Closet Canyon

Day 1 of of the annual Sydney North Region Canyoning Course. My group had been allocated Closet Canyon, which was great as I’d never done it before and being slightly remote it promised a good bit of off track walking and navigation. We set off just after 9:30am and followed the well defined track to Rocky Creek, which then petered out to a faint and difficult to follow track along the ridge line. We completely lost the “track” where the ridgeline did a bit of a dogleg and resorted to some good old fashioned bush bashing for a hundred metres or so until we got to the next section of ridgeline which was a bit more open but still required bush bashing.

After around two hours we arrived at rocky outcrop that had a Cairn marking the descent into the gully below.

The first abseil takes us into Closet Canyon itself. Strangely enough someone had been here before us and had replaced the tape with a bright yellow tape with some SES markings on it.

Scott makes his way down the tricky little slot just before the second abseil.

Marcel worming his way down the slot.

Murray on the second abseil.

Marcel and Murray on the second abseil which ends in a pool. I cunningly managed to sneak around the pool without getting wet.

Murray prepares to jump into the next pool. Some of the others chose to abseil from the roots on the left.

Hmmm. More replaced tape. This time it’s pink with a 1st Normanhurst marking. Anyone know who is in the SES and also 1st Normanhurst???

This is it! The one we’ve all been waiting for - The last BIG intimidating abseil. You can do a full 40m abseil from this point or ….

Head down a bit further and do a second abseil. This stance is pretty crowded, so maybe a 40m abseil is the way to go.

David at the end of Closet Canyon at the Rocky Creek Junction.

A rather nice section of Rocky Creek just before the exit gully. We found a pair of brand spanking new Volleys at the exit.

The first half of the exit gully is a bit of a struggle and not that pleasant. But, Murray spotted some natural Sasparilla leaf which I’d never tasted before so the gully was good after all!

The nice easy exit gully near the top.

A nice lookout near the top with Rocky Creek in the background. We were soon back on the ridge bush bashing our way back to the cars. Overall it was a moderate 9 hour day of canyoning. But, Yet again there was not a lot a water in the canyon.