I always enjoy discovering there’s hidden canyons in areas I thought I knew fairly well.
Suddenly finding ourselves with a spare day we organised a last minute semi exploratory trip to a little canyon none of us had been to before.
Vince had prepared the lidar maps which suggested the constriction would start a bit further downstream than the spot I had selected to enter.
The one source I had said the lidar hadn’t picked up a small cliffline near the creek. says I. I’d hate to miss something.
So we bush bashed in to the spot I had picked. Somehow picking a path to the only 2 cliff lines in that area, luckily there was a path down in-between the two outcrops that look surprisingly like a butt on the lidar. We went down the crack.
The first part of the creek was a bit of a scrubby dub dub with 1000 fallen trees to clamber over but then it opened up a bit
I’ve visited worse creeks
A nice spot for a dip on a warm day. Today was not warm.
and soon it dropped into something that looked very canyon like
A slippery scramble down brought us to a deep, crystal clear pool. Vince spidermaned across. Russ and Jas follow.
This is going to be a test for my shoulder.
I manage to bridge out but as I try the next move I feel the shoulder giving way….. In I go.
It was refreshing.
It should have been a simple bridging exercise.
Couldn’t support my own weight
Not overly deep or consistent but a canyon non-the-less
With some very noice sections.
the next pool looked less avoidable
Even Russ suited up and swam through
Jason decided to give traversing along the side a go. And very nearly made it.
And more pleasant canyon follows
Getting down this tangle of rotting logs and loose boulders was one of the biggest challenges of this little canyon.
And soon we came to the tributary we had planned as our exit.
A little bit of scrambling and a tad of scrub bashing and we were back at the road and quickly headed back to the car to pick up the ropes and harnesses then head off to visit another little canyon not too far away.
Everyone’s favourite squeezy canyon
Russ sitting on everyone’s favourite dodgy anchor
Jason on everyone’s favourite cheese grater abseil
Everyone’s favourite Go/No Go gauge. Don’t go down go over!
Everyone’s favourite helpful team mate
Everyone’s favourite return to the big wide world.
a noice ramp back up through the cliffline.
Then all the was left to do was to bash some more scrub to the main trail and a 3km walk back to the car.
Searching is half the fun. Life is much more manageable when thought of as a scavenger hunt: J Buffett
Anyone want to come on a trip that might be a big day of scrub bash to a poor quality canyon? Say I
Hell yeah! says the above awesome folk.
It’s been a hot minute since I’d organised a semi exploratory trip to a canyon I’d not visited before so it was about bloody time I got out of my funk and Kylie might have gave me a bit of a nudge.
The entry in the Jamieson guide labels it “Ashcroft Ravine” with the description it includes the best bit of Wentworth Creek. There was a reference elsewhere of “Cut-throat canyon.” None of it was clear on what was what and where was where but anyhoo.
The little information we could find suggested the first part of the creek (Variously marked on maps as “Franks” or “Franki”) was a viscous scrub bash so we substituted that for a slightly less scrubby bash down a ridge to drop in right at the start of a canyony bit via 2 short abseils.
Straight away it was more impressive than I was expecting and every bit as slippery.
No scrub in sight and a pleasant bit of canyon greeted us
It was dark and cool but pretty
The canyon section only went a short way before opening into a beautiful, more open gorge
And that would be the theme of Franks(i) short, South Bowenesk canyon sections and more open ravine.
With some tunnel sections and squeezy bits along the way
And it kept going
Very South Bownen like in spots
With tunnels
And happy smiley faces
We made it to the junction with Wentworth creek and had Elevensies.
Wentworth creek put me in mind of the end of Bell creek or sumfink big and grand.
And soon we came across one of the features that when I heard about them really piqued my interest
Tucked away in alcoves along the walls are a series of Stalagmites and Stalactites. In sandstone! I’m assuming there is a drip line passing through an ironstone layer high in manganese or some such, but if any geologist out there have a better explanation please leave a comment.
Older flowstone covered in moss and algae
They were awesome and more numerous than I had expected
On we went and the gorge continued to be impressive
The banks opened out a little and we alternated between traversing high on banks and wading down the creek depending.
Just before the tributary we had marked as our exit Jen and Kirstie spotted a ramp leading up in roughly the right direction that looked like it might bypass one of the 3 climbs Jamieson described.
Kylie and Kirstie scouted up while the rest of us got changed.
It’s bit dodge but it looks like it goes, Called they.
Be careful, called us.
Before long the agreed whistle blasts came to inform us it did indeed go.
We were now in the exit creek but soon came to the small waterfalls that would be the main challenge of getting out.
Reports I had been able to find described a climb on the right.
Kylie gets up to a series of fractured ledges that looked doable but sketchy and dropped a rope down. Jason and I ascended up to her.
The next section looked shit and we weren’t sure what was above. Kylie stood on a log to step up to the next ledge but the log snapped with a thud.
In the meantime the rest of the group were looking for other options.
Back to the left might be doable. Called they
The lidar looks better on the left. Says Jen
I’ll drop back down and check the left option. Said I
Kristie leads me back around bulge and across a very narrow ledge. A short slab climb (maybe grade 7 or 8 but very exposed) presented itself. Up I went. A narrow ledge ramped up below the cliff line.
It goes. says I.
We got a rope up and the rest followed.
It had taken us about an hour and a half to work this puzzle out but once solved it was simple enough.
From there is was a trudge back up to the top of the ridge and back to the cars.
William Charles Wentworth, Billie C-Dubb to his mates, was a statesman, pastoralist, newspaper editor, politician, author, reformist, and advocate.
That’s the type of stuff people could achieve before TV or social media.
That and having 10 kids (Seven daughters and three sons.)
Who Frank, Franki or Ashcroft were I have no idea.
But the creeks named after them are both worth an explore.
sleepwhenwearedead 