After the Boxing Day canyoning trip, John was staying in the mountains with his wife Claire and kids. Other friends – Sarah and James were also around. It was a good chance to meet up, do an easy canyon and a nice bush walk. Don and his daughter, Elata, joined us also. Empress Canyon and the nearby National Pass were chosen.
For many years now, I have been fortunate to be able to leave on Boxing Day for an extended canyoning trip in the Northern Blue Mountains. Some of these six day trips have been visiting known but remote canyons, others have been more exploratory.
After visiting Hat Hill Canyon – we had plenty of time left for a trip through Empress Canyon at Wentworth Falls. Surprisingly, Bob hadn’t been through this canyon before.
I have just returned from a very pleasant trip through Hat Hill Canyon near Blackheath. It had been a very long time since I had visited this creek and a return was long overdue.
A few photos and a video of the nice ride we did last night in the inner west of Sydney to see some Christmas Lights. The first street we went to was Walsh St in Croydon Park.
The Coxs River near its junction with Megalong Creek has cut through a granite batholith and left a beautiful landscape. Each year, before Xmas, members of Sydney University Bushwalkers go down to the river, to swim, to camp, and to celebrate the festive season with good food and drink.
A few photos of this very nice canyon at Blackheath. This was our prelude trip before going down to the Coxs RIver with SUBW to celebrate the festive season.
A nice ride with Chris, Clare and Stacey at Yellowmundee Regional Park – thanks to a great single-track built by WSMBC. The riding was good but the weather was very bad. Heavy rain for the whole loop – so that was all we did!
More photos and a link to the GPS plot of the ride on my website here.
Mt Hay Canyon is a relatively short canyon – but it has remained a classic canyon. It packs a lot in its short length. This essay will mainly focus on some of its history. The creek that the canyon is in is marked as “Rocky Points Ravine” on the official map. An early bushwalkers sketch map called it “Many Caverns Creek” – a name I think was due to Marie Byles. She may have visited the upper part of the creek but it is very unlikely that she went through the canyon section.
Jan on the second abseil of the main drop
