MOUNT WILSON, 27 – 31 December 2023
Steph, who I caved with on the Nullarbor, was coming up from Victoria to visit MSS member Liz, and they asked if we could do some canyoning while Steph was here. Initially it was for an 8 day canyoning extravaganza, but true to form, my rainmaker skills came to the fore, and we were rained out after 4 days, but, they were action packed days!
The lead up to the trip was chaotic. First I was trying to come up with canyons to suit everyone (and me as I’m very unfit), Christmas was getting in the way, then Jimmy came down with COVID at my house which meant that I might get it. Then the weather forecast for the week was very iffy, rain almost every day. What to do? cancel everything, hope I don’t get COVID very stressful!
By the 27th, I was still testing negative and I figured the weather would either be good or bad and we’d deal with it. All up, 22 MSS members signed up to be there for anything from 1 to 8 days, a pretty good turnout for a club with only 40 active members!
Jim C, Steph, Liz, John G and I all turned up on the 27th and managed to get some real estate near a shelter at Cathedral campsite. John put up his gazebo which would give us additional shelter if and when it rained.
We had some good campsites near to the shelter and put up our tents, plus a few others to make sure that everyone that arrived would have a campsite close by. In the past, the campground has been really crowded, but amazingly it wasn’t – perhaps people were taking notice of the weather. When we got there to this beautiful blue sky, I was starting to think that the forecasters had got it wrong!
Our first canyon was Serendipity – a shake down trip so that those who had turned up on the 28th could get to know each other. Five canyoners set off around 10am, and I waited for Onni and Rob C to turn up, and I’d do the canyon with them – with the intention of familiarising myself with a sneaky emergency exit that we would use if we did the canyon at night and didn’t want to do the last 2 abseils and swims in the dark.
The walk down was uneventful, although it was quite hot! Onni on the first abseil.
Rob on the abseil, it’s been a while since Rob canyoned with us, and we took the opportunity to make sure his technique was up to scratch.
And taught him how to pull down the rope (and carry it LOL).
Looking downstream from the 1st pitch.
Onni and me at the beginning of the canyon (photo: Rob C)
With a slightly overcast day, the greenness of this canyon jumped out at you. Stunning canyon.
A bit of flood debris, and I noticed that the canyon now has a well-worn track through it, evidence that it is very popular. We were lucky, with out late state, we were the only ones we saw the whole trip.
Another good shot showing how nice it is.
So, why am I looking for this exit prior to the end. Well, my cunning plan was to abseil this canyon at night to see the amazing display of glowworms, but, down the last two abseils and swims wasn’t all that appealing, so this exit would mean we wouldn’t have to carry wet ropes and wetsuits for the walk out.
We got to the point where we would need to exit to avoid the swims, or, if someone was injured, you could walk out on this emergency exit. It’s easy to identify, I remember sitting having lunch or morning tea on a flat rock section, waiting for other canyoners to do the abseil about 50-100m further downstream, so, in the dark I’ll be able to pick it out easily.
Very scrubby, no warn track, half way up I’m ambivalent about this exit, would I really want to lead 8 people out in the dark in this scrub! Admittedly, on the left you can see the rock bluff where the exit track is, but will I pick this out in the dark?
Once we got up to the track, it was simply a slog back to camp. The jury is still out as to whether I’ll use it or not, but it’s good to know where it is.
Back at camp by 4pm and we caught up with the others who’d done the full canyon. Great first day for our Canyoning Extravaganza – everyone is pumped and looking forward to the next day.
Thanks Steph and Liz for suggesting this trip! (And thanks to Jim for helping me out with the planning).
We’re all pumped for the next day!