Blue Mountains Canyoning – Ranon, Twister and Rocky Creek Canyons 28 – 29 November 2020

Two very hot days of weather were forecast over the weekend, so Enmoore had suggested some Blue Mountains canyoning. The plan was to visit Ranon Canyon on Saturday, and then some of us may so some more canyoning on Sunday. As it turned out – there was Enmoore, Dave W, Rossco, Su Li, Brent and myself for rain on Saturday. And then Enmoore and myself visited Twister and Rocky Creek on Sunday.

It was ideal weather for canyoning. As we headed up the mountains, the temperature near Richmond was already 37° C. We had planned a latish start for Ranon as we wanted to walk out in the cooler late afternoon.

Ranon, is one of the canyons I tend to visit regularly, and I was surprised to find my last trip down the canyon was way back in 2011. That had been an exciting trip, with a thunderstorm hitting us on the last abseil. Ranon is one of the great canyons – together with its sister canyons – the other two canyons that flow into a common creek – Thunder and Claustral Canyons.

On this trip, we entered the canyon via Mistake Ravine, which is the fastest and easiest way into the canyon. If you have more time, then it is well worthwhile to take the longer way in which goes down Ranon Brook the whole way. That entrance features a nice set of small abseils down some waterfalls shortly before Mistake Ravine joins it. Mistake Ravine does not have these abseils, but does have a few cascades that should be down climbed with rope assist.

We set off around 11 am from the Claustral carpark, and walked west along the Bell Road pas the next cutting and then dropped down an easy spur to the creek. From there it was pleasant and easy going downstream.

We soon arrived at a small cascade, and used fixed rope to descend.

Lower down was another of these short drops.

on the way we noticed a number of small snakes. Here is a Broad-headed Snake –

Not far below the junction with Ranon Brook, we found the first of two short abseils.

Here is Enmoore on the first abseil –

Not far below this is an almost identical waterfall. Here is Rossco abseiling down –

Then is takes about twenty minutes to reach the main set of waterfalls at the Claustral junction. These two abseils can be bypassed by doing one long abseil down the canyon wall to the right. That abseil does provide a great view showing the depth of Claustral Canyon, but it is much more exciting to follow the path of the water.

There are actually four waterfalls, after you scramble down below a giant boulder. Each abseil involves descending to a pool, then a swim across and a lower section of abseiling. Here is Rossco descending the upper part of the first abseil –

This photo shows Dave W descending down the upper section, and the next one the lower section of that first abseil.

The next abseil is even better. Here is Rossco on the first part of the drop. Then he has to swim across the pool and throw the rope down the second part of the drop and abseil down that.

Here you can see Su Li, she is at the lip of the pool and at the top of the second part of the drop.

We were then in the lower part of Claustral Canyon. Down here we certainly didn’t feel the heat of the day.

It is great to be in the amazing constriction again. We continued down to the Thunder junction.

At the Thunder junction we stopped for lunch. Then continued on. Here is the famous Thunder Canyon Tunnel Swim –

We met another party at the last swim. They had been down Claustral Canyon. After a break we climbed out and around to Rainbow Ravine. Then up that to emerge into the heat above. We stopped for a rest on a rock, then continued on to the causeway that connects Camels Hump to Mt Tomah. At the start of the causeway, there is a turn off track that follows a short-cut route back towards the entrance gully for Claustral. This route seems to be used by some commercial and private parties, but NPWS ask canyoners to go across the causeway and follow the old track down into the upper part of the canyon, then continue downstream to reach that same Claustral entrance gully, and exit up it.

This was the way we followed, but on the descent from the causeway to the creek, there seemed to be a new track that traversed back under the cliffs of the causeway. We knew  this was not the standard way – but followed it anyway to see where it went. We followed it for several hundred metres and then it seemed to fizzle out. So rather than back track and find the usual old track, we descended and then did a short abseil to get into the creek.

This upper part of the creek  is very beautiful and we took our time walking downstream to the entrance/exit gully. By the time we did climb out, it had cooled off a fair bit.

Back at the carpark, Brent, Su Li and Dave W headed back down to the plains. I travelled back with Enmoore and Roscoe to Blackheath, where we had dinner.

It had been a great day of canyoning.

The next morning, Enmoore and myself, after some discussion decided to visit Twister and Rocky Creek Canyons. We wanted to visit a canyon with a short walk in and out as more heatwave conditions were forecast.

Twister and Rocky Creek Canyon did prove good choice, but the drive out there was terrible. The road was very potholed, all the way from the Zig Zag turnoff to the Galah Mountain turnoff.

There were quite a few parties also visiting these canyons, but we were not held up very much. We had a fast trip through Twister, and I did not take any photos till lower down in Rocky Creek Canyon.

It was very pleasant in the canyon – and not freezing cold. It was not the best for canyon photography however. The lighting was a bit harsh and contrasty. Outside the canyon it was hot and quite windy – not the best conditions for beams of sunlight to appear.

We continued through the canyon and had lunch in the sun at the end, and then returned up the same way.

The canyon has not changed very much since the bushfires. There do seem a lot more logs that have fallen into the canyon and been wedged into nooks.

Thanks to Enmoore for suggesting the weekend and for doing the driving on a very bad road out to Rocky Creek.

Back in Sydney, it had turned out to a weekend of record heat – both days were over 40°C.