4WD, David decided to 'break it in' with some offroad driving up in the mountains. The new toy is a Dihatsu Feroza (aptly named "Ferozious!").
It's first taste of offroad action (whilst under David's ownership) was the Mt Irvine trail on the northern side of the Bells Line of Road, followed by the "shortcut track" parallel to the Darling Causeway.
Day 2 involved doing the BLOR/GWHwy loop around the mtns looking for 4WD tracks off to the side. By the time we reached Woodford, it was pissing down, so we took it down to Terrace Falls, Murphy's Glen and a climb up to Linda's Rock.
Participants: David, Mum, Jerm, Matt
After picking up his new (second hand) 4WD, David decided to 'break it in' with some offroad driving up in the mountains. The new toy is a Dihatsu Feroza (aptly named "Ferozious!").
It's first taste of offroad action (whilst under David's ownership) was the Mt Irvine trail on the northern side of the Bells Line of Road, followed by the "shortcut track" parallel to the Darling Causeway.
Day 2 involved doing the BLOR/GWHwy loop around the mtns looking for 4WD tracks off to the side. By the time we reached Woodford, it was pissing down, so we took it down to Terrace Falls, Murphy's Glen and a climb up to Linda's Rock.
Check out this short composition of Ferozious in action...
Victoria Creek
Date: 29/1/2010
Well, I finally got a new working Digital Camera! It's a Panasonic Lumix FT1; water-, drop-and dust-proof. The aim of this trip was to 'break in' the new camera. I had originally planned on entering Victoria Brook from it's junction with Victoria Ck, but my 2WD couldn't get very far along Ridgewell Rd after recent rain.
I headed back to the Hwy and took the Vic Falls firetrail, which had no large, unavoidable puddles. After a brief walk down to Asgard Swamp, I drove down to the Vic Falls Lookout. 15min later I reached Victoria Falls and the Cascades, both are very nice. Red yabbies were abundant in all the small pools, and many were duelling over territory! It might be mating season. The morning had been relatively overcast, but the sun had come out for the walk out....perfect conditions for a snake seeking to warm it's body!
In a 40m span of narrow track, I encountered 3 snakes, getting longer and deadlier each time (1x Red Bellied Black Snake, 1x Tigersnake, 1x Tigersnake OR Brown Snake)!!! I took the rest of the climb out very slowly...treating every little branch as if it was a snake :P I had lunch at the top.
The trip was successful as I took some nice photos, and some HD footage of the Yabbies duelling!
Red Bellied Black Snake
Well, I finally got a new working Digital Camera! It's a Panasonic Lumix FT1; water-, drop-and dust-proof. The aim of this trip was to 'break in' the new camera. I had originally planned on entering Victoria Brook from it's junction with Victoria Ck, but my 2WD couldn't get very far along Ridgewell Rd after recent rain.
I headed back to the Hwy and took the Vic Falls firetrail, which had no large, unavoidable puddles. After a brief walk down to Asgard Swamp, I drove down to the Vic Falls Lookout. 15min later I reached Victoria Falls and the Cascades, both are very nice. Red yabbies were abundant in all the small pools, and many were duelling over territory! It might be mating season. The morning had been relatively overcast, but the sun had come out for the walk out....perfect conditions for a snake seeking to warm it's body!
In a 40m span of narrow track, I encountered 3 snakes, getting longer and deadlier each time (1x Red Bellied Black Snake, 1x Tigersnake, 1x Tigersnake OR Brown Snake)!!! I took the rest of the climb out very slowly...treating every little branch as if it was a snake :P I had lunch at the top.
The trip was successful as I took some nice photos, and some HD footage of the Yabbies duelling!
Pano taken at Vic Falls Lookout
Victoria Cascades
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