[SUBW-A] Trip Report - Red Rocks - June Long Weekend

[David Noble]

Trip Report - Red Rocks - June Long Weekend

Party - "Digital" Dave Forbes, Kim Corrans, Dave Noble

Photos are on the web at -

http://www.david-noble.net/bushwalking/RedRocks07/RedRocksJune2007.html

The weather during the week prior to the trip had been somewhat  
inclement - and after a stormy Friday in town - we decided to leave  
on Saturday morning instead of driving to Newnes on the Friday  
evening. It rained overnight and was still raining heavily on  
Saturday morning - so more phoning around and we left later (9:30am)  
rather than earlier. A phone call to Rik at Blackheath in the Blue  
Mts was not encouraging ("its bucketing down outside, grrrrr......) -  
he was not keen to join us on the walk. We had an early lunch in the  
Mt Vic servo as we watched the rain teem down outside. This was not  
encouraging either. Nevertheless, we decided to press on regardless.

The drive down the Wolgan Valley was "interesting". At Wolgan gap was  
a barrier - and a lot of stopped vehicles. Only 4WD's were able to  
proceed. We continued down the valley thanks to Digi Dave's Subaru.  
The road was very treacherous and was hard even in a 4WD to stay on  
it. The surface was very greasy. One vehicle had already slipped into  
a bank and had been pulled out by a passing Land Crusher. Several  
times Digi Dave's car slid and drifted off course - and it was only  
due to his great driving skills that we didn't suffer a mishap.  
Further down the valley, there was a creek that needed to be forded.  
It is normally completely dry. This time - it was about 10m wide -  
but thankfully less than knee deep.

Arriving at Newnes - we could not help noticing that the Wolgan River  
was higher than normal. Several metres higher than normal in fact -  
and would have been a good canoeing venue.

Our path lay up Little Capertee Ck - and other than high creek levels  
was not too difficult. The rain had almost stopped and we set off at  
rapid speed up the valley in search of some nice dry camp caves in a  
cleft near Mt Dawson. In normal times, the creekbed is dry and the  
walking easy. This time, the walking was a bit slower along the  
banks. With our late start, we walked as fast as we could and in the  
late afternoon arrived at the canyon section. I told the others - "it  
should only be about 15 mins to the camp cave now" - but darkness was  
falling fast and the creek levels confused my memory of the route a  
bit so the eventual route was not the optimum one and we arrived at  
the campsite a little after dark (or in other words - we got lost for  
a while, stumbling around and under clifflines in the dark and cold  
and 15 minutes turned into more than an hour! - but we did discover a  
few new canyons).

Once in the nice dry cave - we soon got a roaring fire going. Due to  
the rain, we had not had to carry water on the trip, so instead we  
were able to all carry adequate quantities of more "restorative"  
liquids. Sitting by the fire with a nice jaffle in one hand and a cup  
of wine in the other - things didn't seem too bad at all.

Next morning we awoke (as forecast) to a sunny morning, and after a  
lazy breakfast we set off along the usual traverse to the "room"  
campsite near Pt Nicholson. On the way, we passed the usual chasms,  
canyons, pinnacles and pagodas - fantastic scenery and views  
permeated the day. We arrived at the room by lunchtime and set up our  
gear outside on the western balcony. The rest of the day/evening  
passed very pleasantly - jaffles, wine..... that sort of thing.....

Monday was also a fine day - and we continued on our way towards  
Bottle Saddle. After a short section of heath, we found ourselves  
amidst more pagodas and chasms. The scrambling was as enjoyable as  
the views. After lunch - we scrambled to the top of a nice (and  
hopefully dry) canyon. This would be our route through the cliff. The  
canyon had some scrambling and more pools than usual and was very  
deep and spectacular.

On the last few hundred metres back to the car - some light rain  
started to fall. We didn't mind at all. The drive back out of the  
valley was easy compared to the one in.

A very pleasant long weekend walk, good company, and a good escape  
from Sydney.

Dave Noble
________________________________

David Noble
dnoble at ozemail.com.au
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~dnoble
http://www.david-noble.net