When I first did a trip through the upper middle section of South Bowen creek with Ed I thought it was a spectacular canyon and I’ve been meaning to repeat it ever since.
But, despite having a look through the exquisite upper section I haven’t revisited this section until now.
We then make our way down stream. There’s a bit of creek walking down through pleasant coachwood forest before it drops into another dark canyon section.
Jason and Muz making their way down the canyon
The cool misty day made the light sweet
It was every bit as beautiful as I remember but now there’s nothing left to do but to scramble out
We weren’t expecting the others until 9:30 at the earliest and given our slow going on the ridge we decided to wait til 10.
A couple of cooeees and we thought we heard a faint reply. I slip up the gully a bit to guide them down. More cooees and whistle blasts but no response.
Back at camp we scratch a note in the dirt and head for Crikey. it’s 10:30.
We cross the ‘Boori (dingo creek) and start making up way up the opposite gully. It’s full of dead fall and scrub. It’s slow going and we’d already had a late start.
I spot a break in the cliffs and decide to try to climb out. Kylie is skeptical but we escape the gully and make heaps better time along the ridge.
Dropping into the creek at Kent’s entry (well downstream of Jamieson’s grid reference) we encounter walls of dead fall. So much.
It was a real punish. by the time we get to the canyon we are bruised and bloody and just a little over it.
There are several breaks in the cliff further down. I’d suggest future party’s explore their way down the spur and drop in closer to the canyon proper.
Anyhoo Crikey is deep and dark and our timing wasn’t conductive for photos but Kylie managed to get a few crackers
We reach the ‘Boori…. Bloody “dingo” creek.
We are bashed up and exhausted from battling the dead fall, sticks and scrub.
My memories of my previous trip to crikey was some hard going up the creek to get back to camp.
We have lunch and start making our way up stream
Somehow we pick our way up the banks and avoid strenuous swims or boulder hopping.
It’s about 4:30 when we reach the base of the pass up to camp. We strip out of the wetsuits, wash down in the creek and dry off in the sun before making our way back up.
Below camp we call out and are delighted to hear Dick reply.
Camp.
Unfortunately Sunday morning dawns with me and Kylie having grumbling in our belly’s.
I’m careful where I collect water from and have never had issues before but that’s all we can put it down to.
A bit of running off into the bush and we decide it’s best to skip canyoning today and head back to the cars.
It’s a shame for Dick and Monica to walk all the way out and miss the stunning canyons but it is the wisest choice.
It was a tough walk out. Kylie did it real tough. She’s a trooper.
We have a tough next couple of days. It hit us hard.
Anyhoo
There is a hidden message in every waterfall. It says, if you are flexible, falling will not hurt you!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan
We were planning a weekend out on the B̶o̶o̶r̶i̶… I mean *hackspit* Dingo creek.
The others were meeting us in the morning but we headed out Friday afternoon
We made good time along the fire trail but slowed a bit navigating the twisting ridge as the faint trail came and went.
We got to the camp around 5:30. Dumped gear, set up camp and headed up for a quick run through Bubblebath Canyon. AKA Froth and bubble canyon. (There was difference of opinion in the first descent party over the name.)
Not wanting to put wet gear on in the morning we went light. I knew it was short so we decided to brave the cold.
Dropping in
The water above the canyon was surprisingly warm.
Gadget at the start of the good bit
Bubblebath is a beautiful little canyon. It’s a bit underrated compared to some of the others. The late evning light didn’t do it justice but it’s one of the more beautiful ones out this way. “Mini Crikey”as Kylie called it.
The deeper we got the colder the water got and we lost the light just before the end.
Getting to camp we rug up and settle in for the night.
A quick reccie on the bike a couple of days before suggested that while the old road was ridable there were a lot of trees down and the regrowth was so crazy at times I couldn’t see my front wheel.
So rather than risk derailleurs and spokes we’d be hoofing it out and back.
This meant a 7km walk out. TBH pushing through the overgrowth seemed a lot less tedious than marching along a flat boring fire trail… but I’m weird like that.
Anyhoo
After the Navman took the others down the wrong fire trail and we waited in confusion, before finally going looking for each other. we all managed to somehow find phone reception at the same time…
This meant a late start and some talk about changing plans or cancelling altogether
There wasn’t much arm twisting and we press on.
It takes us about an hour to get to the turn off then another 30 or 40 minutes to get to out the ridge and down to start of the canyon
The creek drops dramatically into a nice canyon but then drops again and rounds the corner
Sunbeam or tractor-beam?
The drops come in quick succession and most have awkward starts or tricky pull downs
It’s deep and narrow
Kris getting his squeeze on
I’m sure we down climbed this last time but the walls were smooth and glassy and slippery as snot this time around
wonderfull canyon formations
Once down the drops there’s a long flat section that’s just beautiful
We follow the impressive canyon along the flatter bit and find a spot where it begins to open out for lunch.
This was going to be my first time out the “standard” exit. We’d have to retrace our steps about 300m back up through the lower canyon section and exit up a side canyon
This would involve
Climbing up some tree roots
Then up a steep, slippery ramp using some slings.
Up more tree roots. These ones feeling like they are coming loose
Up a tree and bridging across to a dodgy slope….
Then a long walk up a beautiful gully , under amazing overhangs and beautiful coachwood trees
And finally 7km back along the old firetrail to the car.
Yep it’s a big round trip on flat, boring fire trail to get to and from the canyon.
but I reckon it’s well worth it and you could always combine it with Heart Attack (less worth the walk out to do on its own IMO) or camp on the ridge and explore some of other little canyons out that way.
Party Size.5
Time: 8.5-9hr car to car.
Work hard. Dream big. Don’t be an arsehole. Mike Shinoda.
It was a slightly cooler day which worked out perfectly as it’s a bit of a walk to get to this one
Pleasant banter ate up the fire trail and it didn’t seem too long before we were following the HITW exit trail down to Dingo Creek (but really North Bungleboori)
The old dodgy ledge that you could once use to stay dry seems to have washed away and so we stripped down to essentials and waded down to our exit on the other side.
Here we encountered the first of the many large tangles of dead fall we’d encounter today. b
After a bit of effort we were up North East canyon and had a morning tea break looking down over Banks.
The climb out of North East canyon, which runs South West….
We pick an easy path down to cross the head of Banks Canyon. Then over the next ridge to scramble into Nose Dive creek.
Making our way down stream there was lots of dead fall to negotiate.
The gully seemed to be openning out and I voiced concerns that we had dropped in too far down stream (I didn’t get the grid reference or study the map. I go by feel baby)
But then.
The creek drops down a hole. And so do we.
The second of the cavern like sections. It’s ok I guess.
Ok it was more than ok.
Dark yet somehow filled with beautiful light
Really spectacular and somewhat unique slot canyon
Such a cool little section
The water was like glass
Gadget with H in the background
Throw and go because, well you know.
Was it cold. Yes it was
H
K
G
And then we are in T̶h̶e̶ ̶‘̶b̶o̶o̶r̶i̶ Dingo Creek for lunch followed by a bit of creek walking and some long swims to get back up the the HITW exit at the big bend
It’s a gorgeous section of T̶h̶e̶ ̶‘̶b̶o̶o̶r̶i̶… Dingo creek
You should sit in nature for 20min every day.
Unless you are really busy then you should do it for an hour.
We had planned to head back up stream to check those promising lines on the map (which looked deep and dark from the Spur) but trudging up and down bloody Boowinda Gorge had left us battered and weary. The thought of bashing our way further up stream for more dry canyons had lost its appeal.
We decide to pack up camp and head back to the car to look for something wet.
Kylie had worked out Blackdown Tablelands were almost exactly between Carnarvon Gorge and Rockhampton so it seemed like a good idea to check it out.
A quick google show some beautiful waterfalls and plunge pools, though the latest posts said it was much drier than usual.
The park had also been evacuated the week before due to a fire in a neighbouring park but as luck would have it it was reopening today. Winning.
We jump online to try and book a camp site. Qld NPs do a great job at maintaining the parks up this way, walking tracks were family friendly with informative signs and toilets were plentiful and clean, but their online booking system is a PITA.
Anyhoo we eventually get it working and the whole camp ground is booked out!!!
Hmmm, surely if the park is just reopenning some of those people would have canceled or changed plans.
I eventually find a number to call and convince them to reluctantly take my money. We’ll take the chance says I.
If the camp ground is full we’ll find somewhere else and you can keep the $15 as a donation…
There’s 2 other groups in the entire camp ground as we roll in.
We check out a walk to another art site then set up camp for the night
Day 5
Apparently Gudda Gumoo is a seasonal waterfall and we’ve got it as it’s drying out Anyhoo we are keen for a look.
Heading down the tourist track we cross a couple of creek beds. They are as dry as uncle Geoff’s sense of humour.
But wait!
I hear running water.
A steady stream of water tumbles 20 or 30m into a large clear swimming hole.
A less formed trail heads down stream.
We follow it down and catch a glimpse of the usual instagram pot holes. They look dry.
I’ve discovered Blue mountain anchors have a distinct lack duck tape.
And whatever this thing is
an even vaguer track continues along the cliff edge.
A couple of tracks head down to the various levels but we forge on. The track is now more a vague sense someone, or something has walked here before.
Finally a weakness in the cliffline allows a tricky descent.
