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Trip report

2006-02-04 Canyoning at Mt Wilson
Trip report:

Saturday: "Waterfall of Moss" Canyon


Overview
Waterfall of Moss canyon, Mt Wilson on Saturday 4th of February, 2006.
The weather was quite cool for the time of year. The directions we had were rather vague, so this slowed the party. We only reached the river in late morning and the top of the canyon by lunchtime (though we did not eat lunch until halfway through the canyon). We took our time going through the canyon because none had been through before. There were occasional problems with old untrustworthy rigging having to be removed and the anchor-point needing re-rigging from scratch. All the abseils included things like overhangs. The walk out was quite long, but the weather had remained unchanged (drizzle) and welcome for the extended climb up Mt Wilson.

Waterfall of Moss Entry
After a late start, Dave Doughty, Mark and Elanor Young, Ros and John Barnes and James Goodwin, none of whom had been in this particular canyon before proceeded to walk to the canyon known as "Waterfall of Moss" off the Wollangambe River.
From the Cathedral Reserve campground at Mt Wilson, we followed a fire-trail that goes N from the NW corner of the Reserve.

The walk down to the River was in places very steep. Dave took a few adventure trips through the scrub for a bit of variety. Essentially we followed the Wollangambe 2 exit track to the River.

On the other side of the River, which we swam (it was warm!), there was a climb of about 3m with a fixed rope hanging down that we replaced. Once up this, we went left and up to the cliff line. At this point we walked left instead of right, and went in the direction of the top of the 4th abseil. Then we realised our mistake and walked back up through a gap in the cliff line, then up onto the ridge, following it to the left until we reached the gully. Here we entered the canyon, and splashed through the creek to the first abseil.

Notes
We used two 30m ropes. Mark was leading with Dave teaching how to rig and other useful things like damming waterfalls for the benefit of people abseiling down them. Of course when he runs out of rocks, well, the abseil gets wetter.

The first abseil was the easiest, about 8m, from a tree with a good overhang compared to some of the others (!). The second was also about 8m from a tree, with a more tricky overhang at the top. The third abseil had another slightly curly overhang to start with and was through what is known as the "Arch" which was really a hole carved through the rock by the creek, leaving a complete bridge on one side, which is above you when you are at the bottom. This one was done in stages with both ropes, as you can stop before the bottom and rest in a dint in the rock. The end of this abseil has an overhang on the right side but on the left where the creek flows is a slippery slide, so you have to decide which to take because you can't put one foot in each.

The fourth abseil was about 8m, but the anchor was a bit back, so that made it about 16m. We landed with a big splash after an unconvincing overhang. Here there was a creek junction and we stopped for lunch. The fifth abseil was down from a tree over a rock to between two angled rock faces, which ends up being awkward when you include an overhang. This one was about 7m. The sixth abseil was from an anchor a long way back from the actual drop, so we needed two ropes again, even though it was only about 10m. Dave was last down, and he had to make sure the knot was over the edge so the rope came down easily. The seventh abseil was the spooky dark one that goes into a narrow dark slot with another interesting overhang at the beginning. The rope was hardish to pull from this one too; we had to use two ropes again. The last abseil was the waterfall of moss, and it was here we encountered the little brown snake just near the edge of the drop, so one person at a time waited, so as not to crowd it. Dave and Mark spent a bit of time looking for another better anchor point than the dodgy bit of rotten wood wedged behind a rock with a very long bit of rope tied in lots of places with the pseudo-alpine butterfly and Rod’s favourite European death-knot. They climbed up onto a ledge running just parallel with the canyon and going out further than the drop to the left. A new anchor point was found in a comfortably sized boulder and less rope could be used for the abseil, which was lots of fun because it was very bouncy on new rope. Once down, we swam back down the Wollangambe to the point were we originally crossed it and began the long slog home with perhaps more old dodgy rope and tape from the canyon than the good stuff we took in.

To end our walk, we tried out an alternative route along a muddy track on the way back after the clearing where you pick up the fire-trail. We returned to camp in the evening, but we took our time and the canyon could have been done in a few less hours.

Waterfall of Moss Report by: Mark Young



Sunday - Serendipity


At the Mt Wilson camp ground, Rod, Ros, Rowena and John got up and prepared for Serendipity. Rod was leading.

We headed off from Mt Wilson camping ground at exactly 8:30 am. Rod decided that it would be best to walk from the camp ground rather than drive to the fire station and head from there.

We headed down the hill watching out for a path off to the right where there was a termite mound on the left. After several false paths, with Rod reminding us that there needs to be a termite mound on the left we found it. Ros got out her GPS and marked a way point for future reference and we headed off down the track to the river.

Abseil 1(dry)
Rod set up the first abseil and we headed down. We had got to the first abseil about an hour and 10 minutes after leaving camp. It took us about 30  minutes to set up and get gear on, etc. This was a fairly dry abseil and not all that high, about 10 meters. At the base of this abseil there was a pleasant creek which was flowing through a gravel bed. The tree ferns and other wet area plants abounded. There were some pools of water that we had to wade through, but they were really only ankle deep, and if you were careful you could scramble round.

Abseil 2 (scramble)
The second scramble/abseil, Rod put a hand line up and climbed down. Ros and Rowena both clipped on their abseil gear and abseiled down, but John proved that he too was a real man and climbed down. This one was about 3 meters.

Abseil 3
We came to the third abseil which was a real abseil into the canyon proper. This was a wet abseil so we put on our wetsuits and ensured that our gear was properly waterproofed. Rod again lead the way. It was possible to avoid getting too wet in this abseil, unlike some of the others.

As we were walking down the valley we found several pools, and one where we stopped for a snack we found a yabby. We played chase the yabby into the view of the camera and took several shots of him.

Abseil 4
The forth abseil was down a waterfall into a pool of water. We needed to unclip from the abseil while floating in a reasonably deep pool, and then swim to the other side.

Abseil 5
This was started down a crevasse where water flowed though. Rod showed how easy it was to block the water with his foot allowing the abseiler to head down the cliff without getting too wet, until Rod removed his foot. Then the abseiler got drenched. This abseil was a bit tricky, with an overhang which was hidden beneath the high flow of water and spray.

This abseil also had a pool swim out, but the group huddled under an alcove at the back of the waterfall until all the party was down.

As we headed down to the Wollangambe we passed under some boulders which had dropped from the top of the canyon forming a bridge over the top.

At the junction of the river and the 'gambee we found we had arrived at George St in peak hour. There were piles of others there. There was a group of about 3 families with mum, dad, several kids all going down on their lilos. We stopped here and had lunch and saw several other groups pass. A group of people from Suth Efrica came past and chatted, and several others came past using all sorts of floatation devices to go down the 'gambe. John pondered aloud if anyone had ever gone down on an inflatable doll, which we all agreed was highly likely (was there a pun intended?).

One person attempted to throw their lilo off the rock into the river, but missed, much to everyone’s amusement.

We had lunch here at about 12:30pm. Some had a pedestrian affair of nuts and dried fruit, others had a pleasant greek salad with olives, sun dried tomatoes, and greek fetta. Someone pondered where the wine was!. After we had cleaned off the sand  from our clothes and left some of them to dry for a while we headed off. We had hung around there for about an hour.

The weather was not too hot, so the climb out was not unpleasant. We had a few pauses to admire the view on the way out. At one of these points Rod noticed there was a cliff on the road side where we walked in and decided that it might be interesting to check it out as an alternative way into the canyon. Ros was busy taking GPS way points and when we arrived back at the start point according to the GPS, where the anthill track was supposed to have left the main track, there was no anthill and no track to be seen. The GPS was close but not that accurate. We joined the main track another 20 meters on. As we wandered along the fire trail Rod saw a spot which looked like there was a cliff and he headed off to see if it was abseilable. There were no close abseil points, so he made a note to check it at a later time.

We walked back along the fire trail to the camp and arrived at 3:30pm . We changed and dried off, had some food and headed back home.

Serendipity Report by: Rowena Larkins