Bob and myself were heading up the Mountains for a canyoning trip and we decided to visit a small canyon at Bell that has recently been named as “Crystal Slot Canyon”. We had both recently seen photos of this canyon on social media (Facebook – Australian Canyoners Page). The author of the post, Neil Miller, had been in a party that visited the canyon a few days earlier and wondered if they had been on a first descent. The canyon lies in very small tributary to Koombanda Canyon.
Most of the canyon lies in the tributary of a tributary to Koombanda Canyon. A very small creek flows into a slightly larger creek, and about 100 m later this joins Koombanda Creek a very short way downstream of the canyon section. I have no knowledge if this small creek has been descended before. There are exploratory canyoners who do check out small creeks like these, and this one is very close to road access. But on the other hand, its such a small creek that it may have been overlooked. Well it certainly looked worthwhile to visit – and it was. It was not a dark narrow or sustained canyon, but it was pleasant and a nice short day.
Update – I have since heard that Andrew Valja and Karen McLaughlin descended this canyon about 20 years ago and called it “Sleeper Canyon” (since it was close to the railway line).
Bob parked at the old coal mine on the Darling Causeway, and we were soon on our way. We crossed the railway line, then walked north along the rail access road, till we approached a small knoll. We normally cross this knoll if heading to Koombanda Canyon. This time, we left the road a bit before the knoll, crossed a swamp and then traversed along the top of the swamp on the eastern side. A short time later, we were looking down into our creek.
We scrambled down to the creekbed and a short distance downstream was the first abseil.
This was about a 10 m drop down to a lower level. We used a convenient tree as a belay point.
Not far downstream was the second abseil. This was down a nice waterfall –
Again, a belay off a tree. The abseil ended in a deep pool, and it looks difficult to avoid a short swim.
Not far below this is the “Crystal Slot”. Its either a swim or deep wade through crystal clear water. I managed to bridge my way through.
Then the creek opens up a bit, and it may even be possible to scramble out. The creek goes around a corner to the next drop. This is another short abseil, this time through an arch.
There was log belay point directly upstream, but it looked like the rope may jam in a crack, so we belayed off a tree on the left side.
The lighting was very harsh on our visit, and its hard to make out Bob in the photo below descending below the arch.
Just downstream, our creek joined the slightly larger creek, just to the west, and a short way downstream is the last abseil. This is down a nice slot.
A convenient tree on the left provided suitable belay point.
Then our creek joined Koombanda Creek – just below the canyon. We were back in familiar country. We then followed the creek downstream to the old coal mine, where we had lunch.
Then it was the walk out via the Coal Mine access road. There are some landslides here, but none seem new.
Some rubbish has been cleaned up at the old mine site, but some remains and there are a lot of weeds. A sign on the railway bridge indicted that it is crown land.
This had been a leisurely trip. We had started at about 9:40 am and were back at Bob’s car a little after 1 pm. The canyon had four short abseils. We used a 40 m rope, which was plenty (a 35 m rope would be fine). There was a very short swim at the bottom of the second abseil, and a deep wade. I would not bother taking a wetsuit. It was not a great canyon, but worth a visit.
Here is our route, showing the abseils –
Note – air photos show the small creek goes around a sharp bend (like Koombanda does) before joining the other small tributary.
(from Google Maps)