Another very hot day was forecast. It was the day to head up to the mountains with Bob for a walk or canyon. After some discussion, we decided to visit Water Dragon Canyon. It is a small tributary of Wollangambe Canyon and joins it near Mt Wilson.
We set off from the RFS at Mt Wilson and walked down the exit track from the Tourist Section of Wollangambe Canyon. We were soon on the creek, but did not stop long. We climbed up the far side. It was quite hot, so we stopped for a break part way up. At the crest of the ridge, we walked a short way and turned off the track at a cairn. We then followed a fainter track down to a small side creek. We followed this downstream, and it soon merged with a larger creek, and then not far down that was our canyon.
At a small tricky drop, we met another party. They were stopping to put on wetsuits. We hadn’t bothered bringing wetsuits, so overtook them here. We used our rope to get down the short drop, then a short way downstream was the first abseil.
We did this in two stages, a short drop down, and then we rebelayed off some bolts on the right for the next bit. This would make the pull down easier.
This took us down to a nice section of canyon.
Then there was a hand over hand down to a deep pool which took us to the next, and last of the abseils. This took us down to the best part of the canyon – a deep and dark slot. But this is also the section of the canyon that is easy to visit on a Wollangambe Canyon trip. It is good to park your lilo on a sandbank, and then walk up the canyon. That way you can see most of the canyon, and certainly the best section.
I had my camera and tripod with me, so took this lower section slowly and took quite a few photos on the way down.
Near the Wollangambe, I bumped into Rik and his friend. They had been liloing down the Wollangambe and were on the side trip up the canyon that I mentioned above.
I rejoined Bob at the junction with the Wollangambe. There I inflated my lilo. Many would visit this canyon and not bother with a lilo. You can swim down the last part of the canyon, but I find this long pool too long, so like to use a lilo.
We arrived back where we had crossed the creek earlier. We found a shady place to have lunch. We also had several swims – the water in the Wollangabe was a really nice temperature. Then it was a hot, tiring walk out in the heat.
More photos of the canyon are online here.