Date: 15/11/2020
Trip leader: Andrew Walker
Party: Kosta, Andrew (Trip Leader), Lisa, Uyen
Photos: Link
The forecast seemed to be reasonably warm in the blue mountains on the sunday so a wet canyon was in order for the day. I had 4 sign ups for the day meeting at Blackheath. Kosta and myself did a car shuffle to avoid walking back in the afternoon heat.
The track down into the canyon is still disinct mainly because of the known location and easy access to get into the canyon. There was only one other party in the canyon that day whose cars we saw at the trail head. They allowed us to overtake them at the down climb in the first small constriction and we didn’t see them again till we were heading out to our exit point. A bit more of creek walking followed till we got to the middle constriction where there is a down climb that involves going directly down into the cascades followed by a short swim.
It was then a sustained creek walk all the way to our exit gully where we stopped for a snack break then continued on to the last constriction which leads to Hat Hill Falls overlooking the Grose Valley. Unforunately this is when Uyen lost her Go Pro in the last constriction somewhere. Yet another item claimed by a Canyon. Hat Hill Falls was flowing quite nicely and the evidence of the fire damage can clearly be seen on some of the ridges in the Grose Valley.
After lunch we headed back to our exit point spending some time trying to look for Uyen’s lost Go Pro but still to no avail. I hadn’t done Hat Hill Canyon for several years so once up the exit gully we just made a bee line off track for the centre of the ridge eventually joining the track we were meant to be on. On the Hat Hill ridge walk the impact of the fire damage was pretty evident. The track off Du Faur’s Buttress could clearly be seen making its way down the Grose Valley.
Being a warm afternoon we were in desire of a cold drink. The cafes in Blackheath tend to close early on a sunday so we just went to the Friendly Grocer and departed for home