The canyon log is my chronological account of the various canyon trips that I have been fortunate enough to partake, and in some cases, lead.

Sydney is blessed with an abundance of rugged bush land less than two hours drive away, and in this bush land lie some of the most pristine and delicate environments that can be found.
Visiting these places may require no more than a simple walk along a creek, or demand bush craft and navigation skills just to get there.

These trips are 'canyon' trips which involves starting high in the range and following a creek or stream as it carves it's way down to the river valley. The Kanangra canyons are generally fairly open and following these is an excersise in abseiling and scrambling. The beauty of this area are the panoramic views along the Kanangra Walls and valleys. The incredible ruggedness of the area.

Blue Mountains canyons like Claustral, cut deep into the sandstone below them and over time have worn channels and gutters, deep enough that direct sunlight never reaches the bottom. Walking and swimming through these is a magical tour through a ferny green wonderland. A visit to the lost planet.

I have kept these notes as a reminder to myself of the individual trips, as well as to provide 'some' useful information for following excursions, or to supply to others planning similar outings.
As I have been hap-hazardly adding pictures lately, these pages are best viewed at 1024 x 768 !

Trip 14
Claustral Canyon
26 Dec 1999
Ed and Debbie

Boxing Day 1999 was not a day to be remembered for it's fine weather. Looking out of my window at home I felt sure that the planned climb (Sweet Dreams) was not going to happen. The backup plan was to 'do a canyon', but with the state of the weather, I was thinking I'd much rather be 'doing a few more hours sleep'. Still, I really was looking forward to getting out of Sydney, and catching up with Ed and Debbie.
I quickly packed a stripped down version of my climbing gear and threw in wet suits, and the ubiquitous "Volley's" as well, just in case I did get talked into a canyon. (Just as well huh )!

Two hours later I was sitting in my car in Katoomba and it was absolutely pissing down outside ! At one point I could barely see across to the other side of the road.
At 8:15am, the only people on the streets in Katoomba are the small dismal groups of people booked on canyon trips with the various outdoor shops here. They all look apprehensive and miserable! The guides look grumpy and resigned to a day in the wet... I think I probably look grumpy too.
A good thing to remember is that the bread shop here sells the best donuts and sticky buns, so... for breakfast I downed two of the stickiest and stored some donuts away for later..

Ed calls to say he's only a few minutes away but is having trouble with the truck. I was dead set keen to go and do Hole in the Wall, but quickly realised that I probably wouldn't make it in with my car, given the conditions. It was looking like rain all day long.
While waiting and thinking, I decided that Claustral was probably a reasonable choice, but made a mental note to be wary of the water levels (also the slippery rock with all the rain [see trip 11]). Finding the car park empty did not make me feel better, but at least the weather had cleared a little and we wasted no time in gearing up for the day.
We officially signed in at 10:30am and crossed the sty to begin our walk. The track was much more overgrown than I remembered it but it is still a blazing highway down the hill to the creek. Rugged up for cold at the top of the walk we now dropped our packs and took off all our extra layers to let the steam out. I was surprised at how little more water than normal seemed to be flowing. I had expected to see a fairly full stream, and was not unhappy to see that the water level was still very low. As we followed the track along the river bank, I spied the odd footprint in the mud and was not surprised to see the last of them turn back up the hill at the last exit point. Now we knew we were the only ones here.

My 50m rope was just enough to do the first two pitches in one go. Glad for that because I was bloody freezing waiting at the top of the third pitch. Debbie took a while to appear. She had some difficulty moving her gear along the rope after the first pitch, due to the drag of the rope down the second pitch behind her, and was being pelted by the freezing cold waterfall at the same time...

Horses for courses - ATC's aren't the best descenders for Canyoning !!!

Ed wisely re-threaded the rope at the top of the second pitch to avoid possible rope jams and soon all three of us were shivering at the top of the keyhole together. Together we pulled the rope down and I threaded the rope through the tangle of old slings above the keyhole and away were again. The last swim here always worries me. (I don't know why that is ... It's just a short swim!) I coil the rope into my pack and leave no scraggy bits to get caught on the submerged tree around the corner, but still managed to bang my knee on it while swiming past. We pause for a few photos and jump into the next pool. A quiet walk scrambling along the course of the creek brings us to the dreaded 'hop over'. I have been thinking about this move now for a long time. It has always been difficult one for me ! On my last trip through here I though I had it wired and confidently stepped across with no trouble at all, just like I had seen all my friends do in the past. I though I had finally beaten the anxiety. That was, until I slipped over and continued to slide off into space (for a few milliseconds) and then fall to the boulders below. [see trip 11]
This time however, anxiety aside. I managed to step lightly across and veer away from the slippery section. To make myself feel worse before hand... I very carefully threw my pack across first, only to watch it disappointingly land, bounce and roll once on the gentle slope, and then, pick up speed and careen off into the void, landing with a resounding "thud" about 4m below. (Sing with me kids... "Memories ... light the corner of my mind....")
Once past this mostly mental hurdle, and then down through the cork screw, the canyon is all but done. Two more down climbs and two more swims and we're at the exit point.

Walking out is much harder than I remembered it. The first section seems not too bad as it's mostly scrambling, but as the grade eases, the load begins to bear only on the legs, and then the fatigue starts to set in. In fit's and spurts we dogged our way to the top and finally emerged at the car just before 6pm ... Seven and a half hours!!...
This seems fairly average given the state of the day and lack of fuel for the machines. (I think most parties average around 7 hours).

We scored accommodation in Katoomba for the evening and settled in for pizza and beer in front of the fire place at the Clarendon, which was a very civilised way to end the day. Ed and Debbie, you guys will just love Hole in the Wall ....