Party:
Mike G
Bjorn
Catrina
Louisa
Guillaume
Tristan
Michael W
Emma Lori Meredith
Pete Jiri and Cat (sunday)
In the usual manner of such trips we met bright and early at the roundabout outside Strathfield station on Saturday morning. The drive to Deep Pass takes about 3 hours from Sydney taking into account, of course, a stop at the North Richmond Bakery to stock up on pies, pastries and caffeinated beverages. The weather looked promising at this point although the temperature remained somewhat on the cooler end of the spectrum.
After navigating the various dirt roads along Newnes Plateau we arrived at the Deep Pass carpark where another group was just setting off for a day trip to split rock followed by a jaunt up the canyon. The walk from the carpark to the campsite is a steep descent which emerges at an open clearing next to the creek. We dropped our packs here and set up tents before eating lunch and then setting off on the track following the creek upstream towards Deep Pass Canyon. The walk through the canyon itself takes about 30-45 minutes each way with plenty of time included for taking photos and, as was the case on the way back, a few slides, swims and water jumps.
After drying out back at the campsite we then spent the rest of the afternoon doing some abseiling practice off one of the nearby ledges. As evening approached we were joined by Pete Raines and his group who had just come from Mt Wilson after doing Whungee Wheengee canyon. Some light rain ensued as people gathered around the campfire preparing to cook dinnner. As the night progressed we were also joined by Jiri and Cat and then, a little later, Dave, Nicole, Kate and Helen. The club beer officer (Dave Lee) upheld his official title bringing in reinforcements in the form of a variety of home brewed beverages some of which the author of this trip report suspects contributed to a rather formidable hangover the next morning.
People were somewhat slow to emerge from tents on Sunday morning, probably something to do with the rather brisk temperature and the thought of plunging into ice cold canyon water (as was planned for the day). However we eventually managed to get packed up and make the ascent back to the carpark, then drive the ~30 minutes to the Twister/Rocky Ck carpark. There were some doubtful looks on faces as people stood around getting changed into wetsuits. In the end, however, we made good time through the canyons and people seemed to be enjoying themselves for the most part. We took the first exit route which despite being slightly precarious everyone managed ok. After a relaxed lunch on top of one of the pagodas we continued back to the carpark which we reached at about 3:30pm, the whole trip taking less than 4 hours from when we had set off.
I have uploaded some photos from Deep Pass Canyon on Saturday which can be viewed at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hellopete/2010_03_13_deepPass#
A few of Bjorn’s photos can be viewed here: http://picasaweb.google.com/Bj.Sturmberg/DeepPassTwisterRockyCreek#
Thanks everyone for a good weekend.
Pete