It’s been a while since I’ve organised an obscure trip.
Others take the piss out of my scrub bashes to shit canyons but I get a kick out of checking out places the majority wouldn’t bother with.
So when we were thinking about what to do and South Bowen formed up as the front runner I suggest how about we go in fro the top.
Not that’s it’s overly obscure, for as long as I can remember David Noble has been commenting that people miss 3 or 4 canyon sections by going in the “standard” entry.
Still upper sections tend to be hit and miss so I wasn’t expecting high quality but they are all worth doing once.
The only hitch was the car shuffle. We didn’t have a second car.
Let’s just do the top and scramble out the Cork Screw entrance. Says I. That way it’s only a 2km walk back up the highway and we can do that first.
Deal.
We pick one of the branches below Mt Wilson turn off and make our way in. It was scrubby on the spur and muddy in the creek line.
Like scrubby scrub and muddy mud
But it’s only a short bash to the first canyon section. And it’s surprisingly high quality.
And once we got to the junction with the “standard” entry we reversed back up the Cork Screw section and found a break in the cliffs to scramble up.
I’m suppose to be catching up with the crew for a trip through Claustral. But the early start was delayed so I crawled back into bed to wait out the unusual morning storm.
Then I forgot to factor in Good Friday traffic.
I’m no chance of making the new time. Go without me, texted I
Now what?
Hey Kylie want to do a chill half day?
Sure
I’ve never been overly impressed by Juggler but it seems like the least hassle.
It’s was kinda nice after the storms.
Opting for the wet lines
A couple of guys in front
And that’s about it. We are not really fussed on adding in Grand today so we go for a little optional extra
We invited the two we caught up with in juggler to the add on.
Party size:2
Time: 3.5 hrs car to car with a relaxed lunch break.
Styx will be doable, says Leo over diner, a fairly ordinary steak at a fairly extraordinary price.
I’m excited as we head to find a camp.
Stix is the one I wanted to do when I suggested the trip.
But also… I don’t know. I’m not as excited as I should be. I’m feeling a bit shit.
Saturday dawns bright.
Me not so much.
I crawl out of bed and spew.
I struggle to walk down to the others. I’m going to have to tap out. Says I
I think you should harded up, says Madie. Then looks up. Oh, you look like death.
Thanks
Here, she hands me some pills. I take them and take a sip of water. I spew.
Yeah I don’t think you should come says Leo.
I find a tree to lay under and try not to feel too sorry for myself as the others head off for an amazing adventure.
At some point through the afternoon I scratch something out of my itchy ankle.
I think nothing of it.
I’m not in much of a state to think. I don’t even think to be worried the others are running late until Russ gets me a message over his InReach to say they are ok and have just reached the exit.
It’s almost dark.
Some time later they arrive back in camp with tales of amazing adventures.
I ain’t even care I missed it… but I take the first bite of food I have been able to without spewing
Next day I wake feeling a little worse for wear but much better.
Belatedly I realise I’d started picking up almost as soon as I scratched whatever it was out of my itchy ankle.
I can’t be 100% sure but I think I’d had a reaction to a tick. It was dumb luck that let me scratch the little fecker out without doing more harm.
Anyhoo I still haven’t made up my mind if I’m up to canyoning today.
We’ll do Rosewood, says they. It’s an easy half day. It’s like the Empress falls of the Northern NSW. You’ll be fine.
Well alrighty then
19-03-2023
Kylie, Madie, Leo, Russ, Jason and meeeeeee
I’m glad I listened to them. It’s pretty with action packed abseiling at the end.
The moderate water levels made it hella fun too
Suited up and excited for a cruzy day Still there were some water hazards to negotiate
And some fun abseils
In a very pretty setting
With a little spice to keep us on our toes
And the final abseil down Cedar Falls was pretty nice.
Zero leaches or ticks were taken home by Flynny this day.
Winning
the dreamers of the day are dangerous, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes to make them possible.” – T.E. Lawrence
And thus we find ourselves navigating our way around the chemical weapons clean up and start walking out the fire break along Waratah ridge amid banter and laughing.
