This has been on my hit list for years, so it was great to finally do it and discover yet another awesome canyon. It deserves the 9/10 that Tom Brennan gives it. This season has been rather interesting so far as a number of canyons have been off the beaten track and so I was hoping for yet another - but alas it’s pretty much a highway to the start of the canyon - no danger of getting lost on this one.
I guess that’s what happens to canyons with a 9/10 rating.
Ben on the first very slippery abseil of the day.
Time to get wet Matt.
Ooooh. Cold!
Mark and Scott.
If you happen to have arms as long as an Orangutan you can easily avoid getting wet on second abseil.
Mark on the lovely abseil just before the junction of Corkscrew Canyon.
The lovely little waterfall in Corkscrew Canyon. This is my first attempt at an HDR photo - it’s made up of 5 bracketed exposures from 4 sec - 1/15 sec images. I guess it turned out OK but it is way harder to create a good HDR image than first meets the eye. I guess I need more practice.
Another shot of the stunning Corkscrew Canyon. This time no HDR as you can tell from the blown highlights.
Back in Bowens Creek and in the amazingly huge overhang. Soon after this overhang the creek opens up into a beautiful section of Coachwood forest. So nice that we stopped here for lunch - right at the junction of Hand-over-Hand Canyon. Mark and Ben went for a quick recce with the verdict being - “don’t bother”.
Looks like there’s an optional abseil as well. A second party of Sydney Bushwalkers does the abseil whilst we found the subterranean shortcut. Mark was offered an abseil by the Sydney Bushwalkers as they deemed him too Seniorly to follow the youngsters down the subterranean route. LOL!
Bill basks in the fantastic sub beams in the next little pool.
Looking back up the pool.
This section of canyon is lovely and dark - it only seems light as this is a 20sec exposure!
A side trip into Hobnail Canyon. From Bowens Creek its about a 15min walk upstream to do the very short canyon, so I don’t think it’s worth doing in it’s own right.
Mark and Bill on the exit slab up through the cliff line. Matt, Scott and I then explored the Bowens Creek climbing area - we’ll be back in Winter as the rock is superb and climbing looks awesome.
Bowens Creek is great value. Take your time to make side visits of Corkscrew and Hobnail Canyons. This is definitely one canyon I’ll be re-visiting.