A few more canyons were being reopened after the bushfires and the later floods. One of these was Fortress Creek. I headed up the mountains with Bob, and we set off from the carpark for the canyon.
The way in was badly burnt out. The first bit along the fire road was easy to follow. But the last bit – along a rough track was a lot more difficult. The track was quite hard to follow in places. We lost it a few times and then had to look around for it. Why do you need a track when there is virtually no scrub because of the fire? Well – its a lot safer to walk along the track formation. Walking off it is dangerous. Bushes get burnt and often there is a sharp stub remaining. If you tread on one of these, there is a chance of getting impaled. This is particularly the case if you are wearing light shows like Volleys, which have great grip in the canyon, bu have a light sole – that can easily be penetrated if you walk on a sharp stub of bush.
We soon arrived at the creek. Not far downstream the canyon begins with a swim through a narrow long pool. This was nice.
But after that, there was a long section of slow going. The floods had filled the creek with debris. There were lots of unstable logs to negotiate. And the burnt sides were not attractive.
But, further downstream, the creek drops ago with a short drop off boulders into a deep pool. I used the rope to abseil down (an awkward abseil) and then checked the depth of the pool. No logs were found, so Bob jumped down.
This bit of canyon is a bit of a tease. It starts very good, but the canyon peters out. But the gorge here is deeper and less burnt out by the fire.
Then there is a long dark pool. The water was not too cold, but the swim is long and tiring. Its a very nice bit of creek.
Then there is the short abseil. The three bolt belay point looked in good condition, so we abseiled down.
This takes you into the best part of the canyon. Its very nice – but also very short.
Soon we found ourselves at the top of the large waterfall overlooking Govetts Creek Valley.
This was a good place or lunch. Then it was an easy climb out and back along the burnt out track over the Fortress and back to the carpark. A nice day out, and what looks like being our last canyon for a while.