And before too long we are suiting up and entering the canyon
It’s quiet nice.
I always forget just how spectacular the top section is
And I also forget the length of the walk betwix it and the bottom section …
Aimee entering the bottom section. The log has moved so now it’s a much easier start. That log had been there as long as I can remember. It’s now further down the chamber. Testament to the power of the recent floods
Wrong time of year for a massive glowworm display but still… glowworms! and if I’m ever not awed by glowworms slap me hard
The cave has silted up again meaning it’s a walk through to the squeeze out again.
It’s pretty choked up. Says Russ. I’m not sure we’ll get through.
Ah, that old chestnut.
Wait. I can see a bit of light. and up he squeezes.
I’m not sure of the sense of leaving the fat guy until last but Aimee follows him and I push my pack through to her and think skinny thoughts as I wiggle my self up and out
Then the hole abseil is awkward and holey again
Hole in the Wall, the sun really does shines out it’s arse
I don’t want to get into the whole bolt debate but for me the problem solving aspect has alway been a big part of the appeal of Blue Mountains canyoning. So needing to think about and improvise anchors was a pleasant change to what has become the norm in the more popular “trade routes”
And far too soon we are swimming up the Bungleboori North branch/*hackspit* Dingo creek.
Excuse me, I’ve been trying to reach you about your cars extended warranty…..
So Watta canyon on the Southern Highlands has been on my list for a while but dig one reason or another I hadn’t got there.
Time to rectify that.
It starts with a bit of promiseThere’s lots of scrambling down, up, and over boulders but the creek is surprisingly pretty And there are arches. Beautiful, mossy arches And long swimsSwims that end abruptly in waterfalls Jason on the first fun little dropKylie having a shower
And then the canyon ends as the arse end falls out of the world.
From the top it looks massive.
Kylie is setting up the short rope. Um, it looks massive…
A 20m abseil brings us to a big ledge. That was hidden at the top.
and that quite definitely is the answer. I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you’ve never actually known what the question is. D Adams
And about 3.5hrs after we started we are back at the cars.
I’m not sure I’m keen enough to drive down, says Kylie. But I haven’t caught up with them in ages.
The others were already at Bungonia canyoning away.
How about we meet up somewhere and share the bulk of the drive? Say I
Deal says she.
We enact the plan.
The others look a little wrecked from the previous day.
It was hot, say they, and the creek water was horrid. We almost ran out of water.
I throw in an extra water bottle.
And we are off.
We reach the creek without too much effort but the day is already heating up. I’m glad I left the wetsuit in the car.
The pool below looks so inviting
Kris heading in as Jas sets the next abseil. There a some nice creek walking interspaced with jumps and swims.
Then we get to a larger drop. The notes say bolts on the right but they look a bit sketchy to get to ( thou belatedly we spit a traverse bolt)
We opt for a sling on a tree up to the left. This gives us about a 42m abseil into the pool below.
The pool is full of string algae and pulling the ropes throu is like fishing for slime monsters..
Some more cool pools and a 12m abseil follow
Kylie and Hywaida waiting on me to descend.
Which Jason opts to jump
And then we get to Jerrara falls themselves
At this stage I’m a little confused with the notes. They say the full thing is 85m. But it can be split in 2 doing 60m (bypassing a small semi hanging rebelay) and 35m or in 3 doing 30m, 35m, 30m…. Or sumfink
I don’t know if maths has changed since I was a boy but when Brother John taught me my sums those numbers did not add up.
Still Bro John also said, quiet frequently, You’re strong in the legs but weak in the heads boys. So maybe the calculation issue was on my end.
So the notes indicated a 5m scramble to the first bolts. It looked bigger than 5 and exposed AF so I opted to abseil off slings on a tree. As I’m abseiling down Kris walks over a knob and scrambled down to meet me on a big sloping ledge. We can see anchor bolts just over the edge where it starts to get steeper.
There are also bolts at the back of the ledge which I urge the others to use. it’s a reasonably grippy surface but sloping and a big drop below so we want to opt for caution.
I go down to the anchor and set the 70m rope thinking we are going to bypass the first rebelay and do pitch 1 and 2 as one.
In hindsight I think I’ve just come down pitch 1 and the little ledge I’m standing on is the semi hanging rebelay at the start of pitch 2. But there’s no way it was 30m from the top. I’d say it was well less than 15 and I couldn’t see and bolts further up that would match the description for the pitch 1 anchor
Anyhoo we needed to swap out ropes as I’d come down on the short rope and we are thinking we’ll need to keep the 2nd long rope as a pull chord and send the short rope down to set the last pitch.
As they sort ropes I’m on a baking hot ledge in full sun in short sleeves. I’m roasting. Eventually I remember I have sunscreen in the top of my pack. I lather it on to my face shoulders and legs. did I mention it’s hot? It’s baking freaking hot. Soooooo hot. Oven hot
Eventually the ropes are swapped and Jason heads down. And signals to take rope up. I had about 65m out and pull up about 10m before he signals stop. That doesn’t make sense.
Things are a little confused, there’s a large group in line of sight with us in bungonia canyon and so whistle signals are getting a little crossed.
Kylie heads down. And signals rope up. I take up another 15m or so.
This is not making any sense with our plan.
The rest of us head down. We get to a big sloping ledge, there’s anchor bolts, Jason’s is on a ledge about 20m below and out to the left. None of it matches the small rebelay ledge we bought the long ropes to bypass but we haven’t gone down enough to be on top of pitch 3. Have we?
There’s some discussion on whether there’s 1 or 2 pitches left.
There is no way that is 65m to the pool says I. But we rig the 70m so it can be lowered with the 60 just in case.
Kylie goes down and signals rope up
I’m sitting the the spray of the waterfall longing to get into the pool below but I’m anchor bitch a going last.
Eventually we all get down.
It seems we have done the 3 pitches as described but the heights are off, especially for the first pitch.
Anyhoo, slightly older and not very much wiser we continue down
There had been some discussion about taking one of the short cut exits. But given the choice between scrambling up an exposed, loose knife edge in the baking sun or boulder hoping down and walking up the tourist track at a slightly cooler time of day everyone opted tourist track
Once through the boulders there was some nice sections of gorge lined with stunningly colours cliffs. The water was skinky from the string algae but it was hot, damn hot, so we threw ourselves in each pool to cool off along the way.
And then we reach the junction with the red track.
Ok National Parks down here have a much more liberal idea on what constitutes a “tourist track” than those softly graded , full of stairs and boardwalks tourist tracks found in the bluies.
The start was a hell of a lot more scrambley than I had expected.
Nothing overly difficult or exposed but different to what I was thinking.
But the start was in a shady gully which was nice.
Coming out of the gully onto the open ridge was like hitting a wall of heat. But it snaked it’s way the ridge easy enough and I hightailed back to the campground and grabbed the ute thinking I’d do the gentlemanly thing and save the others another 2km walk
But they got to the top of the hill and took a sharp right., following the green trail back. So I missed them and the bastards beat me into the showers 🤣🤣
All in all another great day with awesome people.
“Let a man walk ten miles steadily on a hot summer’s day along a dusty English road, and he will soon discover why beer was invented.” — Gilbert K. Chesterton
It occurred to me I hadn’t done anything biggish for a bit. Nor had I lead anything I’d not done before for a while. Nor had I done the top of Ranon Brook ever.
Time to amend that.
The track notes said to follow the ridge so of course I headed straight down into the creek, joining it just below the feeder swap.
I don’t think Kylie was that impressed but the walking in the creek was mostly pleasant with occasional bits of cutty scrub
There were some nice bits of crystal clear water. And soon the creek dropped into a stunning little canyonHappy smiles Abseil into a pool, swim across and abseil out is a bit of a theme in Ranon
But it’s only short and a bit more creek walking gets us the the junction with Mistake Ravine and into familiar territory
It was a busy day in The main canyon sections. These tip top Canberrians let us go throu on their rope and caught back up a couple of times through out the day. oddly were the only other group we saw once we got to ClaustralKylie in the slot above the Claustral junctionAnd into Claustral. Just in time for sunbeams Mandatory hulks fistAnd National Geographic shotAnd more sun beamsAnd standard Claustral gorgeousness
Another great day out with great company, somehow missing the crowds.
It’s still magic even if you know how it’s done: Terry Pratchett
Hywaida, Kristo, Ethan, Kylie, Rus, Madie and meeeeeeeeeeeeee
Who wants to do Butterbox this weekend, said I
Me, said them.
As they say in Canada (probably) Well alrighty then
A cold wind blew on the morning of our gathering.
Wait! That’s an understatement and a half
It was an icey gale that ripped through us as we met at the car park.
And it seemed like it would be whipping up through the canyon
Are we sure we want to do this?
Of course.
And so it went.
We layered up and headed in.
Couldn’t quite get the Beetles abby road shot… It may have been cold but patches of blue sky and sunshine lighted our spirits.
Excitement on faces and interesting places.
And it’s about to get real
Butterbox is, for the most part, more open and has less swimming than the trip we did through North Bowen 2 weeks ago. But there are more abseils which could lead to more standing around waiting. we had enough ropes to keep moving. My only concern was the small stance on the chockstone pitch might mean we have a line up of people waiting in ice wind.
Good news for us, once we dropped off the ridge there was hardly any wind at all. I had a set of sharkskin T2 chillproof underneath my 5mm seland wetsuit (* this is not a paid endorsement. but if seland or sharkskin are reading this….. 🙂 ) I had put them on at the first abseil. I’d packed a windcheater jacket but left it in my pack.
By the time we got to the first swim I was keen to cool off
Ah the ol’ hump the log technique. I’ve given up going that way since the logs deteriorated a bit but H isn’t scared
A couple of short swims, a slide and we get to the bit we are here for
Butterbox is a fun, adventurous trip but lets face it. The next 2 abseils is what it is all about
Kristo on rope heading to the chockstone as Madie bleeds rope. There may have been comment made about how the official sign up top shows photos of old school technique and terrible rope management, having a massive pile of twisted spaghetti at the bottom. Something I was guilty of for many years. I’m thankful at how far my knowledge and skills have progressed in the last few years thanks to knowledgeable people sharing their, um, knowledge
RKEHOurs truly
So at the bottom of that you go over the edge and pop out to a large rock wedged between the canyon wall, The chockstone. Well I say large, there’s room for 2 people to set up the next abseil, 3 if you don’t mind getting up close and personal. 4 if you want a group hug with little room to do anything else much less try to set rope or maneuverer to abseil.
And 3 or 4 meters below the Chockstone the canyon takes a sharp right and you swing out under the roar of the falls and into the chamber of awesomeness
And I just noticed Madie creeping in the background of the above photo as Kristo descends. What is she doing up there? How did she get there? How will she get down? The answers to all this and more will not be forthcoming in the next instalment of “What’s Madie up to now”
Another short swim, some boulder hoping and a final abseil and we reach the lunch spot and spread out in the sunlight. Pulling on dry clothes Rus reminisces about the time it was so stinking hot when we got here that we found some shade and snoozed for a couple of hours waiting for it to cool down enough to climb out.
Of course the Butterbox adventure isn’t over yet. There still the steep walk out to the clmb.
I put my windcheater on expecting to be in the full force of the icy zepher. Soon I stash that back in the pack and strip down to a tee shirt. It was pleasant in the valley
I failed so hard. Russ keeping the barefoot madie safeMadie leading the wayThe trees look so small. Did I say something about rope management earlier. it’s not a twisted as it looks. Kylie rocking on up with Me and Madie Duel belaying the others up
Up top it wasn’t until we were cross the saddle from Butterbox point back to the car park that the full force of the wind hit us. At one point I think I was leaning 45° to the right trying to resist it blowing me off the hill.
You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t loose it: R Williams
sleepwhenwearedead 