Driving into Mt Wilson, it felt like we’d gone through a time warp. As we drove along the road we passed antique cars from the 1920′s while dirty, depression era people casually strolled along carrying century-old tools. A roadside stall sold fruit from stacks of wooden boxes. We actually seemed more out of place than they did, given some of the spectacular old building in the area like the tree fern surrounded church and impressive Turkish bath house.
It was about 4am as we drove into Glen Davis, pulling up at the campground in town and throwing down our sleeping bags under the verandah for a few hours of much needed sleep before a big weekend of canyoning. About dawn we were joined by a healthy swarm of mosquitoes who seemed determined to drive us from our slumber.
This summer has been such a washout that I’ve pretty much resorted to planning day trips with just a couple days notice when the weather forecast looks promising enough. This trip actually took that to the extreme, with the decision just a day before, but it paid off wonderfully when we woke up to a stunning sunny day.
Like most of summer, the week before this had been packed full of rain. So much so that the Colo River — which drains most of the canyon country — had hit about six metres the day before our trip. Despite this we decided to press on, choosing Galah Canyon for its relatively small catchment, spurred on by the fact that this was the first fine day in more than a week and we were guaranteed some impressive water flows.