We had two birthdays to celebrate – Jasper’s and Digi Dave’s, so we headed up to the Blue Mountains and out into Wollemi National Park to set up camp at the head of the Dry Canyon. There is a nice sheltered campsite, not too far from where we parked he cars. A short way from the campsite is to be found the interesting Dry Canyon.
After setting up tents, many in the party set of down to the canyon. This is an easy 15 minute walk along a track through open forest. Gradually the pagodas on either dies of the valley draw closer together and then the valley drops suddenly and surprisingly into a nice canyon. The Dry Canyon is usually completely dry – you don’t even get your feet wet! It is also quite spectacular – with two sections of constriction – a short upper one and a longer, darker one a short distance downstream.
At the end of the canyon is a lookout overlooking the Wolgan Valley. For a better view of the Wolgan Valley you need to walk back up the canyon to the region between the two constrictions and climb out on the west side (easy to do in a number of places) and then walk wound the top of the canyon to a great lookout. You can also get very good views of the canyon itself – which looks very spectacular when viewed from above.
In the evening, we had a great party – and shared a lot of good food and drink. It was pleasant sitting around a large campfire.
Next morning, Wendy and myself got up early and walked back down to the canyon and climbed out to the lookout for some dawn photography. Still conditions had helped some valley mist form in the Wolgan Valley. This covered up the open valley and in particular the rather untidy Wolgan Resort with its buidlings, carparks and sewerage ponds. Good conditions fora few photos.
We then slowly packed up and carried our gear back to the cars, and then headed a few kilometres down the road to the carpark for the Glow Worm Tunnel. In the tunnel, myself and Digi Dave set up tripods to try and capture images of some of the glow worms. This was difficult. A fun run was on – and runners were constantly running through the tunnel – shining their lights all over the place. It did make for some interesting photos.
Rather than walk back up the canyon, we headed up through Bells Grotto – a short canyon nearby. Back in the days when the railway operated, passages often used to take this route rather than stay in the train through the smoky tunnel.
In the evening, Digi Dave and myself camped at Katoomba and we both got up early for a dawn photo shoot on Narrow Neck. Mist had formed in the Jamison Valley but overcast conditions did not make for good lighting.
Digi did make a short time lapse movie showing the undulating mist –
Narrow Neck Dawn from David Forbes on Vimeo.
More photos are on my website here.