Great Uncle George canyon fell out of favour for a bit.
A change of land ownership saw the start of the Ingar fire trail locked up but also restricted access for canyoners to the quickest way in.
The alternate route in was a scrub bash that made an average quality canyon barely worth the effort.
But then top bloke and local legend, Blue Philips stepped up to the plate, contacted the owner and, convinced the him to trial allowing canyoners access across his land.
The conditions are explained by Blue
“ Permission this time from the owner (now sometime resident), Warren, stipulation is: keep as far left as you can, away from the house/environs, once you walk around the locked gate/fence, head down near the two abandoned caravans to the lower gate, close it behind you, locate first abseil (slings on tree), and off you go. We’re effectively ‘on trial’, so as long as no-one’s a flog and spoils our access privileges, GUG is back on, via the easiest and simplest ingress route. If you see someone else acting suspiciously, call them out, the owner has endured a lot of negative stuff over the years; bushrock theft, building material theft, motorcycle hoons hooning, fires, drugs, you name it. Us canyoners need to be as pure as the driven snow:-)”
Anyhoo we thought why not take advantage of Blues hard work.
Retracing the entry I’d used years ago with Julie and the Cooks, it took no time to get to the start.
And before long we were at the exit point that cuts back up to the Areoplane Hills picnic area.
We stop for lunch then scramble up onto the ridge. From there it’s an easy stroll up the ridge, made easier from a hazard reduction burn earlier in the year that has cleared out the scrub
GUG might not be the most exiting canyon but finding a patch of wilderness close to suburbia has a vibe all of its own.
So I always thought it odd there were some great canyons running off the Blue Mts Plateau on the North side of the Highway but not much to the South. Sure there was Empress, which is stunning, but I thought it an oddity in among the micro canyons, steep cracks and more open V-gullys running into the valleys on the south side.
Awhile ago I heard rumours that something else had been found but was vague on details. Then the 5th edition Jamieson guide came out with a brief description of the awesomely named “Great Uncle George” Canyon and I’ve been keen to check it out but just hadn’t gotten around to it.
Hey Julie, texts I, U off on ANZAC day? though my spelling and typing is even worse on text.
Sure am, says she or something to that effect and we hatch a plan to visit Old Uncle Georgeyboy. She contacts Jim who pioneered a different exit up an easy ridge back to Ingar Fire trail which makes a very short car shuffle or negates the need for one altogether if you don’t mind a bit of boring fire trail walking at the end.
Jim and his wife Lyn are keen to come along, even better.
Ed can’t make it as he is busy doing family stuff, which is a bummer. As I know he was keen to check it out too.
Tal was keen but when I woke him up at the crack of 7:45am he groaned, rolled over and pulled his covers over his head… Um OK. Julie shows up we stash gear and head up to meet the Cooks at the car park.
It’s a short walk in… if you veer through the private property but it may be best to skirt around the outside, avoiding the swamp and neighboring gully. Up top it’s a bit of an erosion scar. A trail dozed down towards the cliff edge must surely be an old fire break as it’s too steep for a standard 4WD.
Anyhoo we reach the abseil point. Jim set up on the rope, backs up and with a little hop disappears. It’s funny to watch. One second he is there, there next he is not. Hopefully I can get some video together over the next week or so as I have a good clip of Lyn doing the same.
Jim dropping in
A nice overhung abseil into a awesome amphitheater. A tall waterfall plunges into a sited up hole which must once have been a very pleasant swimming hole.
The abseil comes down beside this pretty fall. With all the earthworks/erosion up top the pool is silted up but I wouldn’t mind betting it was once a nice swimming hole.
A set of stairs lead back up the through the cliff line and while the rope is getting retrieved I fire off a couple of photos and head up the stairs to see where they go. A lot of work had gone into making the stairs and the trail above them. It takes me up to a little cave where more stairs are carved up the rock face to no where, as the trail continues around a nose and up above the top cliff line.
A Lot of work went into this track
Wind swept cave in the upper cliff line
Odd place for a step
click to enlarge
What followed was a pleasant stroll down a very pretty creek inter-spaced with some abseils and some nice canyon sections.
Julie abseiling the second drop
Jim on the third drop
Julie on the 4th drop
Julie on Camera, Jim on watch and Lyn on rope
More pleasant creek follows. It was mostly easy walking with a little bit of boulder hoping
Nice Creek walking
Starting to Canyon up
Some boulder scrambling and wades
click to enlarge
Several times the canyon threatens to form, swings around a corner and peters out
Jim, Lyn and, Julie in a canyonesque section
there were some tricky down climbs
And lots of little waterfalls
And after a bit more creek walking a canyon forms with a bit of length to it
Jim leads Julie into the narrows of the canyon
Canyon Formation
Canyon Formation
Canyon formation
Julie photoing me photoing her
Boulder scrambles
Canyon opening out
click to enlarge
It opens out briefly
But it soon closes back in with some tricky abseils
Lyn on one of the tricky overhanging starts
Jim past the tricky start an abseiling into a very nice chamber
While never overly deep or tight it does seem to keep going for a while
Julie disappearing down the next bit.
Canyon formation
Canyon formation
Canyon formation
Canyon formation
Canyon formation
Canyon formation opening back out
click to enlarge
And then there is more pleasant creek scrambling with enough awesome scenery to make it well worth while
Looking back up stream to our lunch spot and exit point
The Jameison guide says to continue down stream a while then out another creek, which requires a car shuttle but Jim had scoped another option last trip and we scramble up a break in the clifflines which leads to an easy ridge back toward the picnic area near the start of Ingar fire trail and thus back to the car.
So, while I wouldn’t say the canyon itself was overly spectacular it was a very nice trip in a beautiful creek that was, for the most part, very easy going. While a couple of the abseils had tricky starts they were all a bit of fun.
Party Size: 4 all experienced
Timing: 5hrs car to car with lots of photo phaffing, exploring, chatting and taking it easy )
All in all a great day in the great outdoors with great people
I thought the entrance chamber was so awesome I went back with Mandy and Tal a couple of days later for a picnic via the stairs
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
We were trying to figure out why these stair would be carved under the cave, its certainly easy enough to walk up the slope beside them then Mandy cottoned on to a likely answer, could they have quarried blocks from here to use int he stair case below?
Despite a coolish day Mandy was keen to get under the Falls
I hadn’t even notice this that first time around. Blue Mountain Historical society had a few clues to the initials may have belonged to nothing that matched completely
I think Tal is disappointed a) he didn’t come on the canyon trip and b) we didn’t bring ropes with us today
A weathered inscription on top of the cliff. Could that be WRH, For Walter R. Hall? Unfortunately we couldn’t find an SC Hall or ED Hall to tie it in to the initials in the rock in on be of the previous photos
Looking back on to the falls from the pagoda at the top of the stairs