Another very tricky scramble breaks the next cliff.
More secluded waterfalls and swimming holes reward our efforts
And yummy native raspberries
The valley has stepped down 20 or 30 meters at a time and it seems like there’s a hidden pool on each level.
We’ve made it down to one of the bigger shelves. Below us the arse drops out of the world
The water tumbles 100-150m down to another large pool. Below that we can make out another drop and another pool….
If this was anywhere near the Blue Mountains or Southern Highlands it would be a must do abseil trip. But it’s Queensland and well, Abseiling, stepping off track, not paying for a guided tour or wild swimming!!!
After a swim we linger in the sun and have lazy brunch before smaking our way back up through the cliffs to check out some of the upper terraces.
The locals have put some work in to get down to this one a couple below the usual ‘Gram shots.
And so ends our excellent adventure to central Q. L. D.
It been a blast and remember as Alice Roosevelt Longworth said…
Day 3 would see us back on the tourist trail for the most part. We’d planned to get up to Battleship Spur, nearly 600m above our camp, before the heat of the day. Then check out Boowinda Gorge and it’s side creeks
Both were listed as star attractions. The young couple we had shared camp with came back raving about how beautiful Boowinda Gorge was and a steady stream of people had made their way either up to or down from the spur on their journey along the great walk.
So up we go. The path up to the spur starts up Boowinda gorge but we don’t really take notice as we’re nervously excited about the haul up to the spur.
A side gully acts as a pass out of the gorge. It’s steep, reminiscent of the scramble out of Tigersnake canyon. but once through the lower cliff line a well maintained trail makes it’s way up and along an amazingly varied spur.
Think the Thuratt Spires with a tourist trail…
Wide open grassland alternates with almost razorback spur. Fine white sandstone changes to conglomerate and an out crop what appears to my uneducated eye as quartzite. Speculation around the geology distracts from the slog up.
And the views from the top?
Worth every grunt and groan
Gadget looking back over the lower end of Carnarvon gorge. The mouth of which is 10km away and 700 or 800m below.
Now back down for lunch in the cool of Boowinda gorge.
Running on a high we start making our way up the gorge.
It’s a bloody soul destroying slog
Think of walking up the Wollemgambe. Only it’s dry as a nuns nasty and instead of sand it’s littered with baby head sized river stones. And the river stones haven’t been tumbled enough to make them smooth so they are jaggered. And they move beneath your feet. And the bigger ones give false hope with 3 or 4 holding firm then the next rolls just to mock your ankles.
Still so many Carnarvon glamour shot are from Boowinda gorge.
We press on.
Several times we consider just turning around but we’re a stubborn couple.
I guess the PC term would be “determined” but it was pure stubbornness (and a view of our white slot at the start we glimpsed from the Spur track) that kept us going.
Finally we get to the junction towards the top of the bloody Boowinda gorge and by some miracle there’s clear running water. Not much but more than we’ve seen in the side creeks since Wards Canyon.
We take the right branch. It’s a low quality slot but it has clear flowing water. So there’s that.
The water is far clearer than this shot implies but I was well and truely over this bloody Boowinda gorge to bother trying to photograph it well.
We get to a point we could have scrambled in from the top (It would have been much easier) but it got far too steep for us the reach the mysterious white walls a few hundred metres up the escarpment.
We retreat back and try the right branch. It was shit
We trudge back down and check out all the side creeks along the way. Some had canyons like sections but after the quality slot canyons of yesterday they were a major disappointment.
Back down past the Spur exit and I don’t know if it was the different light or just we were paying more attention but we had to admit the bottom was nicer than we originally gave it credit for.
Like, if you had never been in a proper slot canyon before you’d be impressed
If you are going to do Carnarvon gorge try a cooler month and hope for a good bit of rain in the days before you get here.
Finally out of what my mind I will always call Bloody Boowinda Gorge we paused for a bite to eat. All the trudging over loose river stones had zapped our energy.
It would have been easy just to return to camp but it was barely 4:30pm and there was another long gully about a kilometre down stream that had a name (At least on one map we had stumbled across) so we couldn’t help ourselves and went for a look.
The gully was scrubby and hard going but it keep promising to canyon up just up ahead. So we pressed on.
At least it was wet
We trudged on until we started to loose light and so left this intriguing chasm to its secrets and made our way back to camp.
Ever since my episode of heat stroke/ dehydration a few years ago I struggle a bit in the heat and yesterday was hot.
We plan a lazy start for day 2 and then some exploring.
There’s a waterfall marked on the map, googling before we came showed some photos of a fairly shit looking waterfall but with the other side creeks being so dry we though we might as well check it out.
We boulder hop and scrub bash up stream.
Canyon 6
The mouth of the side stream is bone dry, it’s not looking promising but we head up. A cool breeze comes down,then we round a corner and…
Bam!
If it had a couple of inches of water running down it would be a match for the section in Claustral between the Hulks Fist and Thunder canyon.
And it kept going
I wanted to call it Betty. Kylie wanted to call it Jon. Which is ridiculous. Everyone knows the correct response to calling it Betty is to call it Al.
You mean Al, says I
Jon, says Gadget.
What ever
Further up it had a Bowen creek feel. Only dry as an English backpacker waking up on Bondi beach in the noon Sun on New Year’s Day.
You could see by the moss that it had water recently.
The map showed this creek cuts its way up high up the escarpment but so far a few easy scrambles were all we needed to make our way up.
1 thing I learnt this day though was the location of the creeks on the topo were accurate. The contour lines in the gullies however, were a guess at best and complete fantasy for the most.
We made our way up a kilometre or 2 of slot canyon before getting blocked by a large chockstone. No shitty waterfall to be seen.
We could not believe several blogs had photos of the waterfall but we had found no hint of this anywhere. I guess bushwalkers use a pass up beside the canyon to access the falls and maybe as another pass up to the great walk.
We head back to the gorge and onto the next.
Canyon 7
Further up stream our next target didn’t look like much. A scrub bash into a wide gully. Then a gap in a side wall gave a hint of something.
I almost didn’t bother but I’m going to duck up here for a look, says I.
I’ll come too, says Gadget.
It’s a shallow canyon but it won’t go far. It’s running parallel to the main gorge cutting back downstream but going up…
It might not be as pretty as the previous one But again it is deceptive and just keeps going. Twisting and turning, cutting deeper into the walls.
It took a couple of sketchy climbs but we made it up to where it begins to open out and then retraced our steps to once more bash up the gorge
Canyon 8
A beautiful big Carpet Python guarded the way. It’s curled up in the shade with a full belly getting ready to shed.
The next canyon started with promise
But a few hundred meters in we are blocked by a 8m dry waterfall.
There’s some promising looking lines on the map further up the gorge but it’s getting late and we are fairly cooked from all the boulder hoping. We decide to head back down to camp.
But along the way there was 1 gully we had skipped, originally planing to do it tomorrow. But we were here now so pop in for a look.
Canyon 9
Another dry slot canyon greets us
The map showed this as one of the longer ones on this side of the gorge upstream of the big bend camp but as tired as we were from all the boulder hoping in the heat of the gorge we were keen to see how far up we could push it.
More dodgy scrambles/climbs were needed. We took a bit 3mm amsteel rope as a hand line to assist getting back down.
Finally we couldn’t get any further up so made our way back to camp content with a big day in the heat.
We make our way back to the camp ground and park in the over night car park.
Our plan now was to hike up to the remote camp ground at the Big Bend , a bit over 9km up the gorge.
Along the way we’d do the side trips to the touristy stuff.
It was already 35°. We stock up on water.
Canyon 4
The Ampetheter.
Is it a canyon? I don’t know
Is it touristy as all hell? I don’t care.
I was pretty keen to see this one. It’s just off the main track.
It’s a short but impressive slot
Kylie climbing the ladder access
A short but impressive Hall leads to an otherwise enclosed chamber
Back on the main trail we head up stream.
The next thing on the tourist map is Wards Canyon. Just before it is a break in the cliffline and a small stream, the first we’ve seen with clear water.
And if you are good at spotting trails you may spot a vague track leading up beside.
We dump the packs and go for a stickybeak.
The soil is the finest white sand I’ve ever seen. Almost as fine and white as the cliffs towering above.
The trail continues up but it’s a wide gully. I guess it’s used as a sneaky short cut up or off the great walk or sumfink, we head back to the trail
Canyon 5
Wards Canyon.
Wards canyon looks like the most adventurous canyon in the lower gorge. However you can only access the very lower bit. I think tour company’s might run trips through it so it might be worth applying for a permit
It’s pretty and hosts the only known non-coastal population of King Ferns, Angiopteris evecta, in Queensland.
The Art Gallery
I couldn’t find the indigenous name for the art cave which is a shame. It looks like it was painted yesterday but archeological studies found evidence it’s been in use for at least 3500 years, sites just over the hill date to 19,000 years.
And on we go.
Pitjara Cave
It has another name on the tourist map but this is the name on the old topo. The art is top notch.
And finally we make it all the way up to the camp and stumble into one of the only semi secluded spots at the camp. Winning!
We haven’t done a huge amount of Ks, probably only 15 or 16 but it’s bloody hot so the myriad of No Swimming signs at such a beautiful hole were a little soul crushing.
sleepwhenwearedead 